Ball-Bearing. (open access)

Ball-Bearing.

Patent for a new and useful ball bearing, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 17, 1899
Creator: Millen, George
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bedstead (open access)

Bedstead

Patent for a bedstead. Illustration included.
Date: October 31, 1905
Creator: Davis, Augustus H.; Hummel, George F. & Gray, J. W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Coupling For Well-Drilling Tools. (open access)

Coupling For Well-Drilling Tools.

Patent for a new and useful coupling for well drilling tools, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 3, 1899
Creator: Kuehn, Joachim F. W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Signal and Sign-Displaying Lamp for Vehicles. (open access)

Combined Signal and Sign-Displaying Lamp for Vehicles.

Patent for a combined signal and sign-displaying lamp for vehicles that uses only one light to illuminate all the sections and allows for easy interchanging of number plates.
Date: October 10, 1911
Creator: Puckett, Almor Manor
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Coin Operated Vending Machine (open access)

Coin Operated Vending Machine

Patent for a coin operated vending machine that is meant to be inexpensive and adapted to protect the items being vended, and to allow adjustment for coins of different denominations.
Date: September 2, 1902
Creator: Fender, John Brown
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Telephone-Directory. (open access)

Automatic Telephone-Directory.

Patent for a new and useful automatic telephone directory, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 17, 1899
Creator: Neuendorff, John B.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Collector's Receipting-Recording (open access)

Collector's Receipting-Recording

Patent for a device for keeping a record of the money received in commercial transactions. Illustrations included.
Date: October 15, 1912
Creator: Hayes, Arthur Ward & Stevens, Clarence D.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blind-Stop. (open access)

Blind-Stop.

Patent for a device which locks blinds in place at the desired angle.
Date: October 22, 1907
Creator: Koenig, Charles L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling (open access)

Car-Coupling

Patent for "a car-coupler which will be automatic in its operation in coupling the cars as they come together on the track, and at the same time to provide a positive uncoupling device which may be operated on any part of any of the cars, as well as by an engineer, when it is desired to uncouple the cars or a car from the engine" (lines 14-21).
Date: October 30, 1888
Creator: Carolan, Eugene P. & Lee, Patrick H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boot (open access)

Boot

Patent for a boot design that contains a counter-support of coil springs while also being inexpensive, durable, and efficient.
Date: October 2, 1888
Creator: Benson, Henry L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Composite Lamp-Chimney. (open access)

Composite Lamp-Chimney.

Patent for a lamp chimney that prevents insects from falling into the chimney and keeps the flame inside the chimney.
Date: October 17, 1893
Creator: Schwartz, Jacob
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Compressor for Ice Machines. (open access)

Compressor for Ice Machines.

Patent for a new and improved ice-machine compressor. This design consists in "an ammonia-compressor, the piston-rod having transverse opening in combination with the valve, stem having slot and shoulder, key held therein by a wedge, and the spring and washer" (lines 90-94).
Date: October 4, 1887
Creator: Schuehle, Jacob
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Brake for Vehicles (open access)

Brake for Vehicles

Patent for "a brake which shall be easy in operation, cheap in construction, and not liable to get out of order" (lines 13-17).
Date: October 25, 1887
Creator: Bacon, Edward Hamlin
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Charger for Loading Revolvers. (open access)

Charger for Loading Revolvers.

Patent for a new and improved charger for revolvers. This design "consists of a cylindrical case of metal, pasteboard, or other suitable material, contrived with a centerpiece, by which a number of cartridges corresponding to the number of chambers in the cylinder of the fire-arm may be located in the charger suitably for being simultaneously entered at the points in the chambers of the cylinder and be discharged from the charger into the cylinder all at once to facilitate the loading of revolving fire-arms" (lines 8-17).
Date: October 7, 1884
Creator: Munch, John Henry
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design consists, "with a draw-head and a pin held to slide vertically therein, of a lever pivotally connected with the said link and fulcrumed on the draw-head, a chain connected with the said lever, an eye through which passes said chain, an arm connected with the inner end of the said chain, and a transversely-extending shaft mounted to turn in suitable bearings in the car-body and carrying the said arm" (lines 15-24).
Date: October 14, 1890
Creator: Onzon, François P.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cabinet. (open access)

Cabinet.

Patent for a cabinet meant to contain "screws, bolts, rivets, and similar articles, and has for its object to provide a case for the storage of such articles by means of which the different articles are kept separate one from another, while at the same time ready access may be had to any one of the storage-compartments" (lines 9-15). It is circular and has a wheeled base.
Date: October 27, 1896
Creator: Caplinger, Joseph E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: O-7451 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: O-7451

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Grover Sellers, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether or not an employee of the Tax Assessor-Collector of Bexar County during his vacation period, and during the full term of such period he was actually employed by the city of San Antonio may legally be paid for such period by the county, under H.B. No. 77, ch. 58, 49th Leg.
Date: October 24, 1946
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Case for Motion-Picture Films (open access)

Case for Motion-Picture Films

Patent for a case for motion picture films that protects the film from damage when rewinding or transferring from one reel to another. The case also ensures that the film will be wound uniformly.
Date: October 5, 1915
Creator: McNeel, William Pinkney
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automobile Driving Mechanism. (open access)

Automobile Driving Mechanism.

Patent for a driving mechanism for an automobile to dispense with the usual form of transmission gearing and differential, to substitute mechanisms power devices through the medium of a suitable liquid [preferably oil], maintained at a predetermined volume, and to provide a noiseless operating mechanism.
Date: October 31, 1916
Creator: Allan, William N.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Convertible Furniture. (open access)

Convertible Furniture.

Patent for convertible furniture used in education. Features a table which can be easily converted from a flat desk, to an inclined black-board, and can store building blocks and similar items.
Date: October 3, 1916
Creator: Barler, Eugene M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Air Suction and Force Pump (open access)

Air Suction and Force Pump

Patent for improvement in suction and force pumps, a pneumatic lift-and-force pump for raising water from wells.
Date: October 7, 1913
Creator: De Hymel, Franklin O.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Aeration and Subirrigation for Promoting Vegetation (open access)

Aeration and Subirrigation for Promoting Vegetation

Patent for large terminal that can be implanted into the ground, which can supply air and moisture into the surrounding soil to stimulate growth of vegetation.
Date: October 10, 1916
Creator: Rife, Archibald H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Automobile-Top. (open access)

Automatic Automobile-Top.

Patent for an improvement on automatic automobile-tops. The primary objective is that when in inoperative positions, the actuated drum neatly appears as a weather proof roll. Another objective is to provide side curtains so that the vehicle may be closed on all sides.
Date: October 1, 1918
Creator: Montroy, Phiip A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bearing for Crank-Shafts. (open access)

Bearing for Crank-Shafts.

Patent for an improvement for Bearings for Cranks Shafts. This invention provides a means for "tightening the bushings of the bearings easily and quickly when necessary" (lines 9-13).
Date: October 22, 1918
Creator: Blumberg, Hamilton G.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History