Resource Type
Penman's Arm Rest.
Patent for a new and improved writer's armrest. This design "is to provide a sort of swivel-pivot to support the wrist in writing, whereby perfect freedom of movement is given to the hand, and the position of the hand may be changed instantaneously without effort in forming characters in writing. The invention consists of a flexible or pliable foundation-piece with an anti-friction or swivel roller or ball projecting from its surface and forming a pivot to support the wrist when writing, a strap or buckle, or other fastening, being used to attach the device to the wrist" (lines 11-22).
Date:
June 14, 1887
Creator:
Graham, Tilghman
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Making Soap.
Patent for a new and improved soap-making machine. This design "consist[s] of grease and soda tanks, the latter tank having a diaphragm . . . a register-tank, pipes leading from said grease and soda tanks to said register-tank, a pivoted converter, a rotary shaft in said converter and blades, a shaft journaled in uprights attached to said converter and provided with a crank and a bevel wheel, the latter gearing with a bevel-wheel on said rotary shaft in the converter, and removable furnaces for said grease tank and converter" (lines 21-32).
Date:
September 20, 1887
Creator:
Grant, William A.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Plow.
Patent for a new and improved plow. This design "may be detached and used independent of the frame or carriage; also, that the tongue or pole may be detached and removed from the axle, and such axle, together with the bolster and hounds, may be applied to and used with the farm or other wagon. Thus by means of the attachments described a farmer can, by providing himself [or herself] with the pole and the attachments thereto . . . readily convert his [or her] ordinary walking plow into a wheel-plow by the aid of the hind wheels, axle, and hounds of his [or her] ordinary farm-wagon" (lines 72-84).
Date:
July 5, 1887
Creator:
Green, William H.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Baling Press.
Patent for a new and improved baling press. This design "comprise[s] a frame and case having aligned baling-chambers at opposite ends, a follower having two head-blocks working one in each of the baling-chambers, a shaft journaled between the baling-chambers, and two ropes connected at one end to the shaft and at their other ends to the opposite head-blocks" (lines 46-53).
Date:
May 3, 1887
Creator:
Green, William Robert & Green, Newton Jasper
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Car Brake.
Patent for a new and improved car-brake. This design consists in "brake-shoes [which] are jointed by pivots to brake-blocks of the usual form, which are suspended from the truck-timbers by suitable suspending links or clevises, so that they may have a free longitudinal movement when acted upon by the actuating mechanism, and said blocks and brake-shoes are separated by transverse brake-bars, in order that they may be kept truly in-line with the car-wheels at all times" (lines 16-25).
Date:
April 5, 1887
Creator:
Greer, John William
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Fare Box.
Patent for a new and improved fare-box. This design consists in "three resting-places for the fares before they enter the final receptacle or drawer provided at the bottom of the case, and the windows in front are so arranged that the fares may be observed at each change until they enter their final receptacle. All lights of glass employed are held in grooves in the upright sides of the case or in a frame secured in grooves of the said sides, so that by no possibility can they be displaced unless the entire box is taken to pieces" (lines 25-35).
Date:
January 25, 1887
Creator:
Greer, John William
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Money Changer and Counter.
Patent for a new and improved money changer and counter. This design "is to provide novel means for automatically assorting coins of different denominations . . . [and] to provide a series of graded pockets for the reception and retention of different coins of different denominations, and which will receive the coin only of the denomination for which it is provided; to provide novel means for discharging a coin of a given denomination from its pocket in order to make the proper change, and which will only discharge one coin at a time to prevent too much money from being delivered" (lines 15-30).
Date:
May 10, 1887
Creator:
Greer, John William
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Plow.
Patent for a new and improved plow. This design "is capable of vertical adjustment, so that the plowshare and landside will be elevated out of contact with the ground in order to prevent the point from wearing out in transporting or moving it from one field or place to another; and it is furthermore provided with an improved fender and scraper, which prevents the dirt from clogging up and wearing the axle, and keeps the periphery of the wheel clear of mud or other matter that is liable to adhere thereto" (lines 27-37).
Date:
February 8, 1887
Creator:
Grimm, Frederick
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Device for Controlling Runaway Horses.
Patent for a new and improved device for controlling runaway horses. This design has for its object "to construct an apparatus whereby such a pressure may be applied by the rider or driver of the animal in connection with which the apparatus is employed, the invention consisting of pads that are supported by lever-arms pivotally connected to a bit, and of a means whereby said pads may be moved toward each other—that is, to a position so that they will bear upon the outer nostril-wall . . . [since horses] may be quickly subdued by bringing continued pressure to bear upon their noses" (lines 9-21).
Date:
August 16, 1887
Creator:
Grumbach, Isaïe
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Blind Stop.
Patent for a new and improved blind-stop. This design consists "of a corrugated flange or plate connected with the frame thereof, a spring-retaining strip, a corrugated bar arranged between the retaining strip and the corrugated flange, a socket formed upon the corrugated bar and adapted to receive the slat-bar, and a set-screw carried by the retaining strip" (lines 77-84).
Date:
February 8, 1887
Creator:
Gulick, Lizzie Talley
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Ant Trap.
Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design consists "[i]n a device for catching ants, the combination, with an open frame, of the end piece or trough, having a concave bottom and overturned edges" (lines 84-87).
Date:
March 29, 1887
Creator:
Haines, Samuel Alfred
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling.
Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design consists in "[t]he combination, in a coupling for air-brakes, of the movable arm having the recess or socket, and the pivoted arm having the shoulder or offset adapted to fit the recess and provided with the [other] arm to direct the said shoulder or offset to the said recess when the coupling-arms come together, the said shoulder and recess forming the terminals of the air-pipes at the ends of the cars" (lines 92-100).
Date:
February 8, 1887
Creator:
Haltom, Samuel
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Electrical Horometer.
Patent for a new and improved electrical horometer. This design consists, in addition to a switch-board with electric circuit terminals, "of a bell-crank lever pivoted to the switch-board and making the connection between said terminals, said lever having at one end a handle and at the other end a detent engaging with the ratchet-wheel when the circuit is opened, the said wheel being mounted upon the extended portion of one of the shafts of a clock or other suitable registering mechanism" (lines 1-8).
Date:
November 29, 1887
Creator:
Hammond, Benjamin M.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Manure Distributer.
Patent for a new and improved fertilizer distributor. This design consists in "the rotating shaft having the stirring apparatus, the wheels loosely mounted on the said shaft, the detent to engage the shaft and prevent it from rotating, and the clutch mechanism to secure one of the wheels to the shaft" (lines 5-10).
Date:
April 12, 1887
Creator:
Harrell, Solomon James
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Metallic Shingle.
Patent for a new and improved metallic shingle. This design calls for "[t]he ends of the shingles adjacent to the groove [to be] turned up to provide a guard which, when the joints are made between the shingles, prevents the water from obtaining access to the roof-boards, and directs it down the shingle to the bead, where the water is drained off" (lines 80-86).
Date:
March 22, 1887
Creator:
Harry, Hugh W.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Planter.
Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "the combination, with a frame, a hopper, and a wheel provided with pins projecting from its sides, of the slide provided with the pins, the [other] slide provided with the inclined slots, the levers pivoted to the frame, the links connected to the said slides and levers, the stirrer-shaft provided with crank-arms, and the [other] link" (lines 21-29).
Date:
January 4, 1887
Creator:
Hasty, James P. & Hise, George L.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Car Axle Bearing.
Patent for a new and improved car-axle bearing. This design is "compris[ed of] the separable upper and lower sections having the longitudinal grooves on their respective upper and lower sides, the straps fitting in the said groove, and the bolts engaging the said straps and clamping the sections of the box together . . . in combination with the axle having its end fitting within the box, the collar shrunk onto the end of the axle within the box, said collar having the annular flanges, and the block pressing on the collar within the flanges" (lines 73-93).
Date:
July 12, 1887
Creator:
Hawkins, Andrew Jackson & Wilkins, John Walker
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Brushing Machine.
Patent for a new and improved rotary brushing-machine. This design consists "of the circular horizontally-rotating brush, the carrying-wheels having rubber tires, the castings in which the carrying-axle and the pivot of the brush are journaled, the handle or tongue rigidly connected to the casting below the axle, and the hounds connected with the main axle on each side of the casting" (lines 65-71).
Date:
December 20, 1887
Creator:
Hawkins, Robert B.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Cooking Utensil.
Patent for a new and improved cooking utensil. This design consists in "[a] cooking-vessel consisting of the outer vessel having a notched lid, and a handle provided with the pin, and the inner perforated vessel having a handle projecting over the [first] handle, and apertured to receive the pin, and legs on the bottom of the perforated vessel" (lines 4-10).
Date:
January 4, 1887
Creator:
Hervey, Frances Pickett
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Cleaner and Condenser.
Patent for a new and improved cotton cleaner and condenser. This design "is to provide a machine that will take the cotton as it comes from the gin and clean and condense it at one operation; and to this end the novelty consists . . . in an inclosing-shell having a foraminous drum revolving about an open-ended shell which has a longitudinal opening in its periphery, so as to remove the sand and dirt, and . . . in a foraminous drum revolving within a semicircular wire cage, whereby the cotton will be carried around in rolls on the drum and inside of the cage, so as to remove the leaf and trash" (lines 16-28).
Date:
August 9, 1887
Creator:
Hess, Daniel
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Stock Chute
Patent for Stock-Chute. "The object of my invention is to supply railroads with a cattle-chute which not only require less work and fewer laborers to operate it, but will afford a perfectly safe means of transferring stock without liability of injury to the stock during the act of transfer." (lines 56-62) With Illustrations.
Date:
July 5, 1887
Creator:
Hess, William
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Farm and Garden Implement.
Patent for a new and improved tool rack. This design "consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, whereby the device may hold implements of various kinds—such as the hoe, rake, a fork, shovel-blade, a trowel, and similar hand-tools—by simply detaching one tool from the holder and inserting another" (lines 12-18).
Date:
April 19, 1887
Creator:
Hewitt, Ditus Pinson
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Gang Plow.
Patent for a new and improved gang plow. This design consists in "the landside-beam, the front cross-beam, the oblique plow-carrying beam connected at its rear end to the landside-beam and at its front to the front cross-beam, the tubular bearings or boxings on the side of the landside-beam and at the front of the plow-beam, the wheeled cylindrical rods extending through and freely rotatable in the said bearings or boxings, and means . . . for raising and lowering the frame on the cylindrical rods" (lines 17-28).
Date:
March 15, 1887
Creator:
Hinchman, Frank M.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Motor
Patent for "a device which may be used for pumping, sawing, drilling, and other analogous purposes, which will be effective in its operation, and which will not be liable to get out of order, and the parts of which will not be liable to get out of alignment with each other" (lines 24-31).
Date:
July 19, 1887
Creator:
Holmgreen, Julius H.
System:
The Portal to Texas History