Log-Loading Mechanism. (open access)

Log-Loading Mechanism.

Patent for a machine that hauls and loads logs upon cars from either side of the track, or both sides at once. The machine can easily be transported on a car. The machine "consists, essentially, in a platform of about the length of an ordinary log-car and of a height and width to enable it to span the same, mounted upon which are a steam engine and a boiler and a rotating crane, said platform being provided with pivoted legs for holding it above the track, with pivoted legs for holding it above the track, with means for locking said legs in a vertical position" (lines 23-30).
Date: April 14, 1896
Creator: Fletcher, William Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
Log-Loader. (open access)

Log-Loader.

Patent for improvements in a machine that hauls logs and loads them on railways, based on a patent application submitted by the inventor previously (serial no. 563,242). A swinging crane loads and unloads the logs.
Date: August 11, 1896
Creator: Fletcher, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Log-Carrier. (open access)

Log-Carrier.

Patent for a log-carrier with an improved construction from a previous patent (No. 539,380). Improvements include a change in "the angle of strain of the draft-chain as the lever approaches the horizontal position...when the load is elevated" (lines 34-37). It also maintains "a uniform leverage without the use of guide-rollers or other means" (lines 54-56), and balances the sliding tongue so that "the team is relieved of the weight thereof" (line 62).
Date: December 8, 1896
Creator: Carroll, Joseph Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History