Drawers-Supporter. (open access)

Drawers-Supporter.

Patent for a new and useful drawers supporter, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 20, 1898
Creator: James, Thomas S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Handle-Bar. (open access)

Handle-Bar.

Patent for "handle-bars for bicycles, velocipedes, and the like; and the primary object is to enable the successful use of animals' horns in the formation thereof and to provide for the adjustment and securing of such handle-bars in either a raised or lowered position or at any point within range of a circular adjustment" (lines 8-15).
Date: September 6, 1898
Creator: Martin, John L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Feed-Trough. (open access)

Feed-Trough.

Patent for improvements in feed-troughs in which a controlled amount of feed can be placed in a feed box, and in which the latter will be fed as rapidly as consumed and the unconsumed feed will be protected. (Lines 11-14) Illustration in included.
Date: September 8, 1891
Creator: Webb, William James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for improved car couplings "of the Janney type, capable of readily coupling on short curved, and adapted to be either coupled or uncoupled without going between cars. A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the parts may be readily set for automatic coupling, or to prevent coupling." (Lines 13-20) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: March 19, 1895
Creator: Armstrong, James P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trunk-Strap Fastener. (open access)

Trunk-Strap Fastener.

Patent for a device "whereby a trunk-strap after having been tightly drawn around a trunk or other article of baggage can be fastened without the use of the usual buckle," (lines 10-14) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: February 13, 1891
Creator: Webb, William James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trunk-Strap Fastener. (open access)

Trunk-Strap Fastener.

Patent for an improved trunk fastener "whereby a strap after having been tightly drawn around a trunk or other article of baggage can be fastened without the use of the usual buckle" (lines 13-16). It consists of a hook-securing mechanism that holds the buckle at one end, an opposite toothed beveled clamping-face, a swinging lever with opposite arms that is connected with the fixed mechanism, a beveled clamping-face between the arms, and a lever that clamps the strap between the beveled clamping faces.
Date: November 8, 1892
Creator: Webb, William James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Log-Hauling Locomotive. (open access)

Log-Hauling Locomotive.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in log hauling locomotives, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 7, 1898
Creator: Fletcher, William Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
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
Trunk-Strap Fastener. (open access)

Trunk-Strap Fastener.

Patent for an inexpensive and simple trunk strap fastener meant to "insure a strong tightening of the same without resorting to the old laborious method of buckling the strap about the baggage, while at the same time the invention also contemplates the employment of a specific arrangement of the strap about the article being bound therewith, in combination with the fastener proper whereby a stronger and more efficient strapping is effected" (lines 16-25).
Date: June 12, 1894
Creator: Webb, William James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mining Sulfur. (open access)

Mining Sulfur.

Patent for a method of mining sulfur and other things that have similar melting points that is less expensive and more efficient than previous methods. A machine sprays hot fluid at fissures where the mineral exists, melts it, and carries it away in the stream.
Date: April 27, 1897
Creator: Higgins, Pattillo & Carroll, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mill-Carriage-Wheel Guard. (open access)

Mill-Carriage-Wheel Guard.

Patent for a new mill-carriage-wheel guard "to prevent obstruction falling on the wheels or on the [railroad] track, this guard also carries scrapers in front and in rear and on each side of the wheel, whereby the obstructions are scraped off the track." (Lines 23-28) This guard can be used with a wood-working machine carriages and/or rail.” Illustration is included.
Date: April 28, 1891
Creator: Zimmerman, Joseph W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Means for Propelling Boats. (open access)

Means for Propelling Boats.

Patent for a means for propelling boats that uses pneumatic pressure and does not use propellers and screws. The invention has increased propulsion.
Date: October 16, 1894
Creator: Higgins, Pattillo
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pan Lifter and Turner. (open access)

Pan Lifter and Turner.

Patent for a pan lifter and turner using a bent handle, a curved plate is secured at the end of the bent handle; extending upward from the curved plate with a series of teeth to engages the crimped rim of a pan for lifting. At both ends of the curved plate provided with curved notches or recesses to receive and engage the rim of a pan for turning. Illustration is included.
Date: February 10, 1891
Creator: Ericson, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oil-Distributer. (open access)

Oil-Distributer.

Patent for simple and efficient oil-distributor that is meant to calm the water next to a ship. It also takes up little space and can easily be launched over the side of the ship and is insured so that oil is automatically distributed into the water.
Date: September 17, 1895
Creator: Ericson, John & Phinney, Adelbert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gravity Oil-Distributer for Ships. (open access)

Gravity Oil-Distributer for Ships.

Patent for a gravity oil-distributors for ships at sea that calms the water during storms. "the objects of [the] invention are to produce a very simple, cheap and buoyant boat or float, that may be compactly stored upon deck, conveniently launched over the side of the vessel, and so manipulated therefrom as to keep a proper and desired relative position in connection therewith, and which will automatically feed oil to the water" (lines 11-18).
Date: September 18, 1894
Creator: Ericson, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Saw-Hammering Machine. (open access)

Saw-Hammering Machine.

Patent for a simple hammering machine for circular saws that "carries the saw in such a way that it may be held at any necessary or desired angle to suit the operator, which has a sliding anvil adapted to be adjusted so as to come opposite the various parts of the saw, which is provided with an adjustable hammer adapted to be brought opposite the anvil, which is constructed so as to cause a blow to expand both sides of the saw equally, and which in general is intended to facilitate the quick and efficient hammering of a saw" (lines 12-23).
Date: July 18, 1893
Creator: Dillon, Thomas H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Screw. (open access)

Screw.

Patent for a new and improved screw. This design consists in "[a] screw, the body and shank of which are of corresponding diameter throughout their length, the shank terminating in a rounded end, and the shank and body being provided with a longitudinal straight channel extending throughout their lengths, one of the terminal shoulders of the channel being removed" (lines 4-10).
Date: June 10, 1890
Creator: Ericson, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dredging Apparatus. (open access)

Dredging Apparatus.

Patent for an improved dredging apparatus that plows or scoops, and has "an endless traveling elevator, the latter, being arranged in a rigid frame that is supported at a suitable angle, and the scoop being hinged to the lower end of said frame so that it works horizontally, or practically so" (lines 9-14).
Date: October 30, 1894
Creator: Hyatt, Frank A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Refuse-Carrier Frame. (open access)

Refuse-Carrier Frame.

Patent for a support frame for devices that carry refuse from the saw mill to the burning pile, with instructions and illustrations.
Date: February 19, 1891
Creator: Zimmerman, Joseph W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pen-Cleaning Attachment for Inkstands. (open access)

Pen-Cleaning Attachment for Inkstands.

Patent for innovations in "pen-cleaning attachments for inkstands" (lines 9-10). It is a lip that extends past the top of ink-wells, and is meant to prevent blotting. The attachment is "an annular expansible body portion of spring metal adapted to be fitted in the mouth of an ink-well" (lines 93-95)
Date: May 4, 1897
Creator: Higgins, Pattillo
System: The Portal to Texas History