Bellows Attachment for Barrels. (open access)

Bellows Attachment for Barrels.

Patent for a new and improved bellows attachment for barrels. This design "provide[s] means for securely attaching the bellows to the barrels, so as to exclude the admission of air, except such as is forced in by the bellows; and a further object of the same provides for the shutting off the flow of liquid, as desired" (lines 13-18).
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Park, Hardy B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Balanced Pump. (open access)

Balanced Pump.

Patent for a new and improved balanced pump. This design "relates to improvements in balanced pumps having a horizontal cylinder provided with a horizontally-reciprocating plunger, and a curved cylinder placed directly under it, provided with a curved plunger, both having suitable valves operating automatically in conjunction therewith" (lines 8-14).
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Ramsey, Haley S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Hay Press and Horse Power. (open access)

Combined Hay Press and Horse Power.

Patent for a combined hay-press and horse-power with illustrations.
Date: January 1, 1884
Creator: Randle, William, Sr
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Seed Planter and Fertilizer Distributer (open access)

Combined Seed Planter and Fertilizer Distributer

Patent for device for planting, fertilizing, and cultivating seed and grain.
Date: April 1, 1884
Creator: Pickle, William Chesley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Plow (open access)

Rotary Plow

Patent for a rotary plow. "It pertains to improvements in rotary plows" (p. 4). There is a detailed illustration of the rotary plow. Each component is labeled and it is described thoroughly in the text.
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Willis, W. Beale
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wood Pavement. (open access)

Wood Pavement.

Patent for a new and improved wood pavement. This design "consists in a pavement consisting of wooden blocks stripped of bark, cylindrical in shape, and sawed at right angles to the axis of the blocks. Said blocks of live bois d'arc or other hard timber, about six inches long, and placed on ends on a road-bed of bank sand and gravel after the same has been well and compactly rolled, and the spaces between the blocks filled with screened gravel and rammed until solid, and then coated with tar and pitch" (lines 12-22).
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Johnson, William M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Portable Saw Mill. (open access)

Portable Saw Mill.

Patent for a new and improved portable saw mill. This design "is to produce a portable saw-mill of such cheap and economical plan as can be built and repaired in almost any locality. The invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the parts" (lines 12-17).
Date: April 1, 1884
Creator: Rodgers, William Crittington
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spring-Bottom Camp-Bed (open access)

Spring-Bottom Camp-Bed

Patent for an improved, less expensive, and easier to use camp bed granted to William Green Holden.
Date: April 1, 1884
Creator: Holden, William Green
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock. (open access)

Nut Lock.

Patent for a new and improved nut lock. This design "consists of a volute spring-washer which is formed of a stiff or steel strong plate that is coiled or set up in . . . an edgewise manner, and is provided with one or more projections or spurs on its top and bottom surfaces, adapted to engage with the under side of the nut and the fish-plate or other object, said spurs or projections being formed on the top and the bottom edges of the inner and outer coils of the spring-washer" (lines 20-29).
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Campbell, Eli F.; Noble, Laroy C. & Howe, Milton G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Refrigerating Apparatus. (open access)

Refrigerating Apparatus.

Patent for a new and improved refrigerator. This design "consists, essentially, in a series of vessels surrounded or enveloped by fibrous material, dipping into a water-vessel above, and serving to maintain a constant supply of water to the exterior of the vessels through capillary action, the water being caused to pass down in such quantity as to drip from the bottoms of the vessels and collect in a second tank supplying a second series of vessels in the same manner, and finally to collect in a suitable vessel below, intermediate filtering apparatus being provided or not, as required" (lines 9-20).
Date: January 1, 1884
Creator: Dodge, Frances A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Drag Saw. (open access)

Drag Saw.

Patent for a new and improved drag saw. This design "is to provide a simple, inexpensive, durable, and easily-operated machine for cross-cutting timber for railway-ties and material, or for cord-wood, stove-wood, or other uses" (lines 7-11).
Date: January 1, 1884
Creator: Bennett, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History