Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire stretcher. This design consists in "[t]he combination . . . of the side bars having a toothed wheel journaled between them and provided with a crank, a set of cross bars or bolts connecting the two side bars, a pawl hung upon one of the cross-bars and having its toothed end arranged to abut against the teeth of the wheel, and a chain passing over the toothed wheel and underneath the pawl" (lines 67-76).
Date: May 21, 1889
Creator: Stiles, Frederick
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insecticide (open access)

Insecticide

Patent for "a compound or composition for the extermination of ants, moles, salamanders, prairie-dogs, large rats, &c." (lines 11-13).
Date: August 21, 1888
Creator: Simpson, James Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon Brake. (open access)

Wagon Brake.

Patent for a new and improved wagon brake. This design consists "[i]n the brake-beams pivoted in the clamp, in combination with the bent rods, castings, brake-blocks, and lever" (lines 87-89).
Date: February 21, 1882
Creator: Zellers, Robert Emanuel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Landside for Plows. (open access)

Landside for Plows.

Patent for a new and improved plow landside. This design "consists in a landside for plows made with a slotted flange to rest upon the forward side of the plow-standard, and a flange to rest upon the bottom of the furrow, whereby the plow will be made stronger, more durable, and more effective, and will be made to run steadier . . . The object of this invention is to increase the strength and durability of plow-plates, and obtain the efficiency and steadiness of ordinary turn-plows without their weight" (lines 21-31).
Date: August 21, 1883
Creator: Wherry, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Landside Cutter for Plows. (open access)

Landside Cutter for Plows.

Patent for a new and improved landside cutter for plows. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a colter . . . and the landside attachment secured to the landside of the plow, the said landside attachment having the laterally-extending cutting-wing . . . the plate in front of the landside attachment, and the colter on the front edge of the said plate" (lines 66-75).
Date: September 21, 1886
Creator: Reed, Benjamin B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wind Wheel. (open access)

Wind Wheel.

Patent for a new and improved windmill. This design "consists in a novel arrangement and combination of wings or gates in a casing outside and independent of the wheel, whereby provision is made for adjusting the position of said wings, and consequently regulating the speed of the wheel, according to the force of the wind" (lines 7-13).
Date: September 21, 1880
Creator: Smith, Hilliard Bonaparte.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window Frame. (open access)

Window Frame.

Patent for a new and improved window frame. This design "has for its objects to provide an improved means for holding the sash of a window in any position to which it may be elevated, and at the same time permit the sash to be readily moved up or down" (lines 11-15).
Date: February 21, 1882
Creator: Sturm, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench. (open access)

Wrench.

Patent for a new and improved wrench. This design is "especially adapted for manipulating pipe-joints, though applicable, also, for use in manipulating nuts, &c.; and it consists in the [novel] detailed construction and combination of operating parts" (lines 24-28).
Date: September 21, 1880
Creator: Weir, Duncan
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire stretcher. This design "relates to that class of wire stretchers or tighteners which are adapted to be applied upon the strands of wire forming a fence, and are used to tighten or stretch the same by winding the strand about one end of the device and engaging the other end of the latter with the strand" ( lines 11-17).
Date: April 21, 1885
Creator: Irvine, John B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window Screen Holder. (open access)

Window Screen Holder.

Patent for a new and improved window-screen holder. This design "consists in the combination, with a window-frame and a window-screen held in the same, of wires secured on the casing of the frame and having bends near their upper ends, and of hook-eyes held on the sides of the screen-frame and surrounding the wires. The invention also consists in a plate pivoted to the under side of the bottom rail of the screen-frame for covering a recess formed in the under edge and inner side of the said rail or piece" (lines 13-23).
Date: April 21, 1885
Creator: Barlow, Henry C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Packing Cotton. (open access)

Machine for Packing Cotton.

Patent for a new and improved packer. This design consists "[i]n a cotton-packer, the combination of the frame, guides mounted therein, rack-bars moving in the said guides, a press-box and steam-cylinder, and heads secured to the rack-bars and moving in the press-box and cylinder, respectively, cog-wheels of different diameters journaled in the frame and meshing with the rack-bars, and anti-friction rollers pivoted in the guides and bearing against the rack-bars" (lines 4-13).
Date: May 21, 1889
Creator: Brady, Farley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ventilating Apparatus. (open access)

Ventilating Apparatus.

Patent for a new and improved ventilator. This design consists in "a fan casing, constructed and arranged . . . of the fan arranged therein, the gearing placed above the fan, the air-ducts leading to the fan-chamber, the endless weighted chain or cord, and drums and pulleys . . . [and] an open bottom secured to a ceiling and communicating with air-ducts passing between the floor and ceiling of a building" (lines 80-90).
Date: September 21, 1886
Creator: Garfield, John Morris
System: The Portal to Texas History
Well Bucket Fixture. (open access)

Well Bucket Fixture.

Patent for a new and improved well-bucket fixture. This design "is to provide for the ready opening of the valve for entrance into the bucket of water or other fluid, and the closing of the same when the same bucket has been sufficiently supplied; also securely to hold the parts together as against loosening in consequence of frequent usage; and it consists in the detailed construction, combination, and arrangement of the parts" (lines 11-19).
Date: September 21, 1886
Creator: Atkin, Samuel T. & Steele, Oliver
System: The Portal to Texas History
Watch Case Pendant. (open access)

Watch Case Pendant.

Patent for a new and improved watch-case pendant. This design "is to improve the construction of the bow and crown-holder of stem-winding watches, so that they will be prevented from working loose. Furthermore, to produce a bow and crown-holder which may readily be attached to watches having the ordinary holder thereon, and, finally, to produce a stem which shall be simple of construction, and which may be attached to a watch with but a slight expense" (lines 15-24).
Date: May 21, 1889
Creator: Rohrer, Edmond Charles & Joseph, Isidora
System: The Portal to Texas History
Medical Compond (open access)

Medical Compond

Patent for “medical compound designed for the treatment of diseases of the throat and lungs” (lines 10-12).
Date: December 21, 1880
Creator: Rippetoe, Amasa
System: The Portal to Texas History
Store Counter. (open access)

Store Counter.

Patent for a new and improved store counter. This design "consists in the construction and novel arrangement of the horizontal slideways in the lower portion of the counter extending from front to rear, the rectangular slide-frames working therein, and the angular boxes pivoted by their lower and middle portions to the slide-frames and reversible therein by a rocking movement" (lines 17-24).
Date: February 21, 1882
Creator: Conrad, William Jenkens
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow-Carriage. (open access)

Plow-Carriage.

Patent for new improvements on plow-carriages design including illustrations.
Date: December 21, 1880
Creator: McNorton, John Tomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mixture For Fish-Baits. (open access)

Mixture For Fish-Baits.

Patent for a coating for fish-bait of any kind which includes ingredients and instructions. The ingredients are water, asafeotida {(foul smelling gum resin from the root of several species of Ferula, a perennial herb) see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3459456/}, oil of anise, and honey.
Date: October 21, 1884
Creator: Bates, Carol F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Means for Propelling Railway Cars. (open access)

Means for Propelling Railway Cars.

Patent for a new and improved means for propelling railway cars. This design "relates to motive power for railway-cars, and the purpose thereof is to provide a simple combination of parts whereby each car may be impelled by a separate motor, the entire series throughout a line or train of cars being supplied with energy from a common source, whereby the full horse-power of a steam-boiler may be applied in a manner enabling it to be utilized to the greatest possible advantage and to the utmost extent" (lines 10-20).
Date: May 21, 1889
Creator: Keith, John M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spark Arrester. (open access)

Spark Arrester.

Patent for a new and improved spark arrester for train smokestacks. This design is of "a locomotive-engine, a pipe or pipes for conveying sparks from the smoke-stack, in combination of a diaphragm or cone placed in the stack and a steam or water chamber placed around the discharge of said pipe or pipes" (lines 88-93).
Date: February 21, 1882
Creator: Nichols, George B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spark Arrester for Smoke Stacks. (open access)

Spark Arrester for Smoke Stacks.

Patent for a new and improved spark arrester. This design consists "a direct flue or smoke-stack . . . [which] projects and deflects the sparks or cinders through perforations in a vertical wall of a stack into a dead-air space that surrounds the draft-flue, there causing these sparks . . . to impinge against vertical ribs that subdivide the annular air-space that intervenes between an inner and outer cylindrical wall of the stack, gravity of the accumulating mass of cinders causing their discharge . . . through gates that are opened by the weight of the sparks above them and closed by their own gravity" (lines 15-30).
Date: June 21, 1887
Creator: Wilson, Martin M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Press for Expressing Oil from Cotton and Other Seeds. (open access)

Press for Expressing Oil from Cotton and Other Seeds.

Patent for a new and improved oil-press. This design "consists in certain novel constructions and combination of the pressing-plates with each other and the ram of the press, and in means for operating said plates in independent series, whereby great efficiency is obtained, and the plates, which are guttered or grooved, may be readily cleaned" (lines 18-24).
Date: December 21, 1886
Creator: Baumgarten, Christian
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the plow-beam, the slotted and braced standard, and the adjustable land-bar, of the winged attachment formed with perforated lugs, the plow-point formed with upper and lower extensions and secured to said attachment" (lines 95-100).
Date: August 21, 1888
Creator: Wied, August & Lürssen, Henrich
System: The Portal to Texas History
Suspended Safe, &c. (open access)

Suspended Safe, &c.

Patent for a new and improved safe. This design "[has a] top projecting beyond its sides . . . in combination with the upright posts having liquid-cups, the rods, and sleeves for suspending the safe from contact with any object" (lines 79-83).
Date: March 21, 1882
Creator: Mason, Sanford
System: The Portal to Texas History