Blind-Stop. (open access)

Blind-Stop.

Patent for improvements in blind-slat adjusters and locks by providing a plate to secure the cross-stile of the blind; in which the plate having a slotted right-angled portion. “A bar pivoted to the slat-rod and having its lower end bent at the right angle, a screw passed through the slat and provided with a handle. (Lines 96-99) “When the handle is turned to the left, the slats can be adjusted into any desired position, and when in their adjusted position all that it is necessary to do is to turn the handle to the right which binds the parts together and holds the slats against movement.” (Lines 82-87) Illustration is included.
Date: August 18, 1891
Creator: Roll, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Paper-File. (open access)

Paper-File.

Patent for improvements in paper-files by using a "combination of a base board and a clamp provided with a jaw, a presser-foot provided with a bearing, a crank-shaft journaled in the bearing with its cranked portion under the clamp, and a hinged support or flap under the presser-foot." (Lines 75-80, p. 2) Papers can be held in position or remove by the raising or lowering the presser-foot. Illustration is included.
Date: August 18, 1891
Creator: Clopton, John B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Soap-Making Apparatus. (open access)

Soap-Making Apparatus.

Patent for improvements in soap-making apparatus by using the “same frames to mix the ingredients and in cooling the prepared mass, thus obviating the necessity of the removal of the mixed mass from the mixing-frame to a cooling-frame.” (Lines 11-15) Illustration
Date: August 18, 1891
Creator: Grant, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for improvements in reversible plows: "The object of the present invention is to simplify and improve the construction of reversible plows and enable them to be adjusted to any desired depth" (lines 9-12).
Date: August 18, 1891
Creator: McKay, Robert B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Game-Table. (open access)

Game-Table.

Patent for improvement in game-table in which it provided with a table similar in construction to the ordinary billiard-table. “A series of spring-pressed levers fulcrumed in the lower end of a casing and each provided at its upper end with a hook and at its lower end with a ball extending over the floor of the table.” (P. 2, lines 67-71) This game is played by using one or more balls to strike a series of balls that are arranged along the bottom of a casing, causing the levers to disengaged the rods, therefore revealing a card through an opening formed in the front of the casing. Illustration is included.
Date: August 18, 1891
Creator: Patillo, John P. W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Detachable Handle and Spring-Catch. (open access)

Detachable Handle and Spring-Catch.

Patent for improvements in detachable handles and spring-catches for valises, satchels, traveling-bags, and the like in which a handle “may be readily detached from the valise, and devices for automatically engaging and locking the handle to the valise when the handle is replaced.” (Lines 16-19) Illustration is included.
Date: August 18, 1891
Creator: Epstein, George B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for improvements in car-couplings known as “automatic” by providing actuate means to “throw the pin downward and locks the link in a horizontal position.” (Lines 24-25) For uncoupling the cars from either the top or either side of the car; “a spring-actuated device is provided for keeping the link in a horizontal position with a yielding force.” (Lines 27-29) Illustration is included.
Date: August 18, 1891
Creator: Cole, Henry J.
System: The Portal to Texas History