Ant-Trap. (open access)

Ant-Trap.

Patent for an ant-trap with an inflexible bottom with a hole in the middle, a perpendicular section rough on the inside and smooth on the outside, and the perpendicular smooth sides are attached to the edges of the bottom. The trap has a device that prevents the ants from running around the trap.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Carter, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive automatically car-coupling that holds the link in a horizontal position that the operator does not need to guide the couplings by hand. It can also be uncoupled without going between the cars.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Norcross, George A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Brace for Boring Holes, &c. (open access)

Brace for Boring Holes, &c.

Patent for a brace for boring holes through window sashes. It was invented "to enable [the inventor] the more quickly and better to apply my "sash lock", patented July 19, 1892, and numbered 479,152, but may be used for other purposes" (lines 20-23).
Date: February 13, 1894
Creator: McClellan, Stephen
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Railway-Gate. (open access)

Automatic Railway-Gate.

Patent for an automatic railway gate that consists of a picket shaft under the rails, cranks between the rails that are connected to the picket shaft, springs holding the shaft, tread rails that run along the rails and join the cranks, and guide blocks along each tread rail.
Date: February 13, 1894
Creator: Warren, Governor D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Replacer. (open access)

Car-Replacer.

Patent for a car-replacer that is simple and inexpensive and can be easily set and removed. The replacer has two blocks shaped like triangles and tie rods connecting the blocks.
Date: February 13, 1894
Creator: Debose, Albert S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Damper-Regulator. (open access)

Automatic Damper-Regulator.

Patent for an automatic steam damper-regulator that is simply constructed, and can quickly close and open its damper in the flue of the boiler or furnace.
Date: February 13, 1894
Creator: Gaston, Stephen M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Beer-Cooler. (open access)

Beer-Cooler.

Patent for an inexpensive and simple beer cooler that is used in bars, hotels, and other places that disperse beer in small amounts. The cooler has an ornamental appearance and is "adapted to thoroughly cool the beer by a consumption of a minimum amount of ice; to so construct the cooler as to adapt the same to serve as a refrigerator for the storing and cooling of bottled goods such as beer, ale, porter, &c., and furthermore to arrange the cooler in such manner as to permit of the introduction and removal of beer-kegs without the necessity of lifting the same from the floor" (lines 14-23).
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Gibson, Wyatt
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cattle-Guard. (open access)

Cattle-Guard.

Patent for a cattle-guard that does not let cattle become entangled and killed in the guard, and does not allow cattle to pass over the rails. Cattle also will not get thrown or trip on the guard, and the trains will not be endangered.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Hills, Lorenzo
System: The Portal to Texas History
Kitchen-Cabinet. (open access)

Kitchen-Cabinet.

Patent for a kitchen cabinet that is uniquely constructed and compactly stores condiments and food articles. The food can be easily accessed, and the cabinet has an apparatus for sifting flour "that may be delivered thereby from the sealed bins in the cabinet, in any desired quantity for use" (lines 18-20).
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: P'Pool, Frank E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water-Elevator. (open access)

Water-Elevator.

Patent for a water-elevator that elevates huge amounts of water for ranches and irrigating. The elevator "can be easily operated by the direct pull of a single animal, which passes and repasses the well during the operation of raising and lowering the well bucket, and by this means contemplates dispersing with the necessity of winding drums or windlasses and horse powers, which are usually employed in connection with water elevators" (lines 16-23).
Date: February 13, 1894
Creator: Campbell, George William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk-Cutters. (open access)

Stalk-Cutters.

Patent for a stalk-cutter that has simple and inexpensive frame with cutting attachments. The attachments are independently adjustable or adjustable as one unit, and can be adjusted and operated from the operator's seat.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Nehrmeyer, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stamp Sticking or Sealing Machine. (open access)

Stamp Sticking or Sealing Machine.

Patent for a stamp sticking or sealing machine that is meant "to provide a device with a moistening pad capable of applying moisture to the mucilage of the stamps, and with a guide or way through which the stamps may be passed, and by which they are guided to and past the moistening pad; and the invention consists in certain novel features of construction whereby the device is made capable of easier manipulation, whereby it may be held in one hand so as to cause the stamps to make contact with the pad, thus leaving the other hand of the operator free to draw the stamps over the pad and to affix them" (lines 8-21).
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Shaw, James Tyus
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spool or Bobbin Holder. (open access)

Spool or Bobbin Holder.

Patent for a spool or bobbin holder that has a spindle with a flange on it, a retractable spring, an actuated catch, and a stem on the spindle.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Homer, Arthur B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut-Lock. (open access)

Nut-Lock.

Patent for a nut lock with a locking washer at the base of the nut that does not unscrew. The nut forms a bar of spring metal.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Mauermann, Albert J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Telephone. (open access)

Telephone.

Patent for a simple and effective magneto telephone with a newly designed apparatus that allows the telephone to better receive and transmit calls and "will receive its magnetism from the magnets of the magneto call" (lines 21-22).
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Serdinko, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate. (open access)

Gate.

Patent for a gate that improves "the construction of sliding gates, and to provide a simple and inexpensive one, which will be positive and reliable in its operation, and which may be opened and closed a distance from it approaching it in either direction, without dismounting or leaving a vehicle" (lines 10-16). It also prevents farm animals from passing through when the gate is closed.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Smith, Stansbury J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Swing. (open access)

Swing.

Patent for a swing that consists of a frame, a wooden horse to ride on, a U-shaped hanger that is attached to the seat in the back and front, a pulley-like rocker attached to the top of the frame, a bolt that is securing the rocker to the hanger, two bars that go from the horse seat to the pulley, and a chord that attaches the two bars and goes around the top of the pulley.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Alston, Samuel I.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Switch-Operating Mechanism. (open access)

Switch-Operating Mechanism.

Patent for a switch-operating mechanism than "may be changed quickly and positively from a moving car" (lines 15-16).
Date: February 13, 1894
Creator: Lott, Charles C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter and Cultivator. (open access)

Planter and Cultivator.

Patent for a planter and cultivator that plants three, five, seven, or more rows at the same time. The planters are interchangeably connected, and can be used for planting, cultivating, cutting, and other similar activities. It is not difficult for one person to operate.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Nehrmeyer, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Cotton or Corn Planter. (open access)

Automatic Cotton or Corn Planter.

Patent for an automatic cotton or corn planter that is simple and inexpensive, and is a line of planters that sows in parallel rows that does not need to be guided by hand. The devices are independently adjustable.
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Nehrmeyer, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Skate-Wheel. (open access)

Skate-Wheel.

Patent for a skate-wheel that is meant for roller skates, but it can be used for other things. It gives the skate a smooth gliding movement. The "invention consists essentially of a stationary runner or slide rigid to the skate and arranged in a circular rim or tire, so that there will be as little friction as possible between the two parts, the runner being adapted when in operation, to slide along its bearing in the rim or tire and by this means the tire is made to turn as in the ordinary wheel" (lines 24-32).
Date: March 13, 1894
Creator: Mauermann, Albert J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Saw Gummer or Sharpener. (open access)

Saw Gummer or Sharpener.

Patent for an apparatus "which may be easily applied to a gang of gin saws, which is arranged in such a manner that the grinder may be quickly and nicely adjusted so as to properly fit the teeth of the saws and to enter between them to any desired distance, also to provide a simple and efficient feed mechanism which moves the saws tooth by tooth as they are ground, to provide a simple means of regulating the pitch of the grinder, and in general to produce a machine which enables the saws to be rapidly and nicely ground so as to leave the teeth their full, original length and openness." (Lines 13-25) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Oglesby, Jerrold E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut and Bolt Lock. (open access)

Nut and Bolt Lock.

Patent for "an improved device for fastening a bolt and nut in position, whereby the tendency of the bolt or not to become displaced under jar or strain is obviated." (Lines 7-11) Includes instructions or illustrations.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Rush, George L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harness-Saddle. (open access)

Harness-Saddle.

Patent for a harness saddle that has a metallic frame that is hinged with straps, pads, guide straps that are secured to the pads and slide along straps, plates connected to a curved plate in the saddle, plates pivotally connected to the aforementioned plates, cylindrical lugs that are attached to plates, and cylindrical apertures that slip over the lugs.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Miller, John A. & Warmoth, James H.
System: The Portal to Texas History