Bell-Ringer. (open access)

Bell-Ringer.

Patent for a bell ringer for use in locomotives, with instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 15, 1891
Creator: Baker, John L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blotter. (open access)

Blotter.

Patent for "a combined hand-blotter, ruler, paper-cutter, and pen-rack... especially for the use of book-keepers and accountants," (lines 12-15) with instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 14, 1891
Creator: Betts, Walter & Herbert, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Carling-Socket for Car-Frames. (open access)

Carling-Socket for Car-Frames.

Patent for improvements to "carlings for the roofs of cars, such as used for transporting live or dead freight," (lines 11-13) with instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 31, 1891
Creator: Coffin, Walter E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stirring-Machine. (open access)

Stirring-Machine.

Patent for "agitating-machines adapted to be used for various purposes," (lines 8-10) including washing clothes and freezing ice cream. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 15, 1890
Creator: Crawford, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Harvester. (open access)

Cotton-Harvester.

Patent for improvements to cotton harvesting devices, with instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 1, 1891
Creator: Cunningham, James F. & Dingee, William W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hoisting Apparatus. (open access)

Hoisting Apparatus.

Patent for improvements in hoisting apparatus by “employing two cables and two sheaves that one cable and one sheave operate to elevate the weight or object in an approximately-vertical plane, so as to avoid contact with any side obstruction, while the secondary cable can subsequently be slackened sufficiently to permit the traveling sheave of the hoisting-cable to run off in a lateral direction and carry with it the sheave of the slackened secondary cable, for the purpose of transferring the object or weight to a desired position out of the line of the approximately-vertical direction first given to it.” (Page 2, lines 4-16) Illustration is included.
Date: March 22, 1892
Creator: Davis, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Convertible Trunk. (open access)

Convertible Trunk.

Patent for a trunk that converts between luggage (for use while traveling) and a bureau (for use while not traveling), with illustrations.
Date: March 29, 1892
Creator: Dwyer, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harrow. (open access)

Harrow.

Patent for improvements in harrows, "so that any farmer who possesses a Georgia stock or ordinary plow-beam with its attached handles can purchase one of [these] improved harrows per se and without the exercise of any special mechanical knowledge or experience apply the harrow device or contrivance to the beam of such ordinary plow stock." (Lines 40-47) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 14, 1891
Creator: Flatau, Louis S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harrow and Cultivator. (open access)

Harrow and Cultivator.

Patent for a combination harrow and cultivator, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 27, 1891
Creator: Flatau, Louis S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for improvements to plows, including a mechanism to enhance the durability of the parts of the plow that receive the most use. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 30, 1891
Creator: Flatau, Louis S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Earth-Auger. (open access)

Earth-Auger.

Patent for an invention that "relates to an implement designed for boring earth, and may be used for well-boring and also for boring post-holes," (lines 11-13) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 27, 1891
Creator: Franks, Madison S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Process of Manufacturing Soap. (open access)

Process of Manufacturing Soap.

Patent for an improved process designed "to lessen the time required for the manufacture of soaps and at the same time have all portions of a mass thereof of uniform character, also to make more soap from the same amount of fat or oils than is now done by the ordinary processes." (Lines 8-14) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 28, 1890
Creator: Grant, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Smoke-Consumer. (open access)

Smoke-Consumer.

Patent for a device used by locomotives that "will cause the smoke to be returned from the stack to the fire-box until it is entirely consumed" (lines 11-13), condenses exhaust steam, and heats the water in the tender. Includes illustrations.
Date: March 29, 1892
Creator: Hadlock, Edson J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Aging Whisky. (open access)

Apparatus for Aging Whisky.

Patent for a barrel for heating and aging whiskey, which accelerates aging time. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 15, 1891
Creator: Halligan, John H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for "a plow especially adapted to be used in turning the well-known black or stiff lands in the Western States," (lines 8-10) with instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 2, 1891
Creator: Hill, David J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Condensing Flue-Dust. (open access)

Apparatus for Condensing Flue-Dust.

Patent for an apparatus for "condensing and saving the flue-dust passing with the waste gases through the chimney of lead-smelting furnaces." (Lines 9-12) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 3, 1889
Creator: Hizon, Hiram W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace-Carrier. (open access)

Trace-Carrier.

Patent for improvements to rein buckles allowing them to be attached to a trace-chain, which will adapt them for use with plows and harnesses. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: March 5, 1891
Creator: Jackson, Samuel G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Milk-Cooler. (open access)

Milk-Cooler.

Patent for improvements in a device that cools pails of milk by evaporating water. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 4, 1891
Creator: Ledbetter, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press. (open access)

Baling-Press.

Patent for improvements to a press that bales hay. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 15, 1891
Creator: Mattijetz, Andreas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Feed-Water Heating and Purifying Apparatus. (open access)

Feed-Water Heating and Purifying Apparatus.

Patent for improvements in feed-water heating and purifying apparatus by “utilizing the heat of exhaust-steam from locomotive-cylinders, and the waste heat from the products of combustion in the combustion-chamber; or smoke-arch for heating and purifying the feed-water in transit to the locomotive-boiler.” (Lines 11-16) Illustration is included.
Date: March 22, 1892
Creator: McCallum, Daniel W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Poison-Distributer. (open access)

Poison-Distributer.

Patent for a device that is attached to a saddle in order to distribute insecticide to cotton and other crops while riding through the fields.
Date: November 28, 1891
Creator: Pickering, Charles H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harness-Pad. (open access)

Harness-Pad.

Patent for "an improved fastening for harness pads or housings which is equally adapted for sweat-pads for horse-collars." (Lines 11-14) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 10, 1891
Creator: Powell, John S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Means for Operating Swinging Gates. (open access)

Means for Operating Swinging Gates.

Patent "to simplify and improve the construction of means for opening and closing swinging gates," (lines 10 - 12) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 12, 1892
Creator: Rhodes, James W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Elevating and Cleaning Seed-Cotton. (open access)

Apparatus for Elevating and Cleaning Seed-Cotton.

Patent for a steam-powered device for cleaning seed-cotton. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 10, 1891
Creator: Robinson, Albert S.
System: The Portal to Texas History