Resource Type

Improvement in the Manufacture of Black Bottle-Glass. (open access)

Improvement in the Manufacture of Black Bottle-Glass.

Patent for manufacturing black bottle-glass by using "combination with other ingredients, an earthy slate of a peculiar character, called "clay-slate," for the purpose of furnishing the coloring-matter of the glass,as well as forming one of the bases of the glass itself."(line 10-15) Instruction only, no illustration.
Date: September 2, 1856
Creator: McCully, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Wagon-Sheet and Tent (open access)

Improvement in Wagon-Sheet and Tent

Patent for an improvement in wagon sheet coverings / tent. The improvement is in the sides of the wagon sheet can be extended by loosening straps to fall the length to the ground and be staked to the earth. This gives a tent to sleep under after a day of traveling.
Date: August 13, 1871
Creator: Fitzgerald, M. M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Horse-Powers. (open access)

Improvement in Horse-Powers.

Patent for a "new and improved horse-power." Relates to railway horse-powers.
Date: August 16, 1873
Creator: Tadlock, John S. of Belmont, Texas & Howell, J.M. of Belmont, Texas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Wheel-Plows (open access)

Improvement in Wheel-Plows

Patent for a wheel plow designed to be simple, durable, easily controlled, and of light draft.
Date: June 19, 1877
Creator: Amonett, Ammon A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvements in Joints for Railway Rails (open access)

Improvements in Joints for Railway Rails

Patent for improvements in box or "fish" joints for railroad rails.
Date: May 28, 1872
Creator: Wells, Jephthah
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Floor-Clamps. (open access)

Improvement in Floor-Clamps.

Patent for an improvement in floor clamps, including illustrations.
Date: March 4, 1873
Creator: Foster, John J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Fences. (open access)

Improvement in Fences.

Patent for a new and useful improvement in fences, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 23, 1873
Creator: King, Wilbur F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Scissors. (open access)

Improvement in Scissors.

Patent for "scissors for the use of dealers in dry goods; and it consists in providing an ordinary pair of scissors with an extension at or near the end of one of the blades, having an entering point and an eye to carry a thread, and designed to serve a convenient purpose in tagging and retagging goods." (Lines 14-21) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 19, 1874
Creator: Waldie, Samuel H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect-traps (open access)

Insect-traps

Patent for an improvement in ant traps. Includes illustrations.
Date: December 31, 1872
Creator: Stell, Japhthah W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Billiard-Tables. (open access)

Improvement in Billiard-Tables.

Patent for a design for a billiard table that can also be used as a Jenny-Lind table. Illustration included.
Date: November 18, 1873
Creator: Waldie, Samuel H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Seed and Corn Planters (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Seed and Corn Planters

Patent for a new and useful improvement in cotton seed and corn planters which lists the design specifications.
Date: November 6, 1877
Creator: Palmero, Joseph Rafael
System: The Portal to Texas History
Chimney-Protector. (open access)

Chimney-Protector.

Patent for chimney protectors "which can be readily applied and will secure a water-tight joint between the smoke-pipe and the roof." (Lines 11-13) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 8, 1896
Creator: Lamprecht, William & Krieger, Edward C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cotton Chopping, Planting, and Cultivating Machine (open access)

Combined Cotton Chopping, Planting, and Cultivating Machine

Patent for "an improvement in combined cotton chopping, planting, and cultivating machines," (lines 9-11) including illustrations.
Date: May 22, 1888
Creator: Pilond, David Winfield
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "relates to car-couplings, more especially of that class known as 'swing-pins;' and the object of the invention is to provide a swinging weight which will press the pin normally into operative position, and which will also support the link" (lines 7-12).
Date: August 12, 1890
Creator: Bass, Alonzo T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopping, Planting, and Cultivating Machine (open access)

Cotton Chopping, Planting, and Cultivating Machine

Patent for "a machine of this class which shall be simple in construction, inexpensive, durable, and easily operated" (lines 11-14).
Date: September 24, 1889
Creator: Piland, David Winfield
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 in "[t]he combination, with the draw-head, of the transverse pivot-pin in the top of the draw-head, the coupling-pin provided with a longitudinal slot engaging said pivot-pin, and the weights mounted on said pivot-pin and adapted to bear on the end of the link" (lines 76-81).
Date: October 22, 1889
Creator: Hodges, Clemont Clay
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ant Trap. (open access)

Ant Trap.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design consists in "[a]n ant-trap, comprising the body and the inward-projecting tubes having the protecting-caps on their inner ends, the outer faces of the caps being convex and provided with apertures of greater diameter than the bore of the inner end of the tube" (lines 90-95).
Date: February 22, 1887
Creator: McCallum, Walter Randolph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "is to make a car-coupler in which the link shall cause the pin to drop within it, which can be coupled or uncoupled from the side or top of cars without danger to the brake[people], and which is provided with means for lifting the link of cars with lower draw-heads" (lines 11-17).
Date: October 7, 1890
Creator: Testard, Adrian
System: The Portal to Texas History
Balance Staff and Wheel for Watches (open access)

Balance Staff and Wheel for Watches

Patent for an improved design of a balance staff and wheel used for watch repair. The new design allows for an easier repair when replacing a broken staff and decreases the chance that the wheel would be damaged when replacing the staff. Included are instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 18, 1880
Creator: Bugbee, George G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
BUCKLE (open access)

BUCKLE

Patent for "a new and improved buckle" (lines4-5)
Date: July 20, 1880
Creator: Bardwell, Henery G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bed Bottom. (open access)

Bed Bottom.

Patent for an improved bed bottom consisting of a series of hooks and eyes and wires with instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 28, 1886
Creator: Peacock, John Calvin; Graves, James Beard & Huffor, George Allin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect-Power Distributer. (open access)

Insect-Power Distributer.

Patent for a new insecticide distributer using a bellows, a rotary fan, and a tube connecting the bellows to an insecticide reservoir; when pressure is applied to the bellows, the insecticide would pass through the reservoir to a flexible pipe that would distribute the insecticide to any direction without the operator breathing it.
Date: February 17, 1891
Creator: Preston, Leonidas A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insecticide Distributor. (open access)

Insecticide Distributor.

Patent for a new and improved bug sprayer. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a base, a bellows mounted thereon, a receptacle arranged in advance of the bellows and adapted to contain poison to be distributed, a forwardly-projecting discharge-tube, laterally-extending discharge-tubes comprising inner rigid sections, outer rigid sections having series of discharge-nozzles, and flexible couplings connecting the rigid sections, and the braces having their inner ends pivoted to the base and their outer ends pivoted to the outer sections and supporting the same" (lines 75-86).
Date: September 27, 1892
Creator: Talley, Reuben J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvements In Buckles. (open access)

Improvements In Buckles.

Patent for a new kind of buckle along with specifications for construction and illustrations of the buckle.
Date: August 12, 1879
Creator: Carnes, William J., Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History