Corn-Planter. (open access)

Corn-Planter.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in corn planters, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 25, 1898
Creator: Webb, Richard Haywood
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clothes-Pounder. (open access)

Clothes-Pounder.

Patent for a clothes pounder used in washing clothes. It is a pyramidal vessel that is open in the bottom and has perforations on the top of the inside of the vessel, a cap covering the top of the pyramid with an air-hole, a sleeve that goes through the top of the vessel and through the cap, a handle in the upper portion of the sleeve, a diaphragm with perforations in the base of the vessel, a rectangular box secured beneath the diaphragm, and inclined tubes open at both ends of the angles of the vessel.
Date: January 14, 1896
Creator: Leddy, Owen
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bridge. (open access)

Bridge.

Patent for a bridge of "simple and strong construction in metal of very low cost and light weight, using only such materials as are easily available, being also of easy construction and well adapted to resist washouts" (lines 9-13).
Date: July 5, 1892
Creator: Kosure, Thomas H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Compress. (open access)

Compress.

Patent for "surgical instruments which are used for stopping the flow of blood during an amputation or other similar operation." (Lines 12-15) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 12, 1897
Creator: Burton, Edwin L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Stalk-Cutter and Rake. (open access)

Combined Stalk-Cutter and Rake.

Patent for an improved combined stalk cutter and rake that has a main frame, a rake frame, a hanger attached to the axle-bar under the frame, arms at the back of the frame, a transverse rod in the hanger and slots in the arms, a rock-lever, connections for operating the frame, a rake at the end of the frame, and an operating lever.
Date: April 3, 1894
Creator: Priestley, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clock-Level. (open access)

Clock-Level.

Patent for a clock level that is made up of a wall-plate that is attached to the wall, arm braces that are attached to the wall-plate, thumb-screws in the lower shelf-plate, a shelf-plate, levels, plates secured to the edge of the shelf, and leveling nibs.
Date: January 8, 1895
Creator: Marshall, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wooden Bridge (open access)

Wooden Bridge

Patent for a wooden bridge with a focus on increased durability of the structure and effective drainage for moisture from the timbers and for the free circulation of air between, around, or through the structure.
Date: April 9, 1891
Creator: Ferguson, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Dressing Surfaces of Pavements. (open access)

Machine for Dressing Surfaces of Pavements.

Patent for improvements in machines for dressing surfaces of wooden or block pavements that may be operated by a traction-engine of known construction, including illustrations.
Date: November 3, 1891
Creator: Love, Robert Hamilton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vault Cash-Indicator. (open access)

Vault Cash-Indicator.

Patent for a vault cash-indicator meant to "provide a new and improved indicator, designed for indicating an amount of money, commercial articles, &c.; for instance, indicating the amount of money contained in a safe or vault" (lines 7-11).
Date: April 23, 1895
Creator: Hamilton, Samuel R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wheel-Tire. (open access)

Wheel-Tire.

Patent for "a very cheap and simple tire which may be conveniently applied to any ordinary wheel, but which is especially applicable to wagon wheels, which when applied to the wheel has a perfectly smooth surface, and which has mechanism operated by the simple turning of a nut and adapted to tighten the tire to any desired extent." (Lines 9-16) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 21, 1895
Creator: Smith, Samuel A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk-Cutter. (open access)

Stalk-Cutter.

Patent for an improved and practical stalk cutter that cuts corn or cotton stalks at their roots "while the machine is drawn along a row of the standing stalks, and simultaneously reduce[s] the latter to small pieces which can be plowed under the soil and serve as a fertilizer, the complete reduction of the stalks to fine fragments adapting them for quick decomposition and prevent them from becoming and obstruction to a plow or harrow used to till the soil" (lines 12-20).
Date: December 12, 1893
Creator: Herring, James H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Umbrella-Stand. (open access)

Umbrella-Stand.

Patent for an umbrella-stand. It is meant to display umbrellas, parasols, walking-canes, etc. The frame is made from tubing secured by wire, a channeled plate along the sides of the frame, and the base is adapted to support umbrella tips.
Date: November 26, 1895
Creator: Perry, Thomas C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate Latch (open access)

Gate Latch

Patent for a new and useful improvements in gate latches.
Date: December 7, 1897
Creator: Turley, John Breckinridge
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hand-Car. (open access)

Hand-Car.

Patent for "a hand-car with an auxiliary spring-actuated mechanism which can be used with or without the lever mechanism to propel at a rapid rate of speed." (Lines 12-15) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 15, 1897
Creator: Rousey, William N.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay-Press. (open access)

Hay-Press.

Patent for "a novel form of baling-press which will be readily transportable and owing to its peculiar construction can be manipulated by hand, a still further object being to provide such an improved baling-press that the wire ties can be wrapped around the bale after its formation easily and quickly and the bale can be readily removed from the press after it has been wired." (Lines 16-24) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 27, 1897
Creator: Hawk, Nathaniel H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Grain-Door For Freight-Cars. (open access)

Grain-Door For Freight-Cars.

Patent for a new and improved grain door for freight cars, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 19, 1899
Creator: Morten, Edward W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Grain-Scale. (open access)

Grain-Scale.

Patent for “improvements in grain-scales, especially adapted for location at the rear end of a trashing-machine and for receiving therefrom the thrashed grain, weighing and subsequently bagging the same in predetermined quantities” (lines 7-12), includes illustration.
Date: March 17, 1891
Creator: Butts, Alexander W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire-Escape. (open access)

Fire-Escape.

Patent for a simple and reliable folding ladder that is meant to assist someone in escaping a fire. It folds compactly and conveniently, and is adjustable. It sits away from the wall and another ladder can be attached to it when it is in use.
Date: June 13, 1893
Creator: Dobbs, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stovepipe or Flue Cleaner. (open access)

Stovepipe or Flue Cleaner.

Patent for an improved stovepipe or flue cleaner. It is a four-bladed fan that sits in an insert in the flue. The fan is operated by pulling on a rope which is situated between two pulleys. The cleaner sits right before the hot air goes into the chimney.
Date: February 20, 1894
Creator: Graham, Albert Y.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Folding Car-Step. (open access)

Folding Car-Step.

Patent for "a supplemental folding step which may be lowered into position for use when passengers are boarding or leaving a [railway] car and which may be folded back out of the way when the train is about to leave the station." (Lines 12-17) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 3, 1897
Creator: Hamilton, Samuel R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Extension-Step. (open access)

Extension-Step.

Patent for improvements in extension-steps which attach to vehicles and "do away with the boxes used to assist in getting up to the first or lower step" (lines 10-12). When not in use, the steps can be swiveled up. They are raised, lowered, and locked into position with a mechanism operated using a handle.
Date: May 4, 1897
Creator: Hamilton, Samuel R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hand-Support for Writers. (open access)

Hand-Support for Writers.

Patent for "a support especially adapted for the use of those learning to write, and by which the hand may be accustomed to the proper position for writing from the beginning of the study." (Lines 11-15) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 4, 1896
Creator: Yarbrough, William L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harness-Buckle. (open access)

Harness-Buckle.

Patent for a new and useful harness buckle, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 6, 1899
Creator: Comer, Little Berry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for an improvement in plows by using a series of spring-tines that are secured above the mold-board, when in operation these independently-moving tines “serve to jar and break the clods, thus not only pulverizing the clods to a certain degree but also insuring the freeing of the tines of all dirt” (lines 90-93), including illustration.
Date: March 3, 1891
Creator: Ball, Alfred Fine
System: The Portal to Texas History