Corn-Husker. (open access)

Corn-Husker.

Patent for a new and improved machine for husking corn using a rotating wheel with spurs and cutters with combination of a stationary and movable concaves, including illustration.
Date: March 9, 1858
Creator: Fagan, Joseph & Fagan, James L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Arrangement of Devices for Lowering and Detaching Boats. (open access)

Arrangement of Devices for Lowering and Detaching Boats.

Patent for "lowering and detaching life and other small boats from large ships" (lines 5-7), including illustration.
Date: March 16, 1858
Creator: De Veuve, Henry
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Breakwater. (open access)

Breakwater.

Patent for improving seawalls to "preserve channels across the bars at the mouths of rivers, creeks, or canals and between bays and gulfs" (lines 6-8), including illustration.
Date: June 7, 1859
Creator: Armour, D. Hillen
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Converting Reciprocating into Rotary Motion (open access)

Converting Reciprocating into Rotary Motion

Patent for converting reciprocating into rotary motion by using “two vertically moving racks with a cog wheel on a small shaft between them which gears into the teeth of the racks” (lines 16-19), includes illustration.
Date: November 1, 1859
Creator: Harper, C. A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Arrangement for Supplying Air to the Furnaces of Stem-Boilers from the Wheel-Houses of Steamers. (open access)

Arrangement for Supplying Air to the Furnaces of Stem-Boilers from the Wheel-Houses of Steamers.

Patent for the "improvement in supplying air to furnaces on steamers" (lines 5-6), including illustration.
Date: December 20, 1859
Creator: Brandy, Louis
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Fence. (open access)

Wire Fence.

Patent for wire fencing using wooden and iron posts to be more readily seen by cattle, including illustration.
Date: November 8, 1853
Creator: Meriwether, William H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Sawing Marble in Obelisk Form. (open access)

Machine for Sawing Marble in Obelisk Form.

Patent for "a new and Improved Machine for Sawing Marble Blocks in Polygonal Taper Form" (lines 4-6), including illustration.
Date: April 15, 1856
Creator: Haviland, J. E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Threshing Grain in the Field. (open access)

Machine for Threshing Grain in the Field.

Patent for a machine that collects swaths of grain for threshing using hooked teeth arranged in rows, including illustration.
Date: April 14, 1857
Creator: Wilson, J. C. & Wilson, T. G.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window-Fastener. (open access)

Window-Fastener.

Patent for a spring lever for fastening sliding windows, including illustration.
Date: August 31, 1858
Creator: Root, Irving
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Valve-Gear for Steam-Engines. (open access)

Valve-Gear for Steam-Engines.

Patent for improving the cut-off of steam-engines through a simple valve motion, including illustration.
Date: July 30, 1850
Creator: Milner, George B.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in the Manufacture of Black Bottle-Glass. (open access)

Improvement in the Manufacture of Black Bottle-Glass.

Patent for manufacturing black bottle-glass by using "combination with other ingredients, an earthy slate of a peculiar character, called "clay-slate," for the purpose of furnishing the coloring-matter of the glass,as well as forming one of the bases of the glass itself."(line 10-15) Instruction only, no illustration.
Date: September 2, 1856
Creator: McCully, John F.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Propeller of Machinery to be used in Currents. (open access)

Propeller of Machinery to be used in Currents.

Patent for a propelled water wheel that is attached to the back of a vessel that uses a current of water and stream power, including illustrations.
Date: November 18, 1851
Creator: Hardie, James
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Millstone-Dress. (open access)

Millstone-Dress.

Patent for "a new and improved mode of dressing millstones for the purpose of grinding wheat and grain into meal flour" (lines 4-7) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 25, 1854
Creator: Gaines, Edmund P.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Plows. (open access)

Improvement in Plows.

Patent for the improvement of the Rotary-Disk Cutters for plows that enable it to swivel and be supported by guides, including illustration.
Date: April 3, 1855
Creator: Hall, Thomas J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Gang-Plows. (open access)

Improvement in Gang-Plows.

Patent for the improvement of the gang plow by the plows arrangement and pivoted beams to be adjustable for convenience, including illustration.
Date: May 1, 1855
Creator: Hall, Thomas J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mode of Straining Saws by Atmospheric Pressure. (open access)

Mode of Straining Saws by Atmospheric Pressure.

Patent for the improvement of the reciprocating saw by simplifying the arrangement of cylinders, pipes, and exhaust pumps to produce the necessary vacuum, including illustration.
Date: August 14, 1855
Creator: Brown, A. & Coffin, Abel, Jr.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Method of Repairing Circular-Saw Teeth. (open access)

Method of Repairing Circular-Saw Teeth.

Patent for enabling the teeth of circular saws to be drawn out and hammered for repair, including illustration.
Date: June 10, 1856
Creator: Parry, M. L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improved Mode of Regulating the Velocity and Furling the Sails of Wind-Wheels. (open access)

Improved Mode of Regulating the Velocity and Furling the Sails of Wind-Wheels.

Patent for a new windmill using different parts to help regulate the sails and for folding and unfolding the sails, including illustration.
Date: March 24, 1857
Creator: Witting, F. W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Harvesters. (open access)

Improvement in Harvesters.

Patent for cutting grain in gavels at regular intervals along the track of the machine, including illustration.
Date: April 21, 1857
Creator: Wilson, J. C. & Wilson, T. G.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Compositions Used as Building Materials. (open access)

Improvement in Compositions Used as Building Materials.

Patent for making a new kind of building and fencing materials by using farm waste and inorganic settable ingredients such as quick-lime, clay or soil. No illustration.
Date: October 12, 1858
Creator: Raymond, N. C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improved Water-Wheel. (open access)

Improved Water-Wheel.

Patent for the improvement of the water-wheel using curved buckets over a spiral water passage to increase power and volume, including illustration.
Date: February 8, 1859
Creator: Littlepage, C. V.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump. (open access)

Pump.

Patent for a simple, efficient, and low maintenance submerged rotary pump, including illustration.
Date: February 22, 1859
Creator: Fagan, James L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Gins. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Gins.

Patent for the improvement of the cotton-gin by the arrangement of two cylindrical brushes and rollers to reduce damaging the staple of the cotton, illustrations included.
Date: April 19, 1859
Creator: Gottheil, Edward
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Plows. (open access)

Improvement in Plows.

Patent for the improvement of the plow using braces and mold-board for a sturdy and very durable plow, including illustration.
Date: November 15, 1859
Creator: Townsend, John T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History