Wrench. (open access)

Wrench.

Patent for a new and useful improvement in monkey-wrenches to "provide an improved construction of the same whereby the clamping-jaws may be quickly and readily adjusted to the nut or tap which is to be engaged thereby" (line 19-23).
Date: December 28, 1897
Creator: Antony, Edwin Le Roy
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow Cultivator and Irrigator. (open access)

Plow Cultivator and Irrigator.

Patent for an underground irrigating plow that consists of a draft bar, crank arms, plow beams that front ends swivel on the crank arms, a ratchet rod with chain spools, a ratchet lever that is attached to the ratchet rod, chains that are attached to the plow beams and the spools, braces that are attached to the crank arms, and a double-tree.
Date: April 25, 1893
Creator: Askew, Joseph W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Scoop. (open access)

Cotton-Scoop.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive cotton scoop and is "adapted to have its tines yield to facilitate its insertion in a mass of cotton" (lines 13-14).
Date: April 18, 1893
Creator: Brown, William C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Power Device for Baling Presses. (open access)

Power Device for Baling Presses.

Patent for a new and improved power device for baling presses. This design "relates to certain new and useful improvements in power devices for baling-presses of that class wherein is employed a disk rigidly fixed to the shaft of the crank and a disk loosely mounted on said shaft; and it has for its object to improve upon prior constructions of this character. [This design] hinge[s] the lugs on the loosely mounted disk, and, preferably, place a spring between the said lug and the disk, so that either the weight of the lug or the force of the spring will project or suspend the lug" (lines 13-24).
Date: August 5, 1890
Creator: Cass, Thomas M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace Carrier. (open access)

Trace Carrier.

Patent for a new and improved trace-carrier. This design "is to provide the trace-carrier with a locking-brace, which is held in a closed position by the chain, which prevents all possibility of the chain from becoming detached from the carrier while in use" (lines 16-20). To this end, it consists, "with the body having a strap-fastener and an outwardly and upwardly extending hook, of a locking-plate, which is hinged at its upper end to the upper portion of the body, and its lower end provided with an inner perforated projection through which the said hook passes, and a shorter projection" (lines 78-85).
Date: September 23, 1890
Creator: Clark, Alexander E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for a simple and effective car coupling that is partially automatic, "and in case of accident or breakage the said device is adapted to be used after the manner of an ordinary car-coupling" (lines 17-19).
Date: August 9, 1892
Creator: Felton, Tommas Wesley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Impelling Device for Bowling-Hoops. (open access)

Impelling Device for Bowling-Hoops.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in impelling devices for bowling hoops, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 27, 1898
Creator: Hefley, Jeff. D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Advertising Device. (open access)

Advertising Device.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in advertising device, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 9, 1898
Creator: Hefley, Jefferson D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Brace. (open access)

Brace.

Patent for a new and improved brace. This design consists in "[t]he combination . . . of the cistern or its equivalent having internal circumferential seats and the brace-sections having edge flanges fitted to said seats and having such flanges cut away at one end, whereby the section may fit at one end in the end of the adjacent section" (lines 30-36).
Date: September 2, 1890
Creator: Henderson, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Door-Bell and Mail-Receiver. (open access)

Combined Door-Bell and Mail-Receiver.

Patent for a door-bell joined with a tray or card-receiver, which is installed in a door. "When pulled out it will bring said tray outside the door to receive a card, letter, or package or any mail-matter, and when released will carry it inside the door again" (lines 11-15). The bell goes off when the tray, which has a toothed edge that engages the bell-hammer, is released.
Date: September 22, 1896
Creator: Key, Joseph H.; Brevard, Horace & Purifoy, William R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for an improvement on car-couplers, "especially to the class of hook-and-catch couplers in which the sides of the jaws of the coupler securely hold a link between the same by means of a downwardly-extending hook, the sides of the upper jaw carrying the said hook extending down over the sides of the under jaw, thus protecting the jaws from a lateral jar or pressure, the lower jaw being provided with a series of recesses at different angles, which are designed to receive the end of the link when held in different positions" (lines 16-27). The car-coupler also has a gravity member.
Date: September 29, 1896
Creator: Krusinski, Ferdinand
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rail-Joint. (open access)

Rail-Joint.

Patent for improvements in railway-rail joints, including "a means for adjusting the rails whereby a tight joint may be produced at any season of the year when the expansion and contraction of the metal with the varying temperatures cause the joints to become loose and the track uneven;" (lines 16-21) "suitable rail-carrying bed-pieces, made of metal and grooved to receive the rail;" (lines 23-24) and "brackets on its under side which are adapted to brace against the railway-ties, and suitable pins or integral lugs which engage with the tie to hold it firmly in place." (Lines 34-38) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 29, 1896
Creator: Krusinski, Ferdinand
System: The Portal to Texas History
Evaporator. (open access)

Evaporator.

Patent for a new and useful evaporating furnace, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 10, 1899
Creator: Kuzel, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bridle. (open access)

Bridle.

Patent for "improved means for detachably connecting blinds to bridles, whereby the bridle may be used with or without the blinds," and also "to provide a combined double box-loop and blind." (Lines 13-17) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 12, 1897
Creator: Mayes, David H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Back Band Buckle. (open access)

Back Band Buckle.

Patent for a new and improved back-band buckle. This design "is to provide a simple and inexpensive back-band buckle adapted to protect the sides of an animal against rubbing, and capable of enabling the tug-chain to be readily secured thereto and removed therefrom and of securely holding the same without liability of the chain becoming accidentally unfastened" (lines 10-17).
Date: September 30, 1890
Creator: McCall, Dugald B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Power Device for Baling Presses. (open access)

Power Device for Baling Presses.

Patent for a new and improved power device for baling-presses. This design consists, "with a suitable frame, of a crank-shaft journaled therein, a pitman, and two disks, one loosely and the other rigidly mounted on said shaft and provided, respectively, upon their adjacent faces with a pair of shoulders and a lug, the length of the cut-away portion between said shoulders being greater than the length of said lug, whereby independent movement of the two disks is permitted, and a sweep rigidly attached to the loosely mounted disk" (lines 79-89).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Nott, Henry W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Cooling Milk. (open access)

Apparatus for Cooling Milk.

Patent for a new and useful apparatus for regulating the temperature of milk.
Date: April 26, 1898
Creator: Porter, Louis H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Forming Wire Articles. (open access)

Machine for Forming Wire Articles.

Patent for an improved machine that makes wire coils, springs, pins, and similar wire formations. "The invention has for its objects to provide a simple, cheap and durable device or machine for the purpose named which can be easily operated and capable of turning out a large number of the articles with the expenditure of the minimum amount of time and labor" (lines 22-28).
Date: February 21, 1893
Creator: Porter, Louis H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Means for Operating Swinging Gates. (open access)

Means for Operating Swinging Gates.

Patent "to simplify and improve the construction of means for opening and closing swinging gates," (lines 10 - 12) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 12, 1892
Creator: Rhodes, James W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bed-Slat Fastener. (open access)

Bed-Slat Fastener.

Patent for a new and useful bed slat fastener, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 16, 1898
Creator: Sonntag, Edwin C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clevis. (open access)

Clevis.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in clevises, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 14, 1898
Creator: Taylor, George H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination Plow. (open access)

Combination Plow.

Patent for improvements on the combination plow that can be converted into a single, double, or three plow, including illustrations.
Date: October 28, 1890
Creator: Walton, Jacob Gipson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse-Power (open access)

Horse-Power

Patent for an alternative horse power design without cogs that has the same level of efficiency with an increased speed of output as well.
Date: November 15, 1892
Creator: Walton, Jacob Gipson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill-Tower. (open access)

Windmill-Tower.

Patent for "skeleton towers of a character more especially adapted to support a wind-wheel" (lines 8-10) and that allow the wheel to be lowered.Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 22, 1891
Creator: Walton, Jacob Gipson
System: The Portal to Texas History