Plow-Fender. (open access)

Plow-Fender.

Patent for a plow fender, which allows a plow to be operated next to plant rows without injuring them and deflects rocks and other obstacles.
Date: October 22, 1907
Creator: Skidmore, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cotton Chopper and Planter (open access)

Combined Cotton Chopper and Planter

Patent for a combined cotton chopper and planter, made to be easy to construct and easy to convert between functions.
Date: October 11, 1892
Creator: Parker, Francis H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Means for Controlling the Flow of Navigable Rivers or Other Waters. (open access)

Means for Controlling the Flow of Navigable Rivers or Other Waters.

Patent for a new means of controlling the waters. This design "is to remove or prevent the formation of sand-bars at the mouths of harbors elsewhere, calculated to obstruct navigation; also, to prevent the overflow of navigable rivers and the breaking of levees or destruction of jetties. [The] invention consists in a novel means of accomplishing these and other like ends by mechanical forces applied to increase the natural current or outflow of the navigable water toward its outlet or the ocean through the instrumentality of suitably located and anchored vessels provided with propelling devices" (lines 8-21).
Date: October 1, 1889
Creator: Coult, Joseph C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter. (open access)

Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "[t]he combination, in a seed-planter, of a main frame having side beams, the standard secured midway between said beams at their forward ends, and provided at its lower end with a shovel and a presser located immediately in rear of said shovel, the hopper supported on said side beams, and having its planting mechanism arranged to drop the seed directly in the furrow formed by the shovel and presser, [and] wheel journaled in the side beams in rear of the planting mechanism" (lines 3-14).
Date: October 13, 1885
Creator: Gardner, Robert J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spring Bed Bottom. (open access)

Spring Bed Bottom.

Patent for a new and improved spring bed-bottom. This design utilizes a new method of coiling the wire so that only one wire may be used to make up all of the springs. By moving diagonally from one end of one spring to the end of another, this design eliminates the possibility of losing any individual spring.
Date: October 18, 1881
Creator: Eichelberger, Henry. H. C. & Bruner, Hilary Wentz
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bed Attachment for Invalids. (open access)

Bed Attachment for Invalids.

Patent for a new and improved bed attachment for bed-ridden persons. This design "consists, principally, of a frame, hinged between the side boards of the bedstead, said frame having a removable seat and adapted to be brought to a vertical position for supporting the [bed-ridden person] in a sitting position. The invention also consists in the construction and arrangement of parts" (lines 10-16).
Date: October 11, 1881
Creator: Brown, Joshua Perry
System: The Portal to Texas History