Degree Department

Improvement in Scrapers. (open access)

Improvement in Scrapers.

Patent for a horse-drawn excavator that includes a scoop attached to wheels.
Date: June 16, 1874
Creator: Arcos, Ignacio
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Compound Engines. (open access)

Improvement in Compound Engines.

Patent for "a series of engines for working the steam over by exhausting it from the first into the second, and so on, for utilizing the pressure lost when steam is exhausted from a single engine into the air..." (lines 7-11) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: February 16, 1875
Creator: Bell, Jackson W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Swinging Berths. (open access)

Improvement in Swinging Berths.

Patent for the improvement of ships' berths, by neutralizing the effect of the roll and pitch of the seas to prevent sea sickness, as well as providing space for baggage and ballast.
Date: July 16, 1875
Creator: Brown, Bartlett W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Cultivators. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Cultivators.

Patent for "new and useful Improvement in Cotton-Cultivator," (lines 4-5) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 16, 1874
Creator: Burnham, Theodore C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Corn and Cotton Planters. (open access)

Improvement in Corn and Cotton Planters.

Patent for a new mechanism by which corn planters may be converted into a machine for planting cotton.
Date: July 16, 1878
Creator: Clary, Stephen S. & Clary, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Medical Compounds. (open access)

Improvement in Medical Compounds.

Patent for a medical compound consisting of magnesia, soda, potassium oxide, manganese, sodium chloride, acid phosphate of iron, sulfuric acid, and phosphoric acid. The compound is said to treat a wide variety of ailments.
Date: September 16, 1879
Creator: Coleman, George S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Clod-Crushers. (open access)

Improvement in Clod-Crushers.

Patent for a land-drag and clod-crusher that will effectually crush the clods, level the land, and pack the soil, at one and the same operation.
Date: May 16, 1876
Creator: Crockett, John M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Painter's Scaffold-chairs. (open access)

Improvement in Painter's Scaffold-chairs.

Patent for use of house-painters and others an improved scaffold-chair that may be elevated and lowered at pleasure by the person sitting on the scaffold.
Date: May 16, 1876
Creator: Crockett, John R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Quilting-Frames (open access)

Improvement in Quilting-Frames

Patent for an improved quilting frame that is designed around a folding trestle-frame and two parallel rollers on which a quilt can be rolled, leaving the material between the rollers to be quilted/worked on. Illustration includes a perspective and detail view of the frame.
Date: January 16, 1877
Creator: Davis, Henry T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement In Bale-Ties. (open access)

Improvement In Bale-Ties.

This patent was crated for an improved way of manufactoring ties to hold packages together that consists of bale, hemp, cotton, rags or substances. It was created to reduce the rising costs or manufacturing products of this caliber.
Date: March 16, 1878
Creator: Davis, Water S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Gun-Locks. (open access)

Improvement in Gun-Locks.

Patent for "a novel application of hair-trigger catch to the main trigger, which operates together with a holder and separate springs." (Lines 30-33) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 16, 1870
Creator: Deutz, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in the Manufacture of Hydraulic Stone. (open access)

Improvement in the Manufacture of Hydraulic Stone.

Patent for improvement in the manufacture of Hydraulic Stone to furnish and improved artificial stone for use in different purposes that can resist weather changes without being affected.
Date: September 16, 1879
Creator: Dimelow, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Gins. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Gins.

Patent for improvements in the manner in which cotton is separated.
Date: July 16, 1878
Creator: Etheridge, Daniel T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Railroad-Switches. (open access)

Improvement in Railroad-Switches.

Patent for improvement in railroad-switches by “mounting a frog on a plate, and provided with pivoted rails or rail-sections, arranged for operation in connection with fixed rail-sections upon the plate, to form a continuity with either line of main rail, and connected below the plate by pivoted bars or levers, to secure a relative action or adjustment of the pivoted or movable rail-sections, whereby a very perfect and simple frog operating to prevent break in the main line or lines is obtained, and which is capable of being adjusted by passing trains in opposite directions of travel.” (Lines 5-18) Illustration is included.
Date: July 16, 1872
Creator: Fitzsimmons, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Car-Couplings. (open access)

Improvement in Car-Couplings.

Patent for "an improved automatic car-coupling that may be readily uncoupled from the side and top, and be employed to couple cars of different heights." (Lines 13-16) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 16, 1875
Creator: Ford, Oscar E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Insect-Destroyers. (open access)

Improvement in Insect-Destroyers.

Patent for improvements on insect destroyers to be used in cotton fields, including illustrations.
Date: October 16, 1877
Creator: Fordtran, Eugene H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Presses. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Presses.

Patent for "a press by means of which the cotton can be backed and pressed into the bale in small quantities at a time, by alternating pressing a quantity, then lifting the follower, and inserting more, and pressing again, and so on until the bale is formed." (Lines 19-25) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 16, 1875
Creator: Frost, Willis Lee
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton Choppers (open access)

Improvement in Cotton Choppers

Patent for improvement in cotton choppers creating a more effective machine relating to the cultivating and chopping of cotton. Includes labeled figures and descriptive text
Date: August 16, 1873
Creator: Garrett, Joseph M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Choppers and Cultivators (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Choppers and Cultivators

Patent for a improved version of the cotton-chopper, used for the cultivation of cotton. This is a new arrangement of part of the cotton-chopper as it fits in with the complete machine.
Date: April 16, 1872
Creator: Harcrow, James M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Chairs. (open access)

Improvement in Chairs.

Patent for improvements in chairs: "the back, seat, foot rest, and head rest are all self adjusting, and operated by the natural movements of the occupant" (lines 11-13).
Date: April 16, 1872
Creator: Haupt, William W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Adjustable Saddle-Trees. (open access)

Improvement in Adjustable Saddle-Trees.

Patent for "improvements in saddle-trees; and the invention consists in constructing the forward ends of the trees with the hinged connection between its sides, to allow lateral adjustment of the sides to and from each other..." (lines 10-13) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 16, 1874
Creator: Heaton, George & Eckley, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Bale-Ties. (open access)

Improvement in Bale-Ties.

Patent for a bale-tie designed to "provide a simple, strong, durable, and easily adjustable tie for bales of cotton, hay, etc." (para. 4), using a hook, a band, and a beveled eye. The hook has a barb attached to the end, and is described as a double hook.
Date: September 16, 1879
Creator: Hill, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Brick-Machines. (open access)

Improvement in Brick-Machines.

Patent for the improvement of brick-machines, consisting in the arrangement, with the molds, of one or more valves of flood-gates in the bottom of the pugmill, for the purpose of controlling the flow of the clay into the molds, and a roller and knife upon each side of the mill for pressing the clay into the molds and dressing the tops of the bricks. It includes a description and illustration.
Date: July 16, 1872
Creator: Houghton, Gideon H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Worm Destroyers. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Worm Destroyers.

Patent for "an apparatus for exterminating cotton-worms by ejecting liquid poison upon the cotton-plants" (lines 6-8). Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 16, 1873
Creator: Johnson, Jehu W.
System: The Portal to Texas History