Bag Holder. (open access)

Bag Holder.

Patent for a new and improved bag holder. This design "consists mainly in the combination of certain parts having a capacity for adjustment relatively to the diameter of the bag, with certain parts having a capacity for adjustment relatively to the height of the bag" (lines 17-22).
Date: July 18, 1882
Creator: Holekamp, Julius
System: The Portal to Texas History
Axle Box. (open access)

Axle Box.

Patent for a new and improved axle-box. This design "relates to that class of axle-boxes in which anti-friction devices are employed for enabling the wheel to revolve on the axle with as little friction and wear as possible. [The] invention consists in providing anti-friction rods or rollers arranged between the axle and the vehicle-hub, and held in place in an improved manner" (lines 8-16).
Date: September 10, 1889
Creator: Hobron, Charles B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Canceling Stamp. (open access)

Canceling Stamp.

Patent for a new and improved stamp canceler. This design utilizes a washer, flanges, and vertical slots "for the purpose of adjusting the roughened face of the head . . . so that the correct operation of the face is insured" (65-68). This represents an improvement over previous stamp cancelers.
Date: April 19, 1881
Creator: Grothaus, Frederick E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed Planter. (open access)

Seed Planter.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design "furnish[es] seed-planters for planting in hills or drills corn, sorghum, beans, rice, cotton, and other seeds, so constructed that the seed may be planted in any desired quantity, and at any desired distance apart, and with the rows at any desired distance apart" (lines 20-26).
Date: January 4, 1881
Creator: Holekamp, Julius
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed Planter. (open access)

Seed Planter.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design consists "[i]n a seed planter, [with a] seed-dropping cylinder . . . with a row of recesses around its middle part, and rows of different-sized recesses provided with adjustable gage-screws around its end parts, whereby different-sized seeds can be dropped by the same cylinder" (lines 67-74).
Date: June 14, 1881
Creator: Holekamp, Julius
System: The Portal to Texas History
Calf Weaner. (open access)

Calf Weaner.

Patent for a new and improved device for weaning calves. This design is "to be attached to the central cartilage of the calf's nose . . . with sharp points that come against the cow's bag when the calf attempts to suck; and the invention consists in attaching the parts . . . together like a pivot, forming a part of one of the points and adapting them to be held closed by means of a small screw, whereby the device is rendered very cheap, yet effective and reliable" (lines 15-25).
Date: May 29, 1883
Creator: Geissler, William F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "consists in a car-coupling formed of two coupling-hooks pivoted on a pivot projecting from the bottom of the car, which coupling hooks pass through an inverted-V-shaped guide-slot in the guide-plate, held in front of the pivot, and the said coupling-hooks are connected with a vertically-moveable bar for raising the coupling-hooks. The coupling hooks are raised and their free ends are pressed together, and if then the coupling-hooks are released they swing downward and their free ends are separated" (lines 7-18).
Date: June 24, 1884
Creator: Grothaus, Frederick E.
System: The Portal to Texas History