Belt-Tightener (open access)

Belt-Tightener

Patent for an improvement in belt fasteners, "especially adapted for use in connection with the running belts of planning, sizing, matching, molding and like machines" (lines 10-12) so that belts may be adjusted to tighten or loosen easily.
Date: January 3, 1893
Creator: Noble, John B. & Hensley, Joseph B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Blast-Generator. (open access)

Automatic Blast-Generator.

Patent for "a new and improved automatic blast-generator designed for the use of jewelers, dentists, and other persons, and arranged to produce a steady and uniform blast and to permit of increasing or decreasing the force of the blast as required, according to the nature of the work on hand." (Lines 9-16) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 12, 1897
Creator: Sidwell, Aaron M., Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ironing-Table. (open access)

Ironing-Table.

Patent for an improved folding ironing-table that has "its top pivoted to the longer of two pairs of legs, the shorter pair designed to hold a cross bar which is adapted to support the table top about midway its length, when the table is opened and set up for use" (lines 18-22).
Date: November 20, 1894
Creator: Coleman, Robert Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a plow that has an improved land-slide that can be "expeditiously and conveniently removed from the shank plate of the plow, and to so construct the shank plate that the share when placed thereon will be firmly held in position and be prevented from slipping vertically" (lines 10-15). The land-slide and shank-plate are firmly interlocked.
Date: May 23, 1893
Creator: Wherry, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Motor. (open access)

Motor.

Patent for a churn-motor that provides "an improved churn-operating mechanism which shall be cheap and simple in its construction, easy to operate, and readily adjustable for all the purposes for which occasion may require" (lines 15-20).
Date: March 28, 1893
Creator: McAfee, Henry P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spring Motor. (open access)

Spring Motor.

Patent for a new and improved spring motor. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a motor with a drum attached to one of its shafts . . . the spring which bears upon the stop and which is rigidly secured to the frame at its outer end, the stop being pivoted . . . [and] a rod provided with a cone bearing laterally against said spring for increasing or decreasing the friction of the spring against the drum" (lines 73-84).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Wallace, James T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fanning-Machine. (open access)

Fanning-Machine.

Patent for improvements in fanning-machines by making the fanning-machine portable, so that it “can be placed upon a table or other support or attached to a bed, chair, lounge, or seat of any kind;” (lines 18-21) it also can keep away flies and insects from people. Illustration is included.
Date: June 2, 1891
Creator: Wallace, James T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Feeder and Cleaner. (open access)

Cotton Feeder and Cleaner.

Patent for feeders and cleaners for cotton gins: "provide a combined feeder and cleaner for cotton gins which is not only thoroughly and effectually cleans cotton before it passes to the gin, but at the same time it regularly and positively feeds the cotton to the gin in such cleaned condition" (lines 10-15).
Date: April 25, 1893
Creator: Oliphint, Alfred
System: The Portal to Texas History
Design for a Fence-Post. (open access)

Design for a Fence-Post.

Design patent for a fence-post that has a tapering post-body with a step series adjoining true cylindrical portions of gradually increasing diameter.
Date: June 6, 1899
Creator: Brooks, Jesse W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Cleaner and Condenser. (open access)

Cotton Cleaner and Condenser.

Patent for a new and improved cotton cleaner and condenser. This design "is to produce a cheap and simple machine of this class which is adapted for use in connection with a cotton-gin and which will rapidly separate the dirt from the cotton and will also condense the cotton, so that it may be easily handled and baled" (lines 10-16). It consists in "[t]he combination of the case or frame having an inlet and its lower end and a hinged downward-curved hood at its upper end with the endless carrier mounted in the said case or frame with its higher end within the curved hood" (lines 47-52).
Date: June 7, 1892
Creator: Wherry, William B. & Smith, William F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Chopper. (open access)

Cotton-Chopper.

Patent for a simple and effective cotton chopper that leaves the plants in bunches that is easily operated and uses a reciprocating motion to rotate the blades and chop the stalks.
Date: March 7, 1893
Creator: Hyde, Frank Sule
System: The Portal to Texas History