Bridle Bit. (open access)

Bridle Bit.

Patent for a new and improved bridle bit. This design "consist[s] of curb-plates provided with the mouth-bar and having the upper ends provided with slots and the lower ends formed with longitudinal slots, and the cheek-plates loosely fitted to the outer ends of the mouth-bar and having their opposite ends formed with openings for the attachment of the head-stall and reins" (lines 72-79).
Date: March 11, 1890
Creator: Allen, John Hudson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for a new and useful wire stretcher, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 27, 1899
Creator: Yankee, Elmer
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Coiling Machine. (open access)

Wire-Coiling Machine.

Patent for a wire-coiling machine that improves on a previous patent (No. 296,806), that was granted to Wildermuth. The improvement allows for either left- or right-handed use, by making the crank movable to either side and by "providing the upper end of the post at opposite sides with stationary cutter blades and a single movable cutter adapted to be shifted for operation with either one of the said fixed cutters" (lines 28-32).
Date: October 9, 1894
Creator: Crowder, George Washington
System: The Portal to Texas History
Post Hole Auger. (open access)

Post Hole Auger.

Patent for a new and improved post-hole auger. This design "is adapted to be attached to a cart or wagon and moved from place to place thereon in line with the proposed operating fence and operated to bore post-holes without the necessity of detaching it from the wagon, whereby the machine may be readily transported and arranged in position for use" (lines 14-20). It consists, "with a wagon having brackets secured to one side thereof, of a vertically-sliding frame moving within said brackets and carrying an earth-auger and gearing for actuating said auger" (lines 14-18).
Date: April 5, 1892
Creator: Cryer, Henry M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spring Bed-Bottom. (open access)

Spring Bed-Bottom.

Patent for a simple, inexpensive, and durable spring bet bottom that consists of a frame, slats, separate inverted cone-shaped coiled springs that sit on the slats and that loop together at the tops, clamps that hold the springs onto the slats, and hooks that hold the upper coils to the frame.
Date: December 26, 1893
Creator: Crowder, George Washington
System: The Portal to Texas History
Design for a Curling Iron Holder (open access)

Design for a Curling Iron Holder

Patent for a design for a curling-iron holder.
Date: June 8, 1897
Creator: Campbell, Orton G.
System: The Portal to Texas History