Car-Seal. (open access)

Car-Seal.

Patent for a car seal, made of a long, thin, and narrow metallic strip. When it is looped through two parts of the car body, the ends can be pinned together with sealing irons. This car seal cannot be tampered with without visible evidence showing.
Date: December 5, 1911
Creator: Lawler, Claude B.; Bryan, William A. & Keller, John.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Triple-Valve Mechanism. (open access)

Triple-Valve Mechanism.

Patent for a triple-value mechanism that "appertains to automatic fluid pressure brake systems and involves certain improvements &c., &c.” (lines 9-11) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 8, 1914
Creator: Atwood, Walter F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Telephone System. (open access)

Telephone System.

Patent for improvements to an automatic switchboard "to provide a construction of board and a connected system of wiring which will permit a subscriber at a telephone in one town to call up the operator or central at a distant point and converse with him without operating the other instruments in his town and at the same time preventing other subscribers from breaking into the line" (lines 12-20).
Date: December 23, 1902
Creator: Wright, Wayne C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ditching-Machine (open access)

Ditching-Machine

Patent for "a machine for digging ditches or trenches of any desired depth or width, for purposes of irrigation or drainage or pipe-laying, or for building earth fences on lands, or throwing up fortifications, or for making other excavations of like general nature" (lines 7-13).
Date: December 18, 1888
Creator: Edwards, Charles Clark
System: The Portal to Texas History