Resource Type
States
Autographic Register.
Patent for a device to register fares in situations where passengers pay to be transported from one location to another, specifically by train. The fare-collector needs a way to have accurate receipts as fares are collected. The invention is a "small portable ticket-holder and registering device (lines 38-39), that issues valid tickets "which will enable a conductor to keep a correct current amount of fares as received as well as a record of tickets sold and mileage traveled on same" (lines 41-45), and prevents dishonesty in fare-collectors.
Date:
November 3, 1896
Creator:
Bond, George D.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator.
Patent for improving the cultivator-plow by providing "a standard of novel construction comprising a stationary member bolted to the beam and a foot member having a pivotal relation with said stationary member and capable of being adjusted as to its angle, and also capable of yielding backwardly when the shovel meets with an obstruction for the purpose of preventing the fracture or twisting of said standard." (lines 20-28) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date:
November 3, 1896
Creator:
Collard, Job Brown & Hensarling, Hiram Johel
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Life-Boat.
Patent for a life-boat that improves on a previous patent (No. 512,591) for a hydraulic propelling device and adapts the jet propulsion means to a life boat. The life-boat is made to have compartments that, when one compartment gets crushed, the others remain afloat. The water goes into the stove or crushed compartment and can be used to propel the boat forward. The boat also has a system of bulkheads on the roof of the boat, each independent of the others and has valved pipes. Independent oil-holding tanks connected with valved pipes to the hydraulic main pipes, and with valved pipes going outside the boat so they can be emptied in case of emergency.
Date:
June 2, 1896
Creator:
Walker, James C.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Animal-Poke.
Patent for an animal-poke that is "placed over the animal's neck and provided with spurs, whereby the animal is pricked when he attempts to pass a fence or other barrier" (lines 9-12). This invention doesn't prick the animal while it is grazing and is more comfortable to wear than similar animal-pokes.
Date:
January 14, 1896
Creator:
Dickey, John S.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher and Splicer.
Patent for "a wire-patcher by which the wire rails of fences may be spliced when broken and stretched when any slack occurs." (Lines 16-18) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date:
May 26, 1896
Creator:
Massey, Joseph Borygard
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher.
Patent for a wire-stretcher that has "a body portion bifurcated at one end with the rigid integral forks of the bifurcation oppositely notched with said notches arranged in line substantially transverse of the body portion, whereby the device is adapted to operate in holding the wire for stretching" (lines 75-81).
Date:
May 26, 1896
Creator:
Willie, William T.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher.
Patent for a wire-stretcher. It is "a device of simple and improved form and possessing great power for the purpose of making taut fence or other wires" (liens 14-16). It is operated by rotating a shaft
Date:
August 18, 1896
Creator:
Willie, William T.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Yardstick-Calculator.
Patent for "a calculating-yardstick adapted for use in connection with the dry goods or any other business in which goods are sold by linear measurement, the object in view being to provide, in connection with a linear measuring scale or rule, an indicating device provided with a plurality of price-scales having relation to the measuring-scale and adapted to indicate the price of a given length of an article at a given price per unit of measure, and also adapted to indicate the length of an article of a given price which may be sold for a given amount." (Lines 8-20) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date:
September 1, 1896
Creator:
Praeger, Ewald
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher and Wheel-Carrier.
Patent for a simple and inexpensive wire-stretcher and reel-carrier, meant to make wire needed for fences easier to be ready at the builder's disposal and to stretch the wire to the correct amount of tension.
Date:
November 3, 1896
Creator:
Pruitt, Andrew L.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher.
Patent for a wire stretcher designed "to provide simple and efficient means for twisting the terminals of a broken fence-wire together for connecting them, and also to enable a wire to be readily severed when desired." (Lines 17-21) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date:
December 1, 1896
Creator:
Morrow, William I.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Wrench.
Patent for a nut-wrench capable of tightening different sized nuts. The lower jaw of the wrench has different levels, the overall effect being that of a staircase, while the upper jaw is flat with a bite that holds the nuts in place.
Date:
December 15, 1896
Creator:
Tiner, John F.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Wrench.
Patent for "removable-jaw wrenches which can be converted into a pipe or monkey wrench at will." (Lines 12-14) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date:
December 29, 1896
Creator:
Ezzell, Fletcher
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Wrench.
Patent for a wrench "that a great number of tools [screw-driver, hammer, hatchet, auger, etc.] may be mounted thereon at one time and each accessible for use without removing any one part and without the various parts mounted thereon interfering with each other." (Lines 30-35) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date:
February 4, 1896
Creator:
Rush, William Henry
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Wire Twister and Tightener.
Patent for a wire twister and tightener for wire fences. With this invention, "the fence-wire is caused to be contracted, twisted, and made taut" (lines 17-18). It is a set of toothed ratchet wheels that have v-shaped slots for the wire. Pawls act on the teeth, and springs and levers move the pawls.
Date:
March 17, 1896
Creator:
Stafford, George A.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Window-Shade Raiser.
Patent for an improved way of raising, lowering, and locking window shades into place. "The operating-cord passes over a pulley located between two larger disks, one of which is screwed toward the other by a spring to clamp the folds of the cord and is screwed in the opposite direction by means of a lever, upon which the chord itself acts when drawn in the proper direction" (lines 14-20).
Date:
April 14, 1896
Creator:
McCauley, John H.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Wire-and-Picket-Fence Machine.
Patent for a machine that secures "pickets in wire fencing, the wires having been secured to and stretched between the fence-posts and the machine applied to the wires and operated by hand to secure the pickets to the wires by an operation which places them in crossed relation to form loops within which the pickets are secured at the proper distance apart" (lines 9-16). The machine works on wires that have already been stretched.
Date:
May 12, 1896
Creator:
Rice, Elisha A.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Locomotive-Headlight.
Patent for a three-way locomotive-headlight with easily removable screens of different colors in order to send signals. The screens are easily fitted to other locomotive headlights. This invention is meant to prevent accidents that happen without proper signaling.
Date:
January 14, 1896
Creator:
Davis, Moses J.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Locomotive-Pilot Coupling.
Patent for a locomotive-pilot coupling that can lift or elevate locomotive pilot or draw-bars, a cylinder that can turn in all directions depending on how the bars moves and is collecting to the motor fluid supply, a piston in the cylinder that connects the bar to the cylinder, a swinging jaw, and various other parts.
Date:
January 21, 1896
Creator:
Heidelberg, Samuel R.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Well-Drilling Machine.
Patent for a simple and efficient well-drilling machine that is meant for drilling Artesian and other wells. This invention is a "mechanism for reciprocating and turning the tool during the drilling operation, and to provide for the lowering of the drill as the latter advances to the work and for the withdrawal of the same from the well when required for any desired purpose" (lines 8-15). It is also designed to remove water, mud, slush, etc. from the well while drilling.
Date:
February 4, 1896
Creator:
Catlin, Eli
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Log-Car Attachment.
Patent for "an improvement in log-car attachments, and has for its object to provide, in connection with the bolsters or bunks thereof, adjustable pins or standards for engaging the lower tier of logs and preventing their escape." (Lines 8-13) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date:
February 11, 1896
Creator:
Johnson, Benjamin W.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Well-Drilling Apparatus.
Patent for a well-drilling apparatus for boring Artesian and other wells. It is meant to "provide simple, efficient, and durable means for expanding or spreading the reamer-blades after the bit-carrying devices have been lowered sufficiently to arrange the reamer-blades below the plane of the lower end of the tubular drill-rod" (lines 10-17). Water pressure is also used to remove the cuttings from the boring-blades. Sections of cable that suspend and lower drill-bit carrying parts into the drill-rod are supported, and sections of drill-rod can be attached and added to the drill-rod. The method of securing the reamer-blades to the reamer-stock is improved with this patent. The parts fit snugly together and prevent water from getting into the drill-rod.
Date:
February 18, 1896
Creator:
Horton, Stephen A.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Making Tablets
Patent for a machine for making tablets. This patent describes improvements in tablet-making machines or molds, which will be simple in construction and which will make tablets of different sizes, there being provided plates which are perforated and of different sizes whereby the thickness which it is desired to mold the tablets may be regulated.
Date:
February 25, 1896
Creator:
Loving, Joseph H.
System:
The Portal to Texas History
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
Machine for Sharpening and Gumming Saws.
Patent for a machine that sharpens and gums saws for cotton-gins. It does so quickly and does not fatigue the operator. It automatically feeds "the saws so as to bring the teeth successively into position to be operated upon, and which will cut the teeth uniformly, thereby preserving the circular outline of the saws and preserving the teeth of a uniform length and appearance" (lines 15-20).
Date:
July 14, 1896
Creator:
Hulme, William A. & Hulme, Thomas B.
System:
The Portal to Texas History