Fruit-Picker. (open access)

Fruit-Picker.

Patent for an inexpensive, efficient, and durable fruit-picker that picks small fruit and does not bruise them. The picker is easily operated.
Date: March 6, 1894
Creator: Armstrong, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Advertising Device. (open access)

Advertising Device.

Patent for "a simple and inexpensive advertising device adapted to be placed on street corners and other public places and capable of exciting the curiosity and attracting attention, and thereby directing the attention of persons to the advertisement" (lines 11-16).
Date: March 20, 1894
Creator: Attaway, Henry F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Quilting-Frame. (open access)

Quilting-Frame.

Patent for a quilting frame that has "a novel means of supporting and tilting the track, and also other features" (lines 15-16). The frame is suspended in a track, and the track can be tilted so the frame can run in bot directions on the track.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Banker, John P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hame-Hook. (open access)

Hame-Hook.

Patent for a simple and durable latch hame-hook that holds trace links in place. It is two plates, one of which is slotted to hold the tongue of the other plate.
Date: March 6, 1894
Creator: Dankworth, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for an inexpensive and simple plow that has an improved braces placement which makes the plow very rigid. The blade angle is also adjustable and the plow can be a single or double plow.
Date: March 27, 1894
Creator: Edge, John S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Curling-Iron Heater. (open access)

Curling-Iron Heater.

Patent for "an improved attachment for gas burners or lamps, which will be adapted to facilitate the heating of curling irons or other light articles" (lines 8-11).
Date: March 6, 1894
Creator: Fowler, Samuel O. & Taylor, Walter R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Treadle-Spring. (open access)

Treadle-Spring.

Patent for an improved treadle spring to be used in treadles that are used in sewing machines, scroll-saws, and similar machines. It is simple, inexpensive, efficient, and requires less effort to operate the treadle. The spring does not move while in use.
Date: March 6, 1894
Creator: Frank, Gustav, Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Beer-Cooler. (open access)

Beer-Cooler.

Patent for an inexpensive and simple beer cooler that is used in bars, hotels, and other places that disperse beer in small amounts. The cooler has an ornamental appearance and is "adapted to thoroughly cool the beer by a consumption of a minimum amount of ice; to so construct the cooler as to adapt the same to serve as a refrigerator for the storing and cooling of bottled goods such as beer, ale, porter, &c., and furthermore to arrange the cooler in such manner as to permit of the introduction and removal of beer-kegs without the necessity of lifting the same from the floor" (lines 14-23).
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Gibson, Wyatt
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cattle-Guard. (open access)

Cattle-Guard.

Patent for a cattle-guard that does not let cattle become entangled and killed in the guard, and does not allow cattle to pass over the rails. Cattle also will not get thrown or trip on the guard, and the trains will not be endangered.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Hills, Lorenzo
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spool or Bobbin Holder. (open access)

Spool or Bobbin Holder.

Patent for a spool or bobbin holder that has a spindle with a flange on it, a retractable spring, an actuated catch, and a stem on the spindle.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Homer, Arthur B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Appliance for Horses. (open access)

Electric Appliance for Horses.

Patent for an electric appliance for stallions meant to stop the horse from masturbating. It is a box underneath the horse that is secured around the horse. When the horse gets an erection, the penis will touch the lower plate of the box and cause the circuit to close and shocks the animal.
Date: March 20, 1894
Creator: King, George R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for a car coupling that automatically couples cars so people do not need to go between cars. This invention is meant to "provide an improved car coupler of the above character, which shall be simple and economical in construction and efficient in operation" (lines 21-24).
Date: March 6, 1894
Creator: Lawhon, David West
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut-Lock. (open access)

Nut-Lock.

Patent for a nut lock with a locking washer at the base of the nut that does not unscrew. The nut forms a bar of spring metal.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Mauermann, Albert J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Skate-Wheel. (open access)

Skate-Wheel.

Patent for a skate-wheel that is meant for roller skates, but it can be used for other things. It gives the skate a smooth gliding movement. The "invention consists essentially of a stationary runner or slide rigid to the skate and arranged in a circular rim or tire, so that there will be as little friction as possible between the two parts, the runner being adapted when in operation, to slide along its bearing in the rim or tire and by this means the tire is made to turn as in the ordinary wheel" (lines 24-32).
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Mauermann, Albert J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dish-Cleaner. (open access)

Dish-Cleaner.

Patent for a dish-cleaner that improves on previous patents for washing machines granted to the inventor (No. 377,765 and No. 427,601). The dish cleaner is especially adapted for use on plates, cups, dishes, and similar things, without an operator working to clean dishes.
Date: March 6, 1894
Creator: McCausland, William I.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Cotton or Corn Planter. (open access)

Automatic Cotton or Corn Planter.

Patent for an automatic cotton or corn planter that is simple and inexpensive, and is a line of planters that sows in parallel rows that does not need to be guided by hand. The devices are independently adjustable.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Nehrmeyer, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter and Cultivator. (open access)

Planter and Cultivator.

Patent for a planter and cultivator that plants three, five, seven, or more rows at the same time. The planters are interchangeably connected, and can be used for planting, cultivating, cutting, and other similar activities. It is not difficult for one person to operate.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Nehrmeyer, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk-Cutters. (open access)

Stalk-Cutters.

Patent for a stalk-cutter that has simple and inexpensive frame with cutting attachments. The attachments are independently adjustable or adjustable as one unit, and can be adjusted and operated from the operator's seat.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Nehrmeyer, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pumping Apparatus. (open access)

Pumping Apparatus.

Patent for a pumping apparatus that has "certain improvements in that class of pumps known as ejectors for raising liquids out of wells by means of compressed air or stream" (lines 9-12). The pump quickly and easily raises large amounts of water and is an improvement on a patent previously granted to the inventor (No. 474,819).
Date: March 27, 1894
Creator: Nevill, William Birt
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spark-Arrester. (open access)

Spark-Arrester.

Patent for a simple and durable spark arrester for locomotives that has a minimum number of parts and "which will remove arrested sparks to the fire box of the locomotive and will prevent live sparks being thrown out by the locomotive and thereby endanger property adjoining the railroad tracks" (lines 19-23).
Date: March 20, 1894
Creator: O'Donnell, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Kitchen-Cabinet. (open access)

Kitchen-Cabinet.

Patent for a kitchen cabinet that is uniquely constructed and compactly stores condiments and food articles. The food can be easily accessed, and the cabinet has an apparatus for sifting flour "that may be delivered thereby from the sealed bins in the cabinet, in any desired quantity for use" (lines 18-20).
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: P'Pool, Frank E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire-Extinguisher. (open access)

Fire-Extinguisher.

Patent for a fire extinguisher that "reliev[es] water or stream, or both, into pipes from which it discharges at different points in a building" (lines 14-17). The invention operates automatically, and is especially designed for gin houses.
Date: March 27, 1894
Creator: Prosser, Daniel F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Burning Garbage. (open access)

Apparatus for Burning Garbage.

Patent for an apparatus for burning garbage that is made up of a roasting chamber, a grate to hold the garbage, two furnaces, a passage for the ashes, a third furnace connected to the passage, flues, a smokestack, non-combustible absorbent material around the flues and beneath the grate, and flues beneath the grate.
Date: March 27, 1894
Creator: Risley, Ward
System: The Portal to Texas History
Turn-Table. (open access)

Turn-Table.

Patent for a turn table that is "used for turning locomotives engines end to end; and the object of [the] invention is to provide a simple lever attachment for an ordinary turn-table, by which one man may easily turn the table and its load, and also to arrange the lever mechanism so that it may be easily locked in place when not in use and will not be likely to get out of order" (lines 8-16).
Date: March 27, 1894
Creator: Rohrbach, Gabriel
System: The Portal to Texas History