Churn Power. (open access)

Churn Power.

Patent for a new and improved churn-power. This design "consists in the combination, with a vertically-moveable carriage provided with a drum, of a rope wound on the same, and having its upper end secured, from which drum a wheel on the carriage is operated by suitable gearing, the said wheel being connected with the dasher-staff. When the carriage descends under the action of its own weight and of the weight of the parts on it, the drum is revolved and the dasher rod or staff operated" (lines 11-21).
Date: December 2, 1884
Creator: Williams, Fredrick Fitz
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Handling Seed Cotton. (open access)

Apparatus for Handling Seed Cotton.

Patent for cotton house with bins and conveyors that prevent the cotton from being contaminated.
Date: December 2, 1884
Creator: Munger, Robert S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Handling Seed-Cotton. (open access)

Apparatus for Handling Seed-Cotton.

Patent for a "mechanism for handling seed-cotton [...] to provide novel means for conveying said cotton directly from the wagon or from the cotton-house to the ginning mechanism, whereby the cotton is cleansed and dried during its passage" (lines 7-13). It also helps to prevent fires and contamination of ginned cotton, and to reduce labor handling seed-cotton.
Date: December 2, 1884
Creator: Munger, Robert S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mechanism for Handling Lint Cotton. (open access)

Mechanism for Handling Lint Cotton.

Patent for a new and improved mechanism for handling lint-cotton. This design "has for its object to avoid the accumulation of dust and light particles of fiber in the atmosphere of the gin-house, to greatly reduce the dangers of destructive conflagrations in ginning establishments, to avoid the repeated handling of the cotton between the gins and the press, and to secure a more perfect separation from the cotton of dust and other foreign substances" (lines 8-16).
Date: December 2, 1884
Creator: Munger, Robert S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pipe Wrench. (open access)

Pipe Wrench.

Patent for a new and improved pipe wrench. This design consists "[i]n a pipe-wrench, the bar or lever having a lower curved and serrated end, in combination with the pivoted arm having reversely-hooked ends, one of said curved ends having a greater curvature than the other said hooked end" (lines 59-64).
Date: December 2, 1884
Creator: Morrison, William S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton or Other Press. (open access)

Cotton or Other Press.

Patent for "that class of cotton-presses in which duplex bale or press boxes arranged to swing upon centers are adapted to be brought in line with a stationary platen and a movable follower" (lines 7-11), including instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 2, 1884
Creator: Munger, Robert S.
System: The Portal to Texas History