Resource Type

Improvement in Apparatus for Distilling Turpentine. (open access)

Improvement in Apparatus for Distilling Turpentine.

Patent for the improvement of apparatuses for distilling turpentine.
Date: August 1, 1871
Creator: Lee, Archibald K.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Apparatus for Photographing Children (open access)

Improvement in Apparatus for Photographing Children

Patent for an improvement in machines for taking Photographs of small children.
Date: July 4, 1871
Creator: Sloan, William W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Ice. (open access)

Improvement in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Ice.

Patent for a refrigeration apparatus "in which a continuous operation is maintained by means of a current of ether or other volatile fluid which liquefies at a low temperature." (Lines 18-21) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 28, 1871
Creator: Mühl, A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Ice. (open access)

Improvement in Apparatus for the Manufacture of Ice.

Patent for improvements on machinery for the manufacture of ice.
Date: August 29, 1871
Creator: Sears, James E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Bale-Ties. (open access)

Improvement in Bale-Ties.

Patent for "a new buckle or tie for holding the ends of the bands of cotton-bales" (lines 18-19) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 19, 1871
Creator: Brown, Floyd G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Bedsteads. (open access)

Improvement in Bedsteads.

Patent for the improvement of bedsteads in order to make them more convenient and durable.
Date: August 8, 1871
Creator: Baldwin, Thomas B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Belt-Fasteners. (open access)

Improvement in Belt-Fasteners.

Patent for new and useful improvements in Belt-Fasteners. Illustration is included.
Date: November 28, 1871
Creator: Olmsted, Marcellus
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Brooms. (open access)

Improvement in Brooms.

Patent for improvement in the manufacture of corn brooms.
Date: August 15, 1871
Creator: Anderson, Edward Americus
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Carriage-Axles. (open access)

Improvement in Carriage-Axles.

Patent for improvements to carriage axles which include the addition of a sleeve, bearing, and linch-pin device.
Date: June 13, 1871
Creator: Wagner, Ernest Friedrich
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Combination Locks. (open access)

Improvement in Combination Locks.

Patent for improved combination locks, with a bolt that is locked or unlocked by the combination of spindles and pivoted buttons. The invention combines the spindles in to an "annular ring having letters or numbers and a series of different shaped pegs or combinations of letters or figures or both jointly" (pg 1).
Date: September 12, 1871
Creator: Hall, William N.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Combined Axle-Boxes, Sand-Bands, and Casings for Carriage-Wheel Hubs. (open access)

Improvement in Combined Axle-Boxes, Sand-Bands, and Casings for Carriage-Wheel Hubs.

Patent for improvements in combined axle-boxes, sand-bands, and casings for carriage-wheel hubs. The patent includes instructions and an illustration.
Date: December 26, 1871
Creator: McNalley, Micheal
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Compounds for Destroying Worms in Cotton-Plants. (open access)

Improvement in Compounds for Destroying Worms in Cotton-Plants.

Patent for using a solution of water and arsenic for killing cotton pests.
Date: January 2, 1871
Creator: Mitchell, Thomas W. & Briscoe, Robert P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton and Hay-Presses. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton and Hay-Presses.

Patent for improving the cotton and hay press.
Date: August 8, 1871
Creator: McGowen, Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Cleaners. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Cleaners.

Patent for improvements to cotton picking and cleaning before the cotton is ginned.
Date: July 4, 1871
Creator: Sims, Zachariah B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Presses. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Presses.

Patent for a "new and improved cotton-press" (line 5) relating to "improvements in friction-clamping apparatus used on vertical bars or rods of presses for holding the follower and lever in working the follower in passing the bale" (lines 11-14) including instructions and an illustration.
Date: December 26, 1871
Creator: Simpson, Thomas D. & Lamkin, William S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Tie Stretchers. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Tie Stretchers.

Patent for an improvement for an instrument to stretch and tie a band around a cotton bale.
Date: August 22, 1871
Creator: Mather, Samuel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cultivators. (open access)

Improvement in Cultivators.

Patent for changes in the construction of a cultivator.
Date: May 23, 1871
Creator: Walker, Leander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Current-Wheels. (open access)

Improvement in Current-Wheels.

Patent for improvements in current-wheels, consisting of an improved arrangement of feathering-buckets, the gate, and opening devices. It includes a description and illustration.
Date: June 6, 1871
Creator: Tuder, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Devices for Attaching Napkins to the Person (open access)

Improvement in Devices for Attaching Napkins to the Person

Patent for the improvement of attaching napkins to people in which a flexible ring is ensleeved with a napkins and stretched around the neck of a person.
Date: May 23, 1871
Creator: Raiford, Philip H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Elevators. (open access)

Improvement in Elevators.

Patent for improvements in elevators, for lifting heavy objects. It includes a description and illustration.
Date: June 13, 1871
Creator: Bishop, Josiah
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Fire-Tongs (open access)

Improvement in Fire-Tongs

Patent for a part to prevent the legs of fire-tongs from lapping or crossing each other.
Date: January 17, 1871
Creator: George, Alfred M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Fluting Sad-Irons. (open access)

Improvement in Fluting Sad-Irons.

Patent for "a new combination of fluting and sad-iron, of such kind that the upper fluting-roller will serve as handle for the sad-iron, there being thus no loose or separate parts required for the two functions." (Lines 17-21) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 14, 1871
Creator: Franklin, Edward A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Furnaces for Producing Hydrogen and Treating Ores (open access)

Improvement in Furnaces for Producing Hydrogen and Treating Ores

Patent for an improvement on heating furnaces, having an external water tank and steam tank and an orifice for the admission of steam from the water chamber.
Date: March 28, 1871
Creator: Morris, Joseph R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Gas-Furnaces and Forges. (open access)

Improvement in Gas-Furnaces and Forges.

Patent for "an apparatus in which the gases from one or more forges, instead of passing off unconsumed into the atmosphere, enter a furnace and are burnt therein, thereby furnishing heat for the generation of steam in a boiler connected with said furnace, which steam is used to drive a fan that impels a blast into each forge, and is also used to propel an engine that operates a hammer, the exhaust from the engine being conducted to the tuyeres of the forges through pipes in which are placed red-hot iron plates, which decompose the steam, taking up the oxygen, and liberating the hydrogen which is burnt in the forges." (Lines 12-25) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 7, 1871
Creator: Morris, Joseph R.
System: The Portal to Texas History