Copy Holder. (open access)

Copy Holder.

Patent for a new and improved copy-holder. This design "is [for] an improved copy-holder intended especially for holding deeds when being transcribed to the records, and seeks to provide a simple, inexpensive construction by which the deed may be held and to and from which the deed or other paper may be adjusted without difficulty, such construction serving also to mark or indicate the particular line of the paper being copied" (lines 7-15).
Date: August 2, 1887
Creator: Adair, Irvine James
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gas-Compressor. (open access)

Gas-Compressor.

Patent for gas compressors for ice and refrigeration machines, with instructions and illustrations.
Date: March 4, 1891
Creator: Ambrose, Joseph D.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator (open access)

Cultivator

Patent for improvements to a new cultivator which eliminate side drafting and improving the means of cultivating and adjusting the shovels with ease.
Date: April 2, 1918
Creator: Ashley, John F.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cultivators. (open access)

Improvement in Cultivators.

Patent for improvement in cultivators in which the plows can be adjusted by width, height and laterally to regulate the depth and angle of inclination. The plows, which can be operated by a foot device, may be simultaneously thrown from the ground. (Lines 73-76) Illustration is included.
Date: November 2, 1869
Creator: Baker, William T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pantaloons and Overalls. (open access)

Pantaloons and Overalls.

Patent for new and improved overalls and pants. This design "consists in a garment cut in four pieces of peculiar form united in a peculiar manner, whereby the seat and crotch and the inner sides of the legs are made of double thickness and the leg and crotch both rendered seamless, in order that they may be worn without the discomfort attending the use of garments in which heavy seams or welts exist in the middle" (lines 10-18).
Date: June 2, 1885
Creator: Blake, Samuel Diggs
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Heavier-than-air- Airship (open access)

Heavier-than-air- Airship

Patent for aviation prototype.
Date: September 2, 1919
Creator: Brown, George Coleman
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Stop Device for Printing-Presses. (open access)

Automatic Stop Device for Printing-Presses.

Patent for improvements to safety devices (springs, belt shift levers, guide members, rock shafts) that can be attached to a printing press to create automatic stops. These safety devices can be used to address possible accidents or emergencies by fastening down on a specific section of a printing press.
Date: March 2, 1915
Creator: Brown, John Walter R.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Adjustable Rack for Railway-Cars. (open access)

Adjustable Rack for Railway-Cars.

Patent for improvements on racks in railway-cars including more storage for smaller items, an adjustable rack for children or elderly persons to be able to reach without needing to stand on the car seat, a titled hinge that allows a rack to be pulled for ward and pushed back, and other improvements.
Date: August 2, 1898
Creator: Butler, Michael
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sealing Device for Cocks. (open access)

Sealing Device for Cocks.

Patent for a device that seals or locks valves or cocks when in operation and not in operation to prevent connection interference.
Date: November 2, 1915
Creator: Caldwell, Charles A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Street Sweeping Machine (open access)

Street Sweeping Machine

Patent for a street sweeping machine. Illustrations included.
Date: August 2, 1904
Creator: Clark, James P.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Watch (open access)

Watch

Patent for a watch. This inventions construction relates to the movement of the watches features. Illustration included.
Date: April 2, 1907
Creator: Currie, Neil; Warren, C. L. & Davies, Dan
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Kitchen Cabinet (open access)

Kitchen Cabinet

Patent for a kitchen cabinet. This invention is equipped with compartments and bins that distribute granular substances via cut-off valves. Illustration included.
Date: June 2, 1908
Creator: Curtice, William H. & Rosser, Virgil O.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pencil-Sharpener (open access)

Pencil-Sharpener

Patent for "a convenient device for sharpening lead-pencils that can be manufactured at a comparatively small cost and placed on the market as an advertising medium or convenient for use in the school-room" (lines 14-18).
Date: April 2, 1901
Creator: Darden, Newton J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Handling and Cleaning Seed-Cotton. (open access)

Apparatus for Handling and Cleaning Seed-Cotton.

Patent for improvements in apparatus for handling and cleaning seed-cotton by “conveying cotton through a pneumatic tube and for automatically delivering therefrom to each of a series of gins an amount of cleaned cotton graduated at all times to the need of each gin. The flow of the main current in the tube is not interrupted by the several subtractions.” (Lines 17-23) Illustration is included.
Date: June 2, 1891
Creator: Elam, William E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Paper-Guide for Printing-Presses. (open access)

Paper-Guide for Printing-Presses.

Patent for improved paper guides for printing presses (particularly stop cylinder printing presses).
Date: November 2, 1915
Creator: Garlick, Mark J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace-Lock. (open access)

Trace-Lock.

Patent for a trace lock that is mechanized to work vertically or horizontally. Illustration included.
Date: October 2, 1900
Creator: Halstead, Thomas J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tank. (open access)

Tank.

Patent for a new and improved tank. This design consists in "the combination of the wooden bottom having cross-braces on its under side, the sheet-metal bottom arranged over the wooden bottom and having an annular flange nailed or secured to said wooden bottom, and the metallic body, the lower end of which is connected to the bottom by nails, while the extreme lower edge of said body is turned under the wooden bottom between the cross-braces of the latter" (lines 80-90).
Date: April 2, 1889
Creator: Harry, Hugh W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow (open access)

Plow

Patent for plow. Illustration included.
Date: April 2, 1907
Creator: Hendon, Walter P.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gin (open access)

Gin

Patent for cotton gin
Date: January 2, 1917
Creator: Henry, Nelson B.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Power Stand. (open access)

Power Stand.

Patent for a new and improved power-stand. In this design, "a single pulley is mounted upon a stand, the shaft of said pulley bearing at each end, outside of the stand, one part of a friction or other clutch, which may be engaged with or disengaged from the corresponding part of a clutch attached to the shaft of a machine" (lines 13-19).
Date: February 2, 1886
Creator: Hetherington, Johnathan S.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement to Elevator Signal Systems (open access)

Improvement to Elevator Signal Systems

Patent for an improvement to an elevator in which “to provide an elevator signal system that will permit a party at any landing to indicate his desire to go up or down to the elevator operator by pressing one of two buttons” (lines 10-15). Instructions and illustration included.
Date: February 2, 1915
Creator: Johnson, Charles S.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cement-Block Mold. (open access)

Cement-Block Mold.

Patent for a cement block molding machine, which can produce many blocks in a short amount of time.
Date: August 2, 1910
Creator: Jordan, James T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Power Generating Unit for Locomotive Headlights (open access)

Power Generating Unit for Locomotive Headlights

Patent for an invention that makes the manufacturing of headlights inexpensive, while also keeping the headlights durable and able to fit in a relatively small space.
Date: November 2, 1920
Creator: Lacey, Benjamin Burton
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench. (open access)

Wrench.

Patent for a pipe wrench that is is strong but does not crush the pipe and eliminates the need for other specialized tools to perform work on pipes.
Date: April 2, 1907
Creator: Lavier, Thomas H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History