Artist's Easel and Attachable Rest. (open access)

Artist's Easel and Attachable Rest.

Patent for a new and improved easel and rest. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the rest . . . of the bar pivoted to [a] holder by bolt, the perforated bar pivoted to [another] bar by [another] bolt, and the easel united to the [first] bar by a suitable round bolt" (lines 97-101).
Date: January 22, 1889
Creator: Johnson, John Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ant Trap. (open access)

Ant Trap.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design calls for a tank of water to be buried in the ground and a collar of cheap material to be attached to the tank and placed over the mouth of an anthill. The concave nature of the collar prevents ants from climbing out of it, so they are forced into the water tank, where they drown; the design is cheaper and less toxic than previous designs.
Date: November 22, 1881
Creator: Arnett, Sandridge Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Treating Timber, Railway Ties, &c. (open access)

Apparatus for Treating Timber, Railway Ties, &c.

Patent for a new and improved apparatus for treating and preserving. This design "insure[s] the complete and perfect treatment or impregnation of timber of varying hardness and density, and to provide a portable organization of apparatus by which timber at various points or stations along the line of a railroad can be treated with great facility, efficiency, and economy" (lines 12-19).
Date: November 22, 1881
Creator: Kreuter, Hugh E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bench Plane. (open access)

Bench Plane.

Patent for a new and improved bench plane. This design "consists in a stirrup pivoted to the sides of the plane in such a manner that the traverse piece of the stirrup passes through a transverse groove in the under surface of the plane, this groove increasing in height toward the rear of the plane, so that when the plane is drawn backward it will be slightly raised by this stirrup, so that the cutting-edge of the plane-iron cannot slide on the board being planed" (lines 10-19).
Date: November 22, 1881
Creator: Sawyer, George Frederic
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Killing Rodents (open access)

Apparatus for Killing Rodents

Patent for an apparatus for killing rodents "that may be used effectively for the destruction of all animals that burrow in the ground; and it consists in a furnace for the generation of sulphurous odors or other suffocating gases and a pump for forcing the gases into the burrows of the animals . . . ."
Date: August 22, 1882
Creator: Palmer, Austin D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved car-coupling. This design calls for two u-shaped metal pieces, one narrower than the other, each with eyes at their ends. A metal rod, which doubles as a handle, threads the eyes, connecting the pieces and allowing for the two loops to butterfly; one car can be bound to each of the loops with a metal pin.
Date: August 22, 1882
Creator: Stopple, John J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn-Husker. (open access)

Corn-Husker.

Patent for a "simple, inexpensive, and convenient hand-operated machine employing an oscillating knife or cutter for severing the stalk or stem and at at the same time clamping the shucks, so that the ear, when turned, will effect the bursting open of the shucks, thus permitting the ready removal of the ear" (lines 8-15).
Date: December 22, 1896
Creator: Willmann, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Burglar-Alarm. (open access)

Burglar-Alarm.

Patent for an "apparatus for protecting or guarding electric circuits; and it has for its object to protect or guard electric circuits, such as burglar-alarm circuits, from interference by unauthorized or mischievous agencies." (Lines 9-14) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 22, 1897
Creator: Sutton, Henry M. & Steele, Walter L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Seat. (open access)

Car-Seat.

Patent for improvements to the "Scarritt-Forney" seat so that the seat body and frame are detachable from each other. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 22, 1897
Creator: Meier, Hermann
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Burning Garbage, &c. (open access)

Apparatus for Burning Garbage, &c.

Patent for an improved apparatus for burning refuse and consists of a roasting chamber, a garbage grate, grates that slope and carry the product away after combustion, flues that open above the grates, and the wall partly closes on one end to let the products away after combustion.
Date: August 22, 1893
Creator: Garretson, William H. & Tainter, Silas B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Mop and Window-Cleaner. (open access)

Combined Mop and Window-Cleaner.

Patent for an improved mop and rubber holder meant to clean windows, walls, and similar surfaces. It is adjustable, and the operator can put the mop or the rubber on the end of the handle.
Date: August 22, 1893
Creator: Wiebush, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Child's Carriage. (open access)

Child's Carriage.

Patent for a new and improved stroller. This design consists in "[a] running-gear, of the vertical hoop secured thereto, the brackets extending outward and upward from the hoop, and notched in their upper ends, the body, the brackets at opposite sides of the body, and the knife edge projections resting on the upper notched ends of the brackets . . . a vertical encircling hoop carrying buffers, standards, and brackets formed with edges, which rest upon the standards . . . an axle, wheels fitted to the axle, a forwardly extending bracket carrying a fixed wheel . . . and a sunshade" (lines 81-98).
Date: June 22, 1886
Creator: England, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cotton Chopping, Planting, and Cultivating Machine (open access)

Combined Cotton Chopping, Planting, and Cultivating Machine

Patent for "an improvement in combined cotton chopping, planting, and cultivating machines," (lines 9-11) including illustrations.
Date: May 22, 1888
Creator: Pilond, David Winfield
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Revolving Harrow and Cultivator (open access)

Combined Revolving Harrow and Cultivator

Patent for a Combined Revolving Harrow and Cultivator that is used to cultivate cotton, corn and nature like plants.
Date: May 22, 1888
Creator: Evans,Lucius Sandiford
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for the Treatment of Cotton. (open access)

Apparatus for the Treatment of Cotton.

Patent for a machine that puts gins and condensers in a line, which sit over a flue. "The lint cotton in bat form being delivered from all of the condensers in independent bats to a common conveyer, the bat cotton increasing in thickness upon the common conveyer and in its travel to a press, compress or other receptacle, receiving the different bats from the different condensers, one bat lying smoothly upon the other, until at the discharge end of the common conveyer, the bat in which the lint is evenly distributed and which is of considerable thickness, will be conveniently discharged" (lines 13-24).
Date: May 22, 1894
Creator: Zedler, Friedrich
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Fender. (open access)

Car-Fender.

Patent for a simple car-fender that improves on the types of "fenders which are attached to the front end of street and other car trucks for the purpose of saving human life by preventing a body from being thrown under the car wheels" (lines 10-14). The invention does not let a body under the car wheels.
Date: May 22, 1894
Creator: Rau, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for an improved car-coupling that consists of a hollow drawhead, a knuckle pivoted in the drawhead, a lock that pivots across the drawhead, a catch on one side of the drawhead, a spring presses on the side of the lock, a lever pivoted in the drawhead, a hand rod connected to the arm, a hand rod connected to the drawhead, and a bell crank lever pivoted in the drawhead.
Date: May 22, 1894
Creator: Roosevelt, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Corn and Cotton Planter (open access)

Combined Corn and Cotton Planter

Patent for an adapter to be added to corn and cotton planters to convert them from one to the other while still being fully functional.
Date: November 22, 1892
Creator: Knight, Thaddeus W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Channel Cleaner. (open access)

Channel Cleaner.

Patent for a new and improved channel cleaner. This design "is to construct an apparatus which may be anchored in a channel where there are sand-bars, for the purpose of agitating the water and stirring up the sand, so that the current may remove it. [The] invention consists in a trunk or large tube perforated along the bottom and provided at one end with a flaring mouth for concentrating the current within the trunk; also, in the combination, with the trunk, of a stirrer and a motor-screw for driving the same" (lines 17-28).
Date: April 22, 1890
Creator: Evans, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn and Cotton Planter. (open access)

Corn and Cotton Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design "relates to a combined corn and cotton planter; and it has for its object to provide an improved hopper for containing the seed, and an improved slide or cut-off, and means for automatically operating the same" (lines 9-14).
Date: September 22, 1885
Creator: Wear, William Foster
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Seed Planter and Guano Distributer. (open access)

Combined Seed Planter and Guano Distributer.

Patent for a new and improved planter and fertilizer distributor. This design "consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, whereby the machine can be readily attached to and removed from a cultivator of any suitable description and used for planting seeds of different kinds and distributing guano at the same time that the seeds are being planted" (lines 15-22).
Date: September 22, 1885
Creator: Hood, Calvine B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined cotton and corn planter (open access)

Combined cotton and corn planter

Patent for new and useful improvement Combined cotton and corn planter to provide at a slight cost a machine which will be simple in its construction
Date: September 22, 1885
Creator: Loafman, John E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Adding Machine. (open access)

Adding Machine.

Patent for a new and improved adding machine. This design "consists in the combination, with a box, of a spindle in the same, a sleeve surrounding the spindle, a hand on the spindle, a hand on the sleeve, devices for turning the spindle from the sleeve, a cog-wheel revolving from the spindle, and an extra hand in connection with the cog-wheel" (lines 10-16).
Date: September 22, 1885
Creator: McCaleb, John L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clock Striking Mechanism. (open access)

Clock Striking Mechanism.

Patent for a new and improved clock-chimes. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the chime of bells in the clock case, of the wheel having the lateral pins, the rock-shaft, a lever extending from the rock-shaft and engaging the said pins, and the hammer arms respectively connected with the rock-shaft by the short arm" (lines 21-26).
Date: September 22, 1885
Creator: Witherspoon, Frank.
System: The Portal to Texas History