Resource Type

Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the platform . . . having a spring buffer and a projection adjacent to and to one side of the buffer . . . the catch pivotally secured below the same and having a series of coupling shoulders on one side, the spring, and the stop arranged to act upon the side of the catch from which the coupling shoulders project" (lines 89-98).
Date: September 6, 1887
Creator: Ashford, Thomas Gresham.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter. (open access)

Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "slides over opposite holes in the bottom of its hopper and a dropping-cylinder provided with seed-cups on its periphery and removable screws rising from within the cups, whereby it may be changed . . . so as to plant corn or cotton" (lines 59-65).
Date: September 20, 1887
Creator: Becker, Philipp William Adolph
System: The Portal to Texas History