Design for a Pocket-Cuspidor. (open access)

Design for a Pocket-Cuspidor.

Design patent for a pocket-cuspidor with a bowl that has an approximately trunco-conical shape.
Date: August 15, 1899
Creator: Pollard, Philip D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal-Trap. (open access)

Animal-Trap.

Patent for an improved self-setting trap that can capture and kill animals while preventing them from reaching the bait.
Date: August 28, 1906
Creator: Sheridan, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Design for Tack or Nail. (open access)

Design for Tack or Nail.

Design patent for a tack or nail that is both useful and ornamental.
Date: August 24, 1897
Creator: Bogar, Fred A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ballast-Scraper. (open access)

Ballast-Scraper.

Patent for new and useful improvements in ballast scrapers, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 22, 1899
Creator: McElvaney, Charles T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Compress (open access)

Cotton Compress

Patent for "an improved cotton-compress adapted to be used in connection with a cotton-baling press for increasing the density and reducing the size of the bales formed in the press."
Date: August 26, 1902
Creator: Denton, John L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Engineer's Graduating-Valve. (open access)

Engineer's Graduating-Valve.

Patent for an graduating valve that is used with air brake systems in railroad trains. The invention is meant to "produce a comparatively simple valve which is constructed in such a way that it is not likely to clog or get out of order, which is arranged so that successive regular reductions may be easily made in the pressure of air in the train service pipe, which is adapted to automatically act on the governor of the air pipe from pressure either above or below the main valve, which is constructed in such a way that if the train parts the pressure in the main reservoir will not be reduced, which generates excess pressure when the brake handle is in running position and acts through said excess pressure on the governor of the pump, which is not likely to leak, and which in general may be easily controlled and places the train brakes under the complete control of the engineer" (lines 11-29).
Date: August 15, 1893
Creator: Pelham, Walter O.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Check Hook. (open access)

Check Hook.

Patent for a new and improved check-hook. This design is "composed of the U-shaped frame having a threaded stem projecting from its lower end, and having the lugs extending from its vertical branches, the spring, and the cross-bar pivoted at one end between the lugs, and having side depressions near its other end to receive the lugs, and having its end adapted to be engaged by the spring and provided with the thumb-piece or horse-head" (lines 90-100).
Date: August 14, 1888
Creator: Matchette, James S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal Trap. (open access)

Animal Trap.

Patent for a new and improved animal trap. This design consists in "the combination of the base-board having the opposite recesses and the transverse shaft, the yoke having the spring-coils mounted on the projecting ends of the shaft in said recesses, the standard having the holding-rod, the trigger, and the guards or prongs secured in the base-board" (lines 20-26).
Date: August 19, 1890
Creator: Anderson, Henry C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clothes Pin. (open access)

Clothes Pin.

Patent for a new and improved clothespin. This design consists in "[a] wire clothes-pin composed of a pair of spring-coils connected by a loop, the free ends of the wire forming said spring-coils being extended in the direction of said loop and connected by a ring or link which affords a bearing for the said loop when the latter is inserted between the free ends of the wire" (lines 79-85).
Date: August 27, 1889
Creator: Stewart, John Adkerson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire Tongs. (open access)

Fire Tongs.

Patent for a new and improved pair of fire tongs. This design consists of "[a] guide device for preventing the legs of fire-tongs from crossing, consisting of a wing-plate having at one end an open eye to fit about one leg of the tongs, and attached thereto . . . and a slot-piece having open eyes to fit about the other leg, and a straight part attached to the said eyes and forming the slot through which the wing may move freely" (lines 91-99).
Date: August 16, 1881
Creator: Mangum, Wiley P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cake-Stripping Machine (open access)

Cake-Stripping Machine

Patent for a cake-stripping machine which provides novel means for stripping cloth off the oil cake. It is also to provide means for trimming the cake after the cloth has been stripped off the cake. The scope of the invention is to improve generally and enhance the utility of devices of that type.
Date: August 24, 1915
Creator: Miller, Charles R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dry-Closet Commode. (open access)

Dry-Closet Commode.

Patent for a sanitary dry closet commode for areas that do not have a sewerage or water works system. The commode is "readily cleaned, simple in construction, practically odorless, and adapted to be emptied with facility" (lines 15-18). The patent includes illustrations.
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Mershon, John Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plaiting Device. (open access)

Plaiting Device.

Patent for an improved plaiting device that simplifies the steaming and pressing of dress goods.
Date: August 2, 1921
Creator: Knaur, Laura L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
High-Pressure Suction Fan and Blower. (open access)

High-Pressure Suction Fan and Blower.

Patent for "a fan which will operate in a continuous and highly efficient manner and increase the air pressure with a reduced power of operation" and "may be used either in conjunction with a cotton gin...or it may be used for any other purpose where suction or blast fans are used" (lines 31-33, 10-15). It includes an illustration.
Date: August 2, 1921
Creator: Blackmon, Enoch J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sugared Nut Candy (open access)

Sugared Nut Candy

Patent for sugared nut candy. No illustration.
Date: August 17, 1909
Creator: McDonald, Joseph H. & Hopson, Charley A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hoe. (open access)

Hoe.

Patent for a hoe with "a colter shank at the oval top, affording means whereby the hoe may clear itself from large branching weeds, which is frequently a trouble met with in using hoes having a shank in the center."
Date: August 16, 1921
Creator: Clark, James Robert.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Tightener and Splicer (open access)

Wire Tightener and Splicer

Patent for "a device adapted to be used in tightening and splicing the wires of wire fences, which can be manufactured at a very small cost and sold at about five cents each" (lines 12-16).
Date: August 20, 1889
Creator: Taylor, Shapley P. Ross; Sharman, William T. & Jamison, Joseph L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wheel. (open access)

Wheel.

Patent for a wheel hub, which has anti friction parts inside of it.
Date: August 23, 1910
Creator: Neighbour, William W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Turbine. (open access)

Turbine.

Patent for a turbine engine powered by steam.
Date: August 29, 1911
Creator: May, Reynolds
System: The Portal to Texas History
Valve Stem Packing (open access)

Valve Stem Packing

Patent for "valve-stem packing for locomotives and steam engines." (lines 8,9) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 25, 1903
Creator: McComas, Charles F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Fire-Escapes. (open access)

Improvement in Fire-Escapes.

Patent for improving fire-escapes and provides a portable instrument that "may be used for letting persons directly down from buildings, or for carrying them from the upper stories of buildings to others buildings at a distance" (lines 9-12).
Date: August 28, 1877
Creator: Staples, George S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wheel Scraper. (open access)

Wheel Scraper.

Patent for a new and improved wheel scraper. This design "is to provide a . . . device for scraping mud and adhesive soil from the outer edges and sides of the fellies of vehicle wheels to prevent an accumulation of mud or adhesive soil on the wheel rim or felly and between the spokes" (lines 7-13).
Date: August 12, 1884
Creator: Whipp, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement In Locks (open access)

Improvement In Locks

Patent for an improvement for slide door fasteners and locks. Description and illustrations are attached.
Date: August 19, 1879
Creator: Garlock, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Combined Gang-Plow and Cultivator (open access)

Improvement in Combined Gang-Plow and Cultivator

Patent for a new gang-plow and cultivator design, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 23, 1870
Creator: Thornton, Sterling C.
System: The Portal to Texas History