Cotton-Gin Feeder and Cleaner (open access)

Cotton-Gin Feeder and Cleaner

Patent for cotton gin feeder and cleaner in which cotton passes over the screening surface by means of a picker-roller.
Date: December 9, 1902
Creator: Seifert, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Biblical Game Apparatus (open access)

Biblical Game Apparatus

Patent for a new and useful game apparatus. This design is to "provide a biblical game apparatus adapted to be employed in play by two or more persons" (line 8-10).
Date: December 14, 1897
Creator: James, Will S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Touch-Regulating and Mute Attachment for Pianos (open access)

Combined Touch-Regulating and Mute Attachment for Pianos

Patent for combined touch regulating and mute attachment for pianos.
Date: December 16, 1902
Creator: Harriss, Langdon & Kendall, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clothes Pounder (open access)

Clothes Pounder

Patent for a new and useful improvements in clothes pounders, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 7, 1897
Creator: Schofield, Frank B. & Schofield, Joseph L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Removing Cores from Cylindrical Cotton-Bales. (open access)

Apparatus for Removing Cores from Cylindrical Cotton-Bales.

Patent for a "means for removing screw-threaded cores from cylindrical cotton-bales" (lines 12-14). It is made up of a wheeled-truck that is holding the bale, an apparatus that grips the end of the core, a way to revolve the grip, a driven shaft, and a universal joint that connects the shaft with the end of the core.
Date: December 31, 1895
Creator: White, Charles W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn or Cotton Dropper (open access)

Corn or Cotton Dropper

Patent for corn or cotton dropper in which improvements are made on general efficiency, "simplicity, expensiveness, [and] durability" (lines 12-13).
Date: December 25, 1888
Creator: Brown, William Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopper and Cultivator. (open access)

Cotton Chopper and Cultivator.

Patent for an improved combined cotton chopper and cultivator.
Date: December 15, 1896
Creator: Summers, Dewett C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Desk and Copy-Holder. (open access)

Combined Desk and Copy-Holder.

Patent for a desk with an attached paper-holder that allows for easier transcription.
Date: December 19, 1893
Creator: Stuart, Benjamin Franklin & Willson, Frederick William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Copy-Holder and Tablet. (open access)

Combined Copy-Holder and Tablet.

Patent for a combined copy-holder and tablet meant for record keeping. The invention's purposes are to "produce a convenient device designed to be employed ether upon the lap of the operator or upon a counter or other convenient support, and to maintain in position for writing a web of paper, thus requiring no holding of the same by the operator; to provide means for conveniently paying out said web of paper as the same is used or consumed; to provide for conveniently tearing the paper from the web into lengths convenient to the operator; to provide for a simple retention and support in a removable manner of the roll upon which the web is mounted; and finally for a support of the device in an inclined position convenient for transcribing notes therefrom" (lines 13-28).
Date: December 19, 1893
Creator: Stuart, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Stalk-Cutter and Cultivator. (open access)

Combined Stalk-Cutter and Cultivator.

Patent for "a combined stalk cutter and cultivating machine comprising a rotary stalk cutter and a gang of plows and it consists in the features of construction and novel combination of devices in a machine adapted for the various kinds of agricultural work" (lines 9-15).
Date: December 26, 1893
Creator: Snodgrass, George Melvin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Picker Finger. (open access)

Cotton-Picker Finger.

Patent that improves on existing design of cotton-picking spindles by using an elastic material instead of bristles. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 12, 1891
Creator: Canuteson, Ole
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Condensers. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Condensers.

Patent to improve the compressing-roller design in a cotton gin, to keep the mechanisms from clogging. This is an addition to a previous patent by the same inventor that improved methods of cleaning the cotton. It includes an explanation with references, and illustrations.
Date: December 10, 1878
Creator: Donovan, John T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Engine and Superheater Apparatus. (open access)

Combined Engine and Superheater Apparatus.

Patent for a "combined steam superheater apparatus and engine driven thereby, which in turn is utilized to automatically shift the steam feeding and cut off devices, and such invention primarily has for its object to provide a combined mechanism of this character which will effectively operate for its intended purposes" (lines 7-14). It also requires a minimal amount of effort to operate, sifts solids out of the water, and retains heat.
Date: December 25, 1894
Creator: Walker, James C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Chopper. (open access)

Cotton-Chopper.

Patent for "new and useful Improvements in Cotton-Choppers, of which the following is a specification. This invention relates to cotton choppers and the primary object of the invention is to provide a cotton chopper which may be mounted upon any cultivator frame and which will operate easily and efficiently to thin out standing cotton or other plants which are growing in rows" (lines 5-15).
Date: December 7, 1915
Creator: Jones, Martin A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water-Gage. (open access)

Water-Gage.

Patent for a water-gage measuring the height or volume of water in a steam boiler, particularly those "held closed by the weight of the operating handle" (lines 11-12). The device is designed for simple manufacture and easy assembly & disassembly without tools, and features a valve seat that stays in place, illustrations included.
Date: December 30, 1919
Creator: Leidecker, Helmoth M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Sharpening Gin Saws (open access)

Machine for Sharpening Gin Saws

Patent for a new and useful improvements in machines for sharpening gin-saws. This invention is to "provide an improved machine of the character described wherein the saws may be sharpened without removing them" (line 10-12).
Date: December 14, 1897
Creator: Bradley, James M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wave-Motor. (open access)

Wave-Motor.

Patent for a simple and effective apparatus that utilizes wave power. It consists of a frame with a casing on the top that extends from the normal trough to crest lines of waves, a float, a pump with the center below the float, a discharge pipe connected to the pump, anchors and braces for the pump, a joint that connects the pump with a pile, guide rolls, and inlets and outlets on opposite sides of the pump.
Date: December 12, 1893
Creator: Walker, James C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Irrigating Machine (open access)

Irrigating Machine

Patent for an irrigating machine. Illustration included.
Date: December 20, 1904
Creator: Smith, Warren W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Ice-Machines. (open access)

Improvement in Ice-Machines.

Patent for improvements to the construction of "of the various parts of the [ice machine], whereby the reconversion of the ether into liquid before it reaches the freezing-vessel or chamber is better assured" (para. 3).
Date: December 12, 1871
Creator: Mühl, Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Combined Planter and Cultivator. (open access)

Improvement in Combined Planter and Cultivator.

Patent for a new and improved planter and cultivator with illustrations. The invention furnishes a combined planter and cultivator constructed in such a way that "the seed dropping appliances can be readily detached and the machine adjusted for use as a cultivator." (lines 18-20)
Date: December 16, 1879
Creator: Tanner, James Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hydraulic Milk Cooler (open access)

Hydraulic Milk Cooler

Patent for a hydraulic milk cooler. This invention is shrouded in coolant agent absorbing material that is hydraulically applied to keep dairy products cool. Illustrations included.
Date: December 8, 1903
Creator: Womble, Zachariah C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Table. (open access)

Table.

Patent for improvements on table supports that enable the table to be adjusted to a raised position.
Date: December 7, 1915
Creator: Carrell, Fitchhulee & Moreau, William W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Egg Testing Globe (open access)

Egg Testing Globe

Patent for egg tester, where you can place an egg into the globe and see if it is fertilized.
Date: December 5, 1916
Creator: Woolfolk, Paul E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Means for Ventilating Grain, &c. (open access)

Means for Ventilating Grain, &c.

Patent for a new and improved ventilator for grain, etc. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the tubes, of the protecting end caps, consisting of a base-plate, by which it may be secured to the structure, and provided with a central opening, in which the ends of the tubes are adjusted, and a semi-cone . . . [also] [t]he combination, with the structure provided, with transverse ventilating-tubes projecting on the outside of the structure, of the . . . protecting caps" (lines 88-97).
Date: December 12, 1882
Creator: Street, John Kennedy
System: The Portal to Texas History