Car-Replacer. (open access)

Car-Replacer.

Patent for a car-replacer that is meant to "provide a strong and compact skid of comparatively light weight to form the body portion of the car-replacer and which shall be especially adapted to raise the car-wheels above the track, deflect toward them toward the rails until the tread of the wheels is suspended over the ball of the rails from an inclined surface terminating in a rounded end, over which the wheels move until they meet the track" (lines 12-21). The car-replacer does not have any liability of the skid tilting endwise or sidewise.
Date: October 15, 1895
Creator: Ragan, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Door Cleat and Fastener. (open access)

Car-Door Cleat and Fastener.

Patent for "a simple and comparatively-inexpensive car-door cleat and fastener designed for use on cars for transporting cotton and other highly-inflammable merchandise and capable of effectually excluding sparks from the interior of the car and of preventing the same from entering between the edge of the door and the doorway." (Lines 11-18) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 22, 1895
Creator: Woodruff, Hawkins
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Tightening Implement. (open access)

Wire-Tightening Implement.

Patent for a wire-tightening implement meant to tightening wires in fences by making loops or twists in the wires. It has two handles forming jaws around a fulcrum, the jaws have flat faces with parallel grooves, and the jaws coming together at their ends. The grooves in the jaws form different sized loops.
Date: October 15, 1895
Creator: West, James M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trap. (open access)

Trap.

Patent for a hunting trap that will "effectively prevent the escape of the captives." (Line 17) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 15, 1895
Creator: Wallace, Bar P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Process of Purifying Vegetable Oils. (open access)

Process of Purifying Vegetable Oils.

Patent for a process of purifying vegetable oils, specifically cottonseed oil, using a little or no soap-stock and without losing oil. It also improves the purifying process. This process is meant for crude oil, but can be used to further refine already refined oil.
Date: October 1, 1895
Creator: Latting, Richard G., Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Music-Case. (open access)

Music-Case.

Patent for a "music case or holder for carrying, protecting, and using sheet-music, and is so constructed that by its use the music is not rolled nor creased, is held in place, and it is not necessary to take the music from the case when it is to be used." (Lines 8-13) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 22, 1895
Creator: Ray, Theodore
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hame-Fastener. (open access)

Hame-Fastener.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive hame-fastener that has "two adjustable parts, one of which is provided with hooks to be engaged by means on the other part" (lines 11-13). The invention is adjustable and does not unlock or disengage accidentally but can easily be unlocked on purpose.
Date: October 15, 1895
Creator: Anderson, Lee
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire-Kindling Cartridge. (open access)

Fire-Kindling Cartridge.

Patent for an improved fire-kindling cartridge which "consists, essentially, in a cartridge made in two sections, each composed of coiled wire, with their outer end tapering or contracted, forming a conical point, a sleeve of coiled wire with which the inner ends of said sections engage, and a filling of asbestos or other material." (Lines 25-31) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 8, 1895
Creator: Flatau, Louis Spencer
System: The Portal to Texas History
Shovel-Plow. (open access)

Shovel-Plow.

Patent for a strong, durable, and inexpensive shovel-plow that consists of a beam "made in two equal longitudinal, rear-curved sections bolted together in front and rear in combination with the slotted adjustable heelpiece secured between the beam-sections, and the handles bolted to the curve of the beam" (lines 42-47), braces for the handles, and a spacer.
Date: October 1, 1895
Creator: Schoenfelder, August
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine. (open access)

Washing-Machine.

Patent for simple, inexpensive, and fast-acting a washing-machine for clothes and dishes. It does not take much work to use. It has two bodies that are secured together.
Date: October 22, 1895
Creator: Brooks, Richard P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Flower-Pot. (open access)

Flower-Pot.

Patent for a flower-pot that doesn't damage the roots of the plant while transplanting the plant. The pot has a removable bottom and sides made from sheet metal with clasps.
Date: October 29, 1895
Creator: Simpson, McDuff
System: The Portal to Texas History
Expansible Pulley (open access)

Expansible Pulley

Patent for "expansible pulleys, or pulleys of that character or description which may be expanded or contracted, so as to increase or decrease the circumference thereof." (Lines 15-18) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 8, 1895
Creator: Kennerly, Samuel J. & Cox, Thomas J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence-Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Fence-Wire Stretcher.

Patent for an efficient, compact, and durable fence-wire stretcher that works on any size fence-post. It is an "easily and quickly applied means for clamping and drawing together the ends of a broken fence-wire" (lines 14-16).
Date: October 8, 1895
Creator: Day, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for "new and useful improvements in plows; and it has for its object the production of simple and highly-efficient means for regulating the depth and penetration of the plowshare in all kinds and conditions of soil." (Lines 10-15) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 22, 1895
Creator: Sinclair, James & Sellers, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Refrigerator. (open access)

Refrigerator.

Patent for a refrigerator especially designed to cool meat, dairy, and other farm products. It uses little ice and cools using vaporization.
Date: October 1, 1895
Creator: Elder, Philip T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pipe-Wrench. (open access)

Pipe-Wrench.

Patent for a pipe-wrench that can "be adjusted to fit accurately pipes and rods from the smallest to the largest of those in more common use, that will grip each with almost any desired degree of force and yet will not materially mar or injure it, and that may also be used for ends not usually possible with pipe-wrenches" (lines 12-18).
Date: October 15, 1895
Creator: McCauley, John H. & Winfrey, Edgar M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dumping-Wagon. (open access)

Dumping-Wagon.

Patent for a simple and durable dumping-wagon that "consists principally of a body made in two pivoted parts and a lever fulcrumed on the wagon-frame and adapted to impart a swinging motion to the said parts to the dump of the body" (lines 12-16).
Date: October 29, 1895
Creator: Theobald, John J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Calf-Weaner. (open access)

Calf-Weaner.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive calf-weaner muzzle, that can also be used for colts, and is an "attachment for securing a barbed frame to a halter, whereby the frame is maintained in the operative position without interfering with the adjustment of the members of the halter to suit the size of the head of the animal" (lines 10-15).
Date: October 29, 1895
Creator: Sone, Charles W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Cleaning Apparatus. (open access)

Cotton-Cleaning Apparatus.

Patent for a cotton-cleaning apparatus made up of "a stationary foraminous case or drum having an inlet-opening in the upper side of its small end, a rotary shaft extending centrally through the case or drum and having a plurality of spirally-arranged at the large end of the foraminous case and having a discharge-pipe for conveying the cotton to the point where it is to be deposited or discharged - as, for instance, into gins or gin-feeders" (lines 9-19). The cotton goes in one end, the cotton is elevated, beater-arms move the cotton along, and fans drive the cotton to the gins.
Date: October 8, 1895
Creator: Murray, Stephen D.
System: The Portal to Texas History