Window-Fastener. (open access)

Window-Fastener.

Patent for a spring lever for fastening sliding windows, including illustration.
Date: August 31, 1858
Creator: Root, Irving
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Pickers. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Pickers.

Patent for a cotton-picking machine that "consists in a set of saws mounted on a truck, and geared with the driving-wheels, to run in the tops of the plants...and detach the cotton and convey it to a brushing-roller above, which detaches the cotton from the saws and delivers it into a receptacle behind." (Lines 10-17) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 23, 1870
Creator: McRae, Daniel M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Corn and Cotton Planters. (open access)

Improvement in Corn and Cotton Planters.

Patent for improvement in corn and cotton planting machinery, including illustrations.
Date: August 20, 1872
Creator: Svenson, Bengt Johan
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cultivators. (open access)

Improvement in Cultivators.

Patent for the improvement of cultivators, consisting in the construction and arrangement of of a double-sweep plow. It includes a description and illustration.
Date: August 20, 1872
Creator: Svenson, Bengt Johan
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Engine. (open access)

Rotary Engine.

Patent for a new and improved rotary engine. This design consists "[i]n a rotary engine, the combination of the wheel having two circumferential channels and radial recesses, with the notched pistons, fitted in the radial recesses of the wheel, and the adjustable cam connected with the side casings and fitted into the notches of the pistons" (lines 90-96).
Date: August 17, 1880
Creator: Cross, David L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Eraser for Blackboards. (open access)

Eraser for Blackboards.

Patent for a new and improved blackboard eraser. This design "is composed of a block fashioned out of any suitable material—wood preferred— with a suitable handle, and provided with a base having a bed rounding in shape, provided with a rabbet following its edge, one side of which is beveled and the other plain, the two sides of said rabbet forming an obtuse angle about the entire perimeter of the said block" (lines 15-23).
Date: August 12, 1884
Creator: Kempen, Adolph H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate. (open access)

Gate.

Patent for a new and improved gate. This design "relates to improvements in gates of that class known as 'tilting and folding' gates, and is designed to produce a gate that will automatically lock itself when down and close the passage by means which will not interfere in the least with the operation of the tilting" (lines 9-15).
Date: August 4, 1885
Creator: Howe, Charles P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cuff Button and Holder. (open access)

Cuff Button and Holder.

Patent for a new and improved cuff button and holder. This design consists in "[a] cuff button and holder having in combination a shank-plate, two buttons, one attached at each end of the shank-plate, and a clamp-bar, one end of which is for attachment to the shirt-sleeve, and the other end having a device to couple with said shank-plate" (lines 1-6).
Date: August 11, 1885
Creator: Stuart, John A. & Woodmansee, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a plow carriage, having a sprocket-wheel attached to the driving-wheel, and a rotary mold-board provided with a sprocket-hub having bearings in the plow-beam, of a shaft journaled upon the carriage-frame provided with toggle or universal joints, and suitable chain or belt connections for the sprocket-wheels" (lines 69-76).
Date: August 6, 1889
Creator: Kirk, Johnathan P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench. (open access)

Wrench.

Patent for a new and improved wrench. This design "has for its object to provide a tool especially adapted for a pipe-wrench, but also capable of use as a monkey-wrench. A further object of the invention is to construct a wrench with practically two handles, one of which is capable of use as a lever to disengage the jaws from the pipe and to adjust the upper jaw to and from the lower jaw" (lines 8-16).
Date: August 5, 1890
Creator: Kasch, Friedrich Wilhelm
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Insulator. (open access)

Electric Insulator.

Patent for a new and improved electric insulator. This design "comprises a pair of fixed metal jaws or flanges having a common base of the same material integral therewith, and having between them a recess or groove for the reception of a wire, a key seat or slot passing through both jaws near their point of permanent union, and rounded off or made with a concave surface at its outer side, and a key or wedge convexly rounded on one side of its surface to correspond with said slot and adapted to be driven therein and to pass through both jaws and thereupon to hold the wire in said recess" (lines 27-38).
Date: August 12, 1890
Creator: Dunbar, John K.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ironing Board. (open access)

Ironing Board.

Patent for a new and improved ironing-board. This design "is to provide a simple and inexpensive ironing-table adapted to be readily attached to the edge of a table or to a cleat on the wall and capable of being adjusted vertically to accommodate itself to the height of the table or other support" (lines 10-15). It consists in "[a]n ironing-table comprising an ironing-board provided at its rear end with parallel slots . . . the ribs secured to the lower face of the ironing-board and forming grooves or ways, a prop or leg composed of parallel bars adapted to fold in said grooves or ways" (lines 68-73).
Date: August 2, 1892
Creator: Chapin, Frederick N.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill. (open access)

Windmill.

Patent for a windmill that qualifies as "a substantial and strong machine capable of withstanding the high winds of the Western prairies, which will be at the same time inexpensive and simple in construction, and which will automatically regulate itself in such a manner as to run with a uniform speed in all kinds of winds" (lines 16-22)
Date: August 30, 1892
Creator: Campbell, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Siphon-Pump for Oil-Cans. (open access)

Siphon-Pump for Oil-Cans.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive siphon meant to transfer oil from a container to another container without spilling the liquid. It can transfer a liquid from a reservoir to a receptacle and back again without spilling.
Date: August 15, 1893
Creator: Franklin, Edward A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dental or Surgical Chair. (open access)

Dental or Surgical Chair.

Patent for a dental or surgical chair that is adjustable, light and portable. The chair can be adjusted "without the employment of a raising device using fluid or any sub-basal mechanism" (lines 57-59), and can be adjusted with little effort. The chair's decent can be monitored. It can be easily assembled and disassembled for transport.
Date: August 28, 1894
Creator: Stiles, Edmund Pease
System: The Portal to Texas History
Exhaust-Steam Condenser. (open access)

Exhaust-Steam Condenser.

Patent for an exhaust-steam condenser meant for steam-engines in places where water needs to be conserved. It also "prevents the use of water for cooling the surfaces of the condenser" (lines 14-16).
Date: August 20, 1895
Creator: Bachman, Joseph A. & Goeth, Adolf C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for a churn that can be easily disassembled and cleaned easily. The churn is a circular chamber with a tube in its center. The tube has a fan around it at the top of the chamber, and the air goes through the fan, is sucked into the tube, and is released at the bottom of the chamber in order to agitate the cream.
Date: August 11, 1896
Creator: Walker, Ben, Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Process of Hardening Bitminuous Substances. (open access)

Process of Hardening Bitminuous Substances.

Patent for "a process for hardening or partly solidifying to any required degree substances such as liquid or viscid bitumens, tars, or asphaltums, either natural or artificial" (lines 8-12). It hardens bitumens without evaporating oils and leaves them solid when cooled.
Date: August 11, 1896
Creator: Dumble, Edwin Theodore
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill. (open access)

Windmill.

Patent for an automatic windmill "which will be capable of obtaining a large amount of power from a comparatively light wind." (Lines 14-16) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 24, 1897
Creator: Hardaway, Robert E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device for Covering and Protecting Contents of Drawers. (open access)

Device for Covering and Protecting Contents of Drawers.

Patent for an improved device designed to cover and protect the contents of drawers, this result being attained through a flexible cover wound upon a suitable roller, the latter being operated to wind or unwind the cover by opening or closing the drawer." (Lines 9-14) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 31, 1897
Creator: Burt, Horace Roscoe
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cord-Tying Device. (open access)

Cord-Tying Device.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in cord tying devices, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 1, 1899
Creator: Postley, Charles A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boiler-Flue-Cleaning Device. (open access)

Boiler-Flue-Cleaning Device.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in boiler flue cleaning devices, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 8, 1899
Creator: Kitchen, George C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mold. (open access)

Mold.

Patent for a mold for viscous materials that are meant to be hardened in the mold or afterward. It is designed to be easily removed from the cast without damaging it.
Date: August 13, 1901
Creator: Parker, William Sink
System: The Portal to Texas History
Process of Making Ammonium Ichthyol Sulfonate. (open access)

Process of Making Ammonium Ichthyol Sulfonate.

Patent for "improvment in the process of making ichthyol sulfonate" (lines 10-13).
Date: August 27, 1901
Creator: McLaughlin, Andrew Cyrus
System: The Portal to Texas History