Resource Type

Bailing-Press. (open access)

Bailing-Press.

Patent for Bailing Press including illustrations. The purpose of the bailing press was to improve "the bailing-press especially adapted for bailing cotton, which press is simple in construction, strong and durable, and operates rapidly" ( lines 9-12).
Date: November 24, 1885
Creator: Clark, Frank
System: The Portal to Texas History
Copy Holder. (open access)

Copy Holder.

Patent for a new and improved book holder. This design "consists in the peculiar construction of the main frame or case provided at or near one end with a slot or opening to expose a portion of the blank paper, and a clamping device to hold the copy-slips, and at its opposite end with a tubular instrument and pen-wiper receptacle" (lines 21-27).
Date: July 24, 1883
Creator: Gerard, Alonzo
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton and Corn Planter. (open access)

Cotton and Corn Planter.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design "features . . . first, reciprocating forked seed pushers or plungers attached to a sliding frame and operating alternately to deliver the seed through a covered opening in the bottom of the hopper, whence it passes into the furrow; second, an intermittently-rotating shaft arranged in the seed-hopper and provided with spiral or oblique arms for agitating the seed and feeding it toward the discharge opening" (lines 15-24).
Date: January 24, 1882
Creator: Turley, James M.
System: The Portal to Texas History