Bent for Suspension-Bridges. (open access)

Bent for Suspension-Bridges.

Patent for improvements in bents for suspension-bridges by securing the columns with wire braces, cross-bar and anchor-pins. Illustration is included.
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Runyon, Edwin Elijah
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bird-Cage (open access)

Bird-Cage

Patent for "bird-cages of the circular kind, wherein the main-frame wires have a band at their lower ends and a single tie-wire arranged diametrically across the band. . .to utilize the single diametrical tie-wire as a support for an inverted interiorly screw-threaded connecting-cap, and to combine with such a device a pan" (lines 10-12 and 17-23).
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Coffield, Charles Hunter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clasp. (open access)

Clasp.

Patent for a new and improved clasp. This design "is to make a fastener for pieces of leather by which bridles and other parts of harness may be made with less stitching and riveting, thereby lessening the labor and cost of manufacture" (lines 15-20). To this end, it consists in "two plates, [one] having key-hole slots with beveled side walls, and the [other] carrying studs undercut . . . and provided with top pin, in combination with the spring-plate perforated . . . to receive [the] pin to form the leather clasp or fastening described" (lines 77-83).
Date: December 3, 1889
Creator: Waters, Richard H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mail Bag Fastening. (open access)

Mail Bag Fastening.

Patent for a new and improved mail-bag fastener. This design "is to provide a fastening for mail-bags, which may be quickly manipulated to fasten or unfasten the bag. To this end the invention consists, essentially, of a slide formed with key-hole slots and carried by an overlapping flap, the said slide being adapted to engaged headed studs that are secured to one side of the main portion of the pouch and passed through apertures formed in the other side of the pouch" (lines 7-16).
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Roosevelt, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water Cooler. (open access)

Water Cooler.

Patent for a new and improved water cooler. This design "consist[s] of the outer vessel having the removable cover provided centrally with an aperture, the inner vessel supported on legs centrally within the outer vessel and provided with perforated shelves, the keepers for locking the two vessels at a regulated distance apart concentric with each other, and the removable cap to the inner vessel provided with a vertical tube communicating with the interior of the inner vessel and passed through the space between the tops of the two vessels and through the central aperture in the cover" (lines 81-93).
Date: December 3, 1889
Creator: Clark, James P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Milk-Cooler (open access)

Milk-Cooler

Patent for a milk cooler in which the design of traditional milk coolers is improved upon.
Date: December 3, 1889
Creator: Porter, Louis H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay-Press (open access)

Hay-Press

Patent for improvements in hay presses "to simplify and cheapen the construction and render it more efficient in the formation of the hay into bales" (lines 16-18).
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: McNeill, Charles De Witte
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gunpowder Canister. (open access)

Gunpowder Canister.

Patent for a new and improved canister. This design "consists in the combination of a suitable supporting cone-shaped frame provided with a supporting flange at its top and an opening through one side, with the can or case for holding the powder, and which is also provided with a supporting-flange near its lower end, a suitable cover, and a spring-actuated perforated slide . . . to provide a case for holding gunpowder, and from which the powder can be drawn into a suitable measuring-receptacle without the trouble of having to weigh it or having to expose it . . . where it is liable to catch fire" (lines 14-28).
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Stopple, John J. & Harigel, Emil
System: The Portal to Texas History
Screw and Slide Valve. (open access)

Screw and Slide Valve.

Patent for a combination of a screw and slide valve that can be closed by a lever or screw. It is also designed to stop air and liquid from flowing in either direction.
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Davis, De Leon
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence Wire Tightener. (open access)

Fence Wire Tightener.

Patent for a new and improved wire-tightener. This design "relates to devices for tightening the wires of a wire fence whether in the act of building the latter or after it has been put up and the wire is stretched thereon; and the invention consists of a metallic lever-arm adapted to be seated and adapted to turn in a hole in the fence-post, and upon whose body the wire is tightened as the arm is revolved" (lines 9-16).
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Jinkins, Thomas William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence-Building Machine (open access)

Fence-Building Machine

Patent for providing "for the weaving or construction of a picket fence by means of a simple and inexpensive machine, but one which will insure a proper binding of the pickets between the several strands of supporting-wire" (lines 10-14).
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Kline, John B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dumping-Car. (open access)

Dumping-Car.

Patent for a dumping car in "which contents of the car may be readily discharged" (lines 11-12) including illustrations.
Date: December 3, 1889
Creator: Bogusch, Gustav & Zincke, August
System: The Portal to Texas History
Elastic Chain (open access)

Elastic Chain

Patent for this invention is to provide a chain which yield longitudinally when subjected to a tensile strain and to this end arrangement of parts, as will be herein after described and claimed. [5-10]
Date: December 3, 1889
Creator: Redwood, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device for Holding Paper over Cakes in Ovens. (open access)

Device for Holding Paper over Cakes in Ovens.

Patent for a new and improved paper-holder for cake baking. With this design, "[a] cake is placed in the oven, the holder placed in position over it, the hoop or frame raised, and a paper placed upon [another] hoop. The [first] hoop is then pressed down upon it, when the cake may be baked without the top being scorched" (lines 40-45).
Date: December 3, 1889
Creator: Balfour, Emma
System: The Portal to Texas History