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
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
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
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