Wheel. (open access)

Wheel.

Patent for a new and improved wheel. This design "is to obviate the . . . great difficulty . . . experienced in the construction of wheels in putting the axle-box in the hub and getting it true. . . . and [to] improve and strengthen the construction of wheels, and especially the manner of securing the spokes in the hubs" (lines 9-17).
Date: October 15, 1889
Creator: Holland, William Johnson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hydraulic Excavating Machine. (open access)

Hydraulic Excavating Machine.

Patent for a new and improved hydraulic excavator. This design "consists in combining a submerged propeller-wheel with a water-jet tube having a flexible connection with the supply-pipe, so as to permit the water-jet tube to rise and fall . . . and also move laterally, whereby the tube will, when it meets an obstruction, yield sufficiently to prevent breaking, jarring, or injuring any of the parts, the water-jet tube and propeller bearing such relative positions to each other that the . . . obstructions disengaged by the jet will be held in suspension . . . and carried off by the natural current" (lines 14-27).
Date: January 15, 1884
Creator: Mansfield, Samuel M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk and Clod Cutter. (open access)

Stalk and Clod Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design "consist[s] of . . . any desirable number of cutting-wheels constructed with heavy spherical hubs of cast metal and spokes carrying at their extremities horizontal knives. The said cutting-wheels are mounted . . . on a horizontal shaft provided with a longitudinal key-slot from end to end, so that the cutting-wheels may be adjusted in the desired positions thereon, the said shaft turning in boxes at the rear ends of a pair of longitudinal beams secured in front to an axle provided with two carrying-wheels and a driver's seat" (lines 9-21).
Date: December 15, 1885
Creator: Farley, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Manufacture of Soap. (open access)

Manufacture of Soap.

Patent for a new and improved soap-making process. This process "consist[s] in applying hydraulic pressure to the mass undergoing mixture and steam-heating . . . [and] thoroughly mixing the ingredients . . . in a close vessel by means of rotary blades, heating the same by steam, and at the same time applying pressure by means of a hydraulic pump to the said mixture" (lines 86-95).
Date: December 15, 1885
Creator: Grant, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Animal-Traps. (open access)

Improvement in Animal-Traps.

Patent for improvements to animal-traps to wound or kill rats, mice, and game with the size and strength being adjustable to the size of animals sought.
Date: August 15, 1887
Creator: Martin, Josiah
System: The Portal to Texas History
Split Switch (open access)

Split Switch

Patent for a split switch, with illustrations. The "invention relates to split switches; and the object of our invention is to provide a switch which will be normally in condition to prevent a train from running on the main track from the siding, and yet always keep the main track in condition for the rapid movement of trains, and at the same time allow the shunting of a train from the main track to the side track" (lines 16-24).
Date: May 15, 1883
Creator: Crowley, John Henry & Temple, Bernard Moore
System: The Portal to Texas History
Portable Pump, &c. (open access)

Portable Pump, &c.

Patent for improvement to a pump "adapted for attachment to small vessels containing oil, water or any other liquid" (lines 10-12) that includes a better means of securing the pump.
Date: September 15, 1885
Creator: Phillips, Richard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Post Hole Auger. (open access)

Post Hole Auger.

Patent for a new and improved post-hole auger. This design consists in "the shank forked and continued in the arms, the latter having elbows at their lower ends, in combination with the ring-shaped band having a sharp lower edge and bolts passing through said bands and arms and through said elbows and arms" (lines 91-97).
Date: October 15, 1889
Creator: McCall, Dugald Bell
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
System: The Portal to Texas History
Packing Attachment for Baling Presses (open access)

Packing Attachment for Baling Presses

Patent for an "improved cotton packing attachment for baling-presses" (lines 9-10).
Date: May 15, 1883
Creator: Shepherd, James R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock. (open access)

Nut Lock.

Patent for a new and improved nut lock. This design utilizes "[t]he combination, with the bolt having a longitudinal groove therein, and the nut having a circular recess in its inner face and a series of perforations in its outer face, of the key having its inner end bent at right angles and fitted in said recess, and provided with an arm and pivoted catch at the outer end, which catch is adapted to engage with a perforation in the nut" (lines 47-55).
Date: May 15, 1883
Creator: Mlinarich, Gioseppe Iosef Pepos
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oil Can. (open access)

Oil Can.

Patent for a new and improved oil can. This design "relates to that class of oil-cans which are used for supplying lubricating material to various kinds of machinery, and which usually consists of a can or receptacle having an orifice through which it may be filled, and a tapering spout for supplying the lubricant to the place where it is needed; and the invention has for its object to produce an oil-can which shall be specially designed for lubricating vehicle-axles, and which shall possess superior advantages in point of simplicity, durability, and general efficiency" (lines 19-30).
Date: December 15, 1885
Creator: Denton, Winfield Scott
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock. (open access)

Nut Lock.

Patent for a new and improved nut lock. This design consists in "[a] lock . . . for a nut having a non-circular recess in its rear face, consisting of a washer having a non-circular opening whereby it may be keyed upon a bolt and fitted to enter the non-circular recess of a nut, and a securing-plate having an opening fitted to receive the locking-washer" (lines 81-87).
Date: June 15, 1886
Creator: Unger, Louis
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trousers. (open access)

Trousers.

Patent for new and improved trousers. This design "relates to an improvement in pants; and it consists in a pants-leg having a recess or notch cut in its lower rear edge, so as to prevent it from coming in contact with the ground" (lines 12-16).
Date: November 15, 1887
Creator: Sevier, Moses Nimrod
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fare-Box (open access)

Fare-Box

Patent for new and useful improvements in electrical fare boxes.
Date: May 15, 1888
Creator: Crowdus, Walter A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse Collar. (open access)

Horse Collar.

Patent for a new and improved horse collar. This design "is to supply a cheap, durable, easy fitting and self adjusting or flexible horse-collar for farm and other use, and which shall readily adapt itself to the form of the animal, and thereby obviate those abrasions which are so common with the use of a rigid and unyielding collar. To these and other ends [the] collar is made for the most part of what is known as "moss-yarn," with its strands or fibers arranged and the body of the collar subjected to pressure in a mold or press" (lines 9-20).
Date: June 15, 1886
Creator: Bailey, William Luther; Knight, Leonard Thaddeus & Knight, Lenis Douglas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hopple. (open access)

Hopple.

Patent for a new and improved hopple. This design consists in the combination of the surcingle, the bands connected to the bottom thereof, the supporting straps secured to one of said bands, and the knee-bands constructed of stiff leather in semi-cylindrical form, attached to said straps and having the securing-straps" (lines 37-42).
Date: November 15, 1887
Creator: Burris, John Albert Wilson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Soap Manufacturing Machine. (open access)

Soap Manufacturing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved soap maker. This design consists in "[t]he charger, having outline-pipe, in combination with [the] compressor having within the same a steam-heated coil and a rotary mixer, a hydraulic pump connected to said compressor, pressure-gage, and safety-valve" (lines 24-29).
Date: December 15, 1885
Creator: Grant, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate Latch. (open access)

Gate Latch.

Patent for a new and improved gate-latch. This design consists in "the rings loosely suspended on opposite sides of a central line, levers extended past such central line, and having their inner ends engaged with the rings on the opposite sides of the center from the handle ends, and partition-plates interposed between such levers and the rings past which they are extended" (lines 79-86).
Date: November 15, 1887
Creator: Charleville, George William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate. (open access)

Gate.

Patent for a new and improved gate. This design consists in "the post having projecting pins or studs combined with the gate having the hinges composed of a pair of plates bolted together, the said plates being swelled outward to provide collars, which are provided with cams" (lines 66-71).
Date: October 15, 1889
Creator: Friday, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire-Escape (open access)

Fire-Escape

Patent for "a fire-escape and observation-tower, which may be raised or extended at any point, or be lowered and compactly folded for transportation" (lines 7-10).
Date: January 15, 1889
Creator: Rüllmann, John D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire Extinguisher. (open access)

Fire Extinguisher.

Patent for a new and improved fire extinguisher. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the expansible rod, the sweep arm or lever pivotally connected thereto, the horizontal rod, the doors, the cord connected to said doors and to the rod and adapted to be disengaged from said rod by the sweep-arm, the steam-pipe provided with a cut-off valve, and the weight supported normally in an elevated position by the sweep-arm and adapted to be released thereby to open the valve" (lines 72-81).
Date: January 15, 1889
Creator: Lutcher, Henry J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire Escape. (open access)

Fire Escape.

Patent for a new and improved fire escape. This design "is to provide a fire-escape consisting, essentially, of a cushion adapted to receive and break the fall of persons jumping from a burning building, the said cushion being so constructed as to enable it to be folded to a convenient and portable size" (lines 8-14).
Date: January 15, 1889
Creator: Simon, Jacob Peter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed Planter (open access)

Seed Planter

Patent for...a seed planting machine which improves upon an earlier cotton seed planting machine. The improved apparatus can be substituted for corn and other seeds. It may also be utilized for ground cultivation.
Date: July 15, 1884
Creator: Pietzsch, Louis; Armstrong, John J. & Lowrey, Joseph R.
System: The Portal to Texas History