Car-Starter (open access)

Car-Starter

Patent for "a new and improved car-starter adapted for all kinds of cars and vehicles, being specially of great value on grades" (lines 8-11).
Date: February 5, 1889
Creator: Akers, William P. & Lindsey, John C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists "[i]n combination with the base, the frame having the cross-bars, churn provided with a dasher-shaft, a second shaft passing through cross-bars and connected with the dasher-shaft, pinions . . . secured to the shaft and adapted to rest upon the cross-bars . . . a[nother] shaft journaled in [one of] the cross-bar[s], and a mutilated gear engaging the pinions" (lines 16-24).
Date: June 5, 1888
Creator: Crawford, William H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "relates to an improvement in car-couplings, and has for its object to provide a coupling by means of which the link will be held up and guided into the draw-head, and the coupling-pin held in position to be coupled and automatically thrown into engagement with the link" (lines 7-13).
Date: June 5, 1888
Creator: Rutledge, William O.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blasting Plug. (open access)

Blasting Plug.

Patent for a new and improved blasting plug. This design is "to improve the usefulness and efficiency of the device, to render it capable of more general application, to provide a construction whereby a given charge is rendered more powerful and effective, and to provide a divided blasting-plug . . . The invention consists more particularly in a cylindrical blasting-plug divided longitudinally into two separate or independent sections, one of which is formed with a disk-head having a vent orifice and made coextensive with the external caliber of the plug when the two sections are placed together" (lines 12-29).
Date: November 5, 1889
Creator: Holsey, Julius H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Recutting Files. (open access)

Apparatus for Recutting Files.

Patent for a new and improved file re-cutter. This design consists "[i]n an apparatus for recutting files by electro-chemical action, the dialectric plates and the carbon plates having their upper ends attached to said non-conducting plates, whereby the files to be recut are disposed between the carbon plates when in the solution" (lines 76-82).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Emley, James E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupler. (open access)

Car-Coupler.

Patent for a car-coupler, with illustrations. The purpose of this patent for a car-coupler was to improve existing car-couplings by providing, "safe, convenient, and expeditious means for readily coupling and uncoupling sections of cars with the danger incurred of getting between them" (lines 12-16).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Williamson, John A., JR.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Brake. (open access)

Car Brake.

Patent for a new and improved car-brake. This design consists in "brake-shoes [which] are jointed by pivots to brake-blocks of the usual form, which are suspended from the truck-timbers by suitable suspending links or clevises, so that they may have a free longitudinal movement when acted upon by the actuating mechanism, and said blocks and brake-shoes are separated by transverse brake-bars, in order that they may be kept truly in-line with the car-wheels at all times" (lines 16-25).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Greer, John William
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cultivator and Corn-Planter (open access)

Combined Cultivator and Corn-Planter

Patent for improvements in the design and construction of combined cultivators and planters.
Date: July 5, 1887
Creator: Wright, Samuel Winfield
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Andiron (open access)

Andiron

Patent for improvements to andiron or "fire-dogs".
Date: July 5, 1887
Creator: Steele, Oliver
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boot or Shoe Brace. (open access)

Boot or Shoe Brace.

Patent for a new and improved brace for shoes and boots. This design "relates to a brace adapted to be applied to boots and shoes, and is designed as a brace for the counter, heel, and instep; and it has for its object to provide a brace . . . which shall be simple in its construction, one that may be readily and easily applied, and manufactured and supplied at a slight cost" (lines 9-16).
Date: May 5, 1885
Creator: Awalt, Jessee C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a suitable frame having a fly-wheel mounted in bearings thereof, and a wrist-pin on said fly-wheel, of the lever pivoted to the frame at one end" (lines 95-98). Further, it consists in "carrying a pivoted dasher at its other end, said lever having a slot or opening to receive the wrist-pin, a crank-arm, a treadle pivoted to the frame at one end, and carrying a handle at its other end, and a rod connecting the treadle and crank-arm" (lines 1-6).
Date: May 5, 1885
Creator: Rogers, William Joseph
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn Dasher. (open access)

Churn Dasher.

Patent for a new and improved churn dasher. This design, "[a]s an article of manufacture, [consists in] the conical or concavo-convex churn dasher having a circular rim, the air cups or cells, the arms, and the raised nave or center portion, all of concavo-convex shape in their transverse sections" (lines 28-33).
Date: May 5, 1885
Creator: Hale, James F.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "relates to a car-coupling constructed with draw-heads having stationary hooks and recesses in their sides, and provided with pivoted hooks held in place by springs, and provided with a trip plate and lever, and with chains and a lever, whereby the cars will couple themselves when run together, can be readily uncoupled, will uncouple themselves when thrown from the track, and can be prevented from coupling when run together" (lines 23-32).
Date: May 5, 1885
Creator: Griffin, James Lee
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling Press. (open access)

Baling Press.

Patent for a new and improved baling press. This design consists in "the combination of sill having uprights or fulcrums, levers mounted upon the latter, a follow-block connected to the inner ends of said levers by loose joints, a vertically-sliding follower, rods connecting the outer ends of said follower with the outer ends of the levers, and mechanism for operating the follower . . . the follower moving vertically above the sill, levers pivoted to uprights or fulcrums upon the sill, and having inner beveled ends, a follow-block loosely jointed between the inner ends of said levers" (lines 64-77).
Date: February 5, 1884
Creator: Robburts, George W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Marking Brush. (open access)

Cotton Marking Brush.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-marking brush. This design has for one of its objects "is to construct a brush that will permit the trimming down of the bristles at an angle without injuring or damaging the brush. . . . In marking cotton-bales and the like a brush with an inclined edge is desirable" (lines 16-21).
Date: February 5, 1884
Creator: Pfeifer, Gustav
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cultivator and Cotton and Corn Planter. (open access)

Combined Cultivator and Cotton and Corn Planter.

Patent for a new implement "for planting cotton-seed, cultivating the soil, and covering the soil" (lines 14-15) and corn (line 61) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: McCall, Duncan Jefferson
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bridle Attachment. (open access)

Bridle Attachment.

Patent for a new and improved bridle attachment. This design "consists of a contrivance of nose-clamping strap having end rings through which pass the ends of a chin-strap connected by reign-straps passing through rings of a head-strap of the attachment . . . the invention comprising also a connection of the martingale-straps with the rings of the nose-clamping straps . . . to powerfully check up the horse when required, and also to prevent rearing and plunging" (lines 9-20).
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: Massey, John T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blind Stops. (open access)

Blind Stops.

Patent for a new and improved stop for blinds. This design "is to provide a convenient means by which blind-slats may be swung on their pivots, so as to open or close to the extent desired" (lines 8-11).
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: Vandervoort, Charles Frederick
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Watch-Barrel. (open access)

Watch-Barrel.

Patent for a winding mechanism for watches, related to the barrel and rachet of the winding mechanism, with illustrations and instructions included.
Date: November 5, 1880
Creator: Martin, Josiah
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Whiffletree. (open access)

Whiffletree.

Patent for a new and improved whiffletree. This design utilizes a removable eye and removable rings, so "when [they have] become worn [they] may be removed and [others] substituted, thus prolonging the usefulness of the single tree for years" (lines 48-51).
Date: October 5, 1880
Creator: Miller, Rudolph A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design utilizes "a draw-head, formed with the usual flaring mouth, and interior cavity. . . . the interior of the draw-head is narrowing from the mouth to the center of the pin, and widening from the latter backward. The object of this construction is, that it directs the entering link to the pin, and increases the power of resistance of the latter to the strain" (lines 23-33).
Date: April 5, 1881
Creator: Nuckols, William L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cork Extractor. (open access)

Cork Extractor.

Patent for a new and improved cork extractor. This design consists, "with the side-slitted cork, of the double-wire extractor having loop ends engaging the slits of the cork and extending beyond the same and the securing-wire passing through said loop ends and around the shoulder of the bottle-neck" (lines 47-52).
Date: October 5, 1886
Creator: Crump, William E., Jr.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Window Lock. (open access)

Car Window Lock.

Patent for a new and improved car-window lock. This design consists in "the sliding crank-shaped spring-actuated bolt for locking the window, in combination with the oscillating cam acting upon the bolt to unlock it, said cam having a lateral arm with a spring-guide hinged thereto, a spring surrounding the guide, and means for swinging the cam and thus retracting the bolt" (lines 21-27).
Date: October 5, 1886
Creator: Cutter, Martin A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle-Brake. (open access)

Vehicle-Brake.

Patent for vehicle-brake, with description and illustrations.
Date: March 5, 1885
Creator: McIntosh, John L.; Bacon, Edward Hamlin & Vail, Theron
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History