Resource Type

Air-Ship. (open access)

Air-Ship.

Patent for a self-propelled, navigable air ship. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 12, 1891
Creator: Walker, James C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal-Poke. (open access)

Animal-Poke.

Patent for an animal-poke that is "placed over the animal's neck and provided with spurs, whereby the animal is pricked when he attempts to pass a fence or other barrier" (lines 9-12). This invention doesn't prick the animal while it is grazing and is more comfortable to wear than similar animal-pokes.
Date: January 14, 1896
Creator: Dickey, John S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Anti-Friction Sucker-Rod Coupling. (open access)

Anti-Friction Sucker-Rod Coupling.

Patent for an anti-frictioin sucker-rod coupling. This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in sectional sucker-rods for artesian, oil, and other wells, and has for its object to provide an improved construction of coupling-joint for connecting the sections of the rods together.
Date: January 26, 1892
Creator: Black, William L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Antirefilling Bottle. (open access)

Antirefilling Bottle.

Patent for a bottle that can be easily sealed but cannot be resealed after opened. There is a groove in the neck of the bottle, and the cork is placed below the groove. The cork is hollowed out and a plug is placed in the cork. The cork is hollowed out and a plug with a groove around it is placed in the cork.An elastic compressible locking-ring fits in the gap the groove in the bottle and the groove in the plug create.
Date: January 5, 1897
Creator: Nevill, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Baling Cotton. (open access)

Apparatus for Baling Cotton.

Patent for improvements to an apparatus that softens and compresses cotton, and prevents clogging and breakage. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 5, 1890
Creator: Goldthwaite, Joseph G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Heating up Locomotive-Boilers. (open access)

Apparatus for Heating up Locomotive-Boilers.

Patent for an "apparatus for kindling fires in locomotives; and it is intended to provide an improved apparatus by which the fires may be rapidly and economically kindled and steam may be gotten up without much of the tedious delay now ordinarily incident to raising steam in a cold locomotive-boiler." (Lines 13-19) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 21, 1896
Creator: Connor, John T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Protecting Electrical Circuits. (open access)

Apparatus for Protecting Electrical Circuits.

Patent for an apparatus for protecting electrical circuits, and is an improvement on a previous patent (No. 537,932) issued to the inventor. This patent consists of "an electrical circuit, an alarm or indicator, a continuously-operating signal-transmitter at the protected structure operating to affect or influence the alarm or indicator, and a second or duplicate continuously-operating signal-transmitter located at the watchman's station, operating in unison with the first-named signal-transmitter to affect the alarm or indicator equally and oppositely as regards the first-named transmitter, whereby a signal is sounded or an alarm given only when the two transmitters are out of unison or when one is changed, varied, or interfered with in an unauthorized manner" (lines 72-86).
Date: January 7, 1896
Creator: Oram, John M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Washing and Draining Dishes. (open access)

Apparatus for Washing and Draining Dishes.

Patent for a new and improved dishwasher. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a pan provided near its top on the inner side with rigidly-attached brackets, with a tray in the form of a pan whose side and bottom portions are perforated . . . the tray being of less diameter and height than the pan and provided on its outer side near the bottom with brackets and on its upper edge with handles" (lines 94-101).
Date: January 14, 1890
Creator: Caradine, Virginia C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Artesian Well Borer. (open access)

Artesian Well Borer.

Patent for a new and improved artesian-well borer. This design "will be actuated by the weight of the connecting-rods and sink-wells in rock, gravel, earth, or sand without the use of water" (lines 13-16). It consists "[i]n an earth or rock auger, the combination, with a tube and a shank reciprocating in said tube and adapted to operate the auger, of dogs adapted to be projected through the tube by the reciprocation of the shank to engage the well-casing and hold the said tube from rotary movement" (lines 62-68).
Date: January 20, 1891
Creator: Logan, Thomas H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Artificial-Stone Composition (open access)

Artificial-Stone Composition

Patent for "an artificial stone adapted for all purposes to which natural stone can be applied, and which can be given any desired shape while in a plastic state, or carved and polished after hardening" (lines 12-18).
Date: January 28, 1890
Creator: Blackmon, Albert M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Artificial Tooth. (open access)

Artificial Tooth.

Patent for a new and useful artificial tooth for "supplying missing teeth or crowning roots" (line 10 -11).
Date: January 11, 1898
Creator: Carroll, Houston Monroe
System: The Portal to Texas History
Attachment for Cotton Plows. (open access)

Attachment for Cotton Plows.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design consists, "with the plow-stock provided with a staple near the lower end of the standard, having an opening formed with a series of parallel sides, and a staple on the beam . . . consisting of a series of bails of the fender-plate rigidly secured to the rod, the lower end of said rod being formed in cross-section of a series of parallel sides, said end adapted to fit and be adjusted in said staple, the upper end of the rod being adapted to be adjusted in any one of the bails of the staple" (lines 7-18).
Date: January 7, 1890
Creator: Collier, Johnathan T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Attachment for Disk Harrows. (open access)

Attachment for Disk Harrows.

Patent for improvements in disk harrows, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 10, 1889
Creator: Moffitt, William E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Band-Brake for Railway-Cars (open access)

Automatic Band-Brake for Railway-Cars

Patent for "a brake of simple and inexpensive construction, that may be readily attached to steam or tramway cars, that is automatic in its working, and to do away with the brake-beams now employed, which through their breaking down are two-thirds of the causes of car derailments" (lines 19-26).
Date: January 27, 1891
Creator: Inglis, Thomas & Schiermann, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Electric Alarm. (open access)

Automatic Electric Alarm.

Patent for an inexpensive, simple, and durable automatic electric alarm that allows people in house or hotel rooms, mines, ships, shops, etc. to signal for another person. The alarm is wired to a clock so it can be programmed to go off at a certain time.
Date: January 7, 1896
Creator: Stansel, Thomas J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Electric Alarm. (open access)

Automatic Electric Alarm.

Patent for an automatic electric alarm meant to be hooked up to an automatic dry-pipe sprinkler system, and protects against fire. The alarm goes off when the air in the sprinkler pipes falls below a predetermined level. This invention also signals an alert when there is a leak in the pipes, and is an improvement on the circuit-wires for similar alarms.
Date: January 7, 1896
Creator: Williams, George Bayley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Repeating Railroad-Signal. (open access)

Automatic Repeating Railroad-Signal.

Patent for an automatic repeating railroad-signal designed to be used with semaphore and other train-signaling apparatus. It eliminates mistakes made in notifying the central office and automatically reports "any change in the position or color of the signal to a central office over the ordinary telegraph-wire" (lines 14-16). The signal is a wheel that operates a key to send a message to the central office.
Date: January 28, 1896
Creator: Innes, Robert Hayward
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Stopping Mechanism for Engines. (open access)

Automatic Stopping Mechanism for Engines.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in automatic stopping mechanism for engines.
Date: January 11, 1898
Creator: Hunter, Victor Emmet
System: The Portal to Texas History
Awning. (open access)

Awning.

Patent for a new and improved awning. This design consists in "[t]he awning frame, consisting of the pivoted curved rods, pivoted sectional braces pivotally connected to said rods, and the holding or suspending bars pivoted to said rods and having series of adjusting-apertures engaging pins or studs of said braces" (lines 74-79).
Date: January 14, 1890
Creator: Allen, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Awning-Bracket. (open access)

Awning-Bracket.

Patent for a rigid, strong, and adjustable to different inclinations awning-bracket meant to be permanently attached to a building. It can be folded for shipment or storage.
Date: January 14, 1896
Creator: Harry, Owen K.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Back and Shoulder Brace. (open access)

Back and Shoulder Brace.

Patent for a new and useful back-support and shoulder-brace. This invention "relates to means for strengthening and supporting the back and shoulders of persons engaged in occupations which require stooping" (line 8-11).
Date: January 4, 1898
Creator: Bassett, James Andrews
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Machine. (open access)

Baling-Machine.

Patent for a "cotton bale provided with a fire-proof covering in the form of a box or casing of sheet metal, and to have the same so applied to the bale in the process of compressing the cotton in forming the bale, that the said covering will of itself form the entire means for holding the bale intact and in its tightly compressed condition, while serving its additional function as a shipping case which will protect the bale of cotton from fire, and from all possible damage incidental to transportation and storage." (Lines 16-27) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 29, 1895
Creator: Hutches, Benjamin F., Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling - Press (open access)

Baling - Press

Patent for a new and improved hay pressing or baling machine. This design "relates to presses or baling-machines, and more particularly to that class which are worked bu hand-power" (line 9 - 11).
Date: January 18, 1898
Creator: Younger, William Turner
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press. (open access)

Baling-Press.

Patent for a baling-press meant to bale cotton. In this machine, "the power as applied to the plunger is increased in proportion to the resistance offered by the material being baled and whereby the forward movement of the plunger is automatically checked at the limit of its path and is returned to its initial positioin without effort upon the part of the operator" (lines 10-17).
Date: January 5, 1897
Creator: Anderson, Alva E.
System: The Portal to Texas History