Combined Clothes Washer and Churn. (open access)

Combined Clothes Washer and Churn.

Patent for a new and improved combined clothes washer and churn. This design "is to facilitate the operations of washing clothes and churning, and also to avoid the necessity of having a separate mechanism for each use. The invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts" (lines 16-21).
Date: March 6, 1883
Creator: Bridges, Mary Jane
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Corn and Cotton Seed Planter. (open access)

Combined Corn and Cotton Seed Planter.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design is "to simplify the means employed for providing at will recesses of different depths in the wheel, and also to provide means whereby a recess of both greater width and depth can be provided for cotton-seed than for corn, whereby the cotton-seed can be fed from the hopper in a more certain, free, and efficient manner than heretofore" (lines 23-31).
Date: March 20, 1883
Creator: Holland, Joseph J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bolting Reel. (open access)

Bolting Reel.

Patent for a new and improved bolting-reel. This design "relate[s] to bolting-reels for flour-mills; and the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, having for their object to obtain lightness, strength, compactness, and cheapness of manufacture, as more particularly set forth hereinafter" (lines 8-13).
Date: March 27, 1883
Creator: Phillips, Edwin Samuel & Kealy, Stephen Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Life Boat. (open access)

Life Boat.

Patent for a new and improved life boat. This design "consists in providing a steam-launch with a float on each side, secured by suitable strong braces thereto, and to provide said floats with a hand-rail, so that persons can hold onto said rails, and are prevented from being washed off" (lines 17-22).
Date: March 13, 1883
Creator: Dwyer, Daniel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water Cooler. (open access)

Water Cooler.

Patent for a new and improved water cooler. This design consists in "vessels, packing, cross-bars in [a] compartment, connecting tube, coiled pipe, coupling, and faucet . . . [and] the swinging bracket arranged below the faucet, and having stands for two or more glasses," as well as casing and lining (lines 1-7).
Date: March 27, 1883
Creator: Schultze, August J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oil Can. (open access)

Oil Can.

Patent for a new and improved oil can. This design "consists in the combination, with an oil-can, of a wire passing loosely through the nozzle and into a tube secured on the bottom of the can within the said can. The outer end of the wire is curved, and part of the wire is finely grooved or roughened" (lines 13-18).
Date: March 27, 1883
Creator: Campbell, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Glove Holder. (open access)

Glove Holder.

Patent for a new and improved glove holder. This design "is to provide a new and improved device for holding gloves, bills, papers, and other articles in such a manner that any one of the articles can be withdrawn from the holder without disturbing the rest" (lines 7-12).
Date: March 6, 1883
Creator: Franklin, Eduard, A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay and Cotton Press. (open access)

Hay and Cotton Press.

Patent for a new and improved baling press. This design is for "[a]n improved device for retaining a compressed bale in its condensed state after the follower is withdrawn, which consists of pawls pivoted in holes in the sides of the press-box and projecting toward the rear end of the press-box . . . [and] [t]he combination, with the follower rack-bar, the pinions, the shafts, having suitable pulleys, adapted to be connected by belts, of two clutches, and a centrally-pivoted lever having [a] handle, whereby the power may be reversed without changing the direction of the drive-shaft" (lines 71-83).
Date: March 6, 1883
Creator: Hampton, John Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
Thill Carrier for Harness. (open access)

Thill Carrier for Harness.

Patent for a new and improved thill-carrier for harnesses. This design utilizes a loop or ring, and "[b]y this construction of the thill-carriers it will be seen that the trouble and annoyance of running the thills into and backing them out of the thill-carriers are entirely overcome, and by means of the loops or rings . . . the thills are perfectly confined in the carriers . . . [they] may be made very cheap, and also very ornamental to the harness" (lines 66-76).
Date: March 13, 1883
Creator: Hake, Francis A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed Planter. (open access)

Seed Planter.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design "relates to machines for dropping or planting cotton, corn, or other seed, and has for its object to provide a device embodying simplicity, convenience, cheapness, and efficiency. To this end it consists in certain improvements in construction and operation of the same" (lines 12-18).
Date: March 13, 1883
Creator: Lowder, John Ellis
System: The Portal to Texas History
Screw Propeller. (open access)

Screw Propeller.

Patent for a new and improved screw propeller. This design "connect[s] propellers on the opposite sides of a vessel with one another and with a stern propeller, so that they will act at the same time upon different parts of the vessel in urging her forward," which leads to increased speed (lines 7-11).
Date: March 20, 1883
Creator: Gartner, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sheep-Wash. (open access)

Sheep-Wash.

Patent for "a new and useful sheep dip or wash for the prevention and cure of 'scabs' " (lines 10-12) which lists the ingredients, measurements, and instructions for making and applying.
Date: March 13, 1883
Creator: Dunlap, John Q.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Folding Packing Case. (open access)

Folding Packing Case.

Patent for a new and improved folding packing-case. This design "consists in the construction of a folding packing-case with a bottom tray adapted to receive the inner detachable partitions of the case when it is folded up for transportation, and with a lid formed with flanges adapted to overlap and inclose and thus protect the edges of the sides and ends of the case and tray when folded down, so that it will the more securely withstand rough handling in shipment, and in providing ventilating-apertures in the sides of the case, to be left open or closed at pleasure" (lines 19-30).
Date: March 20, 1883
Creator: Van Hutton, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seeding Machine. (open access)

Seeding Machine.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design "relates to seeding-machines, and has for its object to provide a simple and efficient machine that will plant all kinds of grain or seed, and in which the mechanism can be readily and conveniently changed to adapt it to the different kids of seed" (lines 9-14).
Date: March 13, 1883
Creator: Miller, Tedor T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Post Hole Digger. (open access)

Post Hole Digger.

Patent for a new and improved post hole digger. This design has "the combination of the head, consisting of a ring having vertical dove-tailed recesses to receive the blades or cutters, and provided with converging arms uniting so as to form a shank" (lines 61-65). The result is "a convenient, serviceable, and inexpensive tool" (lines 12-13).
Date: March 27, 1883
Creator: Switzer, William C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harrow. (open access)

Harrow.

Patent for a new and improved harrow. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the revolving harrow-teeth and prong-wheels, of the centrally-hinged vibratory frame, carrying drag-hook teeth . . . [and] [t]he combination, with the harrow-frame . . . carrying the hook-teeth, of the pulley, chain, and lever" (lines 62-70).
Date: March 20, 1883
Creator: Lewis, Charles Patton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Stalk Cutter. (open access)

Cotton Stalk Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design "relates to the shearing device of a cotton-stalk cutter; and it consists in a novel construction of the share or blade, which is made to lie comparatively flat on the ground and to sever the stalk with a hand-shear cut" (lines 7-11).
Date: March 27, 1883
Creator: Stone, James Micajah
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Chopper. (open access)

Cotton-Chopper.

Patent for a mechanism that aims "to promote convenience in adjusting and regulating cotton choppers" (line 44-46), including instructions and illustrations.
Date: March 6, 1883
Creator: Mowrey, Ephraim L.
System: The Portal to Texas History