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.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Harvester. (open access)

Cotton Harvester.

Patent for improved cotton harvester consisting of the parts, constructions, arrangements, and combinations of parts. Patent includes figures for parts in several views.
Date: October 15, 1912
Creator: Upshaw, Lucius L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Seed Planter. (open access)

Cotton Seed Planter.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design "consist[s] of the hopper, the tapering feed-tube, the distributing-chamber provided with inwardly-projecting radial pins, the discharge-spout, and the shaft provided at its upper end with stirrer pins, at its middle part with a tapering feed-screw, and at its lower part with distributing pins" (lines 9-15).
Date: July 15, 1884
Creator: Hopper, Thomas Pinkney
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for a simple, practical, and reliable car-coupling with a side latch. It is "adapted for automatic connection in pairs, when two cars having the improvements are brought together on the same track, which will be capable of a ready release from the side of either coupled car, and also that will be adapted by its peculiar formation to receive support from one part of the improvements, when a coupled drawhead is partly detached from its connections to the car, and which if not so sustained might fall on the track, derail the car having the disabled coupling, and occasion the wreckage of said car and others of a train" (lines 14-27).
Date: January 15, 1895
Creator: Curry, Charles D.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 3984, Chapter 944 (open access)

80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 3984, Chapter 944

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the creation of the Double Platinum Ranch Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 of Grayson County; providing authority to impose a tax and issue bonds; granting the power of eminent domain.
Date: June 15, 2007
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 4096, Chapter 1137 (open access)

80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 4096, Chapter 1137

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the creation of the King's Crossing Municipal Utility District of Grayson County; providing authority to impose a tax and issue bonds; granting the power of eminent domain.
Date: June 15, 2007
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 4097, Chapter 1138 (open access)

80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 4097, Chapter 1138

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the creation of the Gunter Municipal Utility District No. 2; providing authority to impose taxes and issue bonds.
Date: June 15, 2007
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 4098, Chapter 966 (open access)

80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 4098, Chapter 966

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the creation of the Gunter Municipal Utility District No. 1; providing authority to impose taxes and issue bonds.
Date: June 15, 2007
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 4099, Chapter 1139 (open access)

80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Bill 4099, Chapter 1139

Bill introduced by the Texas House of Representatives relating to the creation of the Preston Summit Municipal Utility District No. 1 of Grayson County; providing authority to impose a tax and issue bonds; granting the power of eminent domain.
Date: June 15, 2007
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: H-11 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: H-11

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, John L. Hill, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Under present law, can the Grayson County Commissioners Court legally amend the 9173 County Budget and allow a blanket increase in salaries of county employees, effective January 1, 1973.
Date: February 15, 1973
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blade. (open access)

Blade.

Patent for a new blade similar to "weed blades" (line 10) that can be "attached to a cultivator" (line 11) and includes an illustration.
Date: July 15, 1913
Creator: Kelly, John H. & Mershon, John H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stamp-Affixing Machine. (open access)

Stamp-Affixing Machine.

Patent for a stamp affixing machine, which attaches stamps from a roll to envelopes inserted into the machine.
Date: March 15, 1910
Creator: Brents, William R.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam Boiler Furnace (open access)

Steam Boiler Furnace

Patent for steam boiler furnace. Illustration included.
Date: November 15, 1904
Creator: Nash, Alexander Q.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam-Engine Governor. (open access)

Steam-Engine Governor.

Patent for a governor meant to be used with a double cylinder single-action steam engine of Devoissaud's invention. It has "a plate-like governor valve having suitable steam ports, is introduced within a vertical channel formed in the single head plat that closes one end of two steam cylinders, which are located in the same vertical plane on a bed-plate; said valve being directly attached to, and controlled by the governor, for the alternate introduction of steam directly through the cylinder head into the two cylinders, for the actuation of working parts of the steam engine" (lines 17-27).
Date: May 15, 1894
Creator: Devoissaud, John P.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trolley-Harp. (open access)

Trolley-Harp.

Patent for improvements to the efficiency of trolley harps by changing how the currents that power "overhead type electric car systems" (lines 13-14) are conducted.
Date: May 15, 1917
Creator: Carmack, James H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tanning Compound. (open access)

Tanning Compound.

Patent for a new compound used for tanning hides and skins of all kinds. It lists the ingredients and their proportions. “The principal advantage of the compound is that its action on the hides is speedy” (lines 27-28).
Date: September 15, 1882
Creator: Hayden, Charles Thomas
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Surgical Instrument. (open access)

Surgical Instrument.

Patent for a surgical instrument meant to help examine and treat the urethra and similar internal canals and passages. It can easily be cleaned and taken apart.
Date: January 15, 1895
Creator: Johnson, Emmet E.
Object Type: Patent
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.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Reed Board (open access)

Reed Board

Patent for an improved design for reed cells and pipe cells as related to a reed organ. Includes illustrations.
Date: February 15, 1916
Creator: Preston, Percy
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sash-Fastener. (open access)

Sash-Fastener.

Patent for a "device which will lock the sashes of a window when they are closed and which will secure them in any desired adjustment," (lines 11-14) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 27, 1891
Creator: Taber, William M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for an improved shovel plow.
Date: November 15, 1910
Creator: Lindsey, William F.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Quick-Speed Steam-Engine. (open access)

Quick-Speed Steam-Engine.

Patent for a simple, efficient, and high pressure quick speed steam-engine that maximizes power with the minimum amount of steam.
Date: May 15, 1894
Creator: Devoissaud, John P.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Peanut Digger. (open access)

Peanut Digger.

Patent for new and useful improvements to a machine for harvesting or digging peanuts, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 15, 1917
Creator: Amos, Thomas E. & Abernathy, George J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oil Burner (open access)

Oil Burner

Patent for oil burner. Illustration included.
Date: December 15, 1908
Creator: Milburn, William M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History