Stock Car. (open access)

Stock Car.

Patent for improvement to stock cars, "so constructed that the hay-racks swing up automatically and the troughs can be lowered to be out of the way when not in use and can easily be swung up when the animals are to be watered" (lines 8-13).
Date: September 22, 1885
Creator: Lines, Daniel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay Press. (open access)

Hay Press.

Patent for a new and improved baling press. This design consists in "the combination of the frame, the baling-chamber at the front end of the same, the plunger, the toggle-links connecting said plunger with a cross-piece at the rear end of the frame, a base extending laterally from the frame, a horizontal crank mounted pivotally upon said base, the pitman connecting said crank with the connecting-point of the toggle-links, said pitman consisting of end pieces connected by a bridge-piece lying in a lower plane than the said end-pieces, and an operating-sweep" (lines 13-24).
Date: October 22, 1889
Creator: Robburts, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay-Press (open access)

Hay-Press

Patent for improvements in the construction and design of hay presses.
Date: November 22, 1887
Creator: Flato, Friderich W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Elevator for Cotton-Cleaning Machines (open access)

Elevator for Cotton-Cleaning Machines

Patent for improvements in the construction and design in elevators for machine for cleaning cotton.
Date: May 22, 1888
Creator: Wiggins, Ransome Hundley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Range-Finder for Rifles. (open access)

Range-Finder for Rifles.

Patent for range-finder for rifles, with illustrations. The invention "is adapted for ready application to a rifle by producing a simple dovetailed groove in the stock or stock-tip, near the front end" (lines 9-12).
Date: May 22, 1883
Creator: Ord, Edward O. C., Jr. & Kress, John A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railway Steam Car Brake (open access)

Railway Steam Car Brake

Patent for improvement in railway car brake by adding a steam actuating device attached to the locomotive.
Date: May 22, 1883
Creator: Walker, Fred B. & Lauder, James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Reflector Holder for Lamps. (open access)

Reflector Holder for Lamps.

Patent for a new and improved reflector holder for lamps. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a lamp and a lamp-collar, provided with a circumferential flange, of a reflector provided with a keeper, spring-clasp, springing around said collar under the flange at its lower end, and having its free ends bent angularly at their upper ends and secured in said keeper by their tension and slide" (lines 2-9).
Date: April 22, 1884
Creator: Williams, Daniel Ruggles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Engine. (open access)

Rotary Engine.

Patent for improvements to rotary engine designs.
Date: April 22, 1884
Creator: Griffin, George L.; Shoup, William A. & Cade, James Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Saw-Gin (open access)

Saw-Gin

Patent for a saw-gin which when constructed can run all of its parts with a single belt, which reduces the need for space allowing for more gins to be used in the same amount of space.
Date: January 22, 1889
Creator: Munger, Robert S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Metallic Shingle. (open access)

Metallic Shingle.

Patent for a new and improved metallic shingle. This design calls for "[t]he ends of the shingles adjacent to the groove [to be] turned up to provide a guard which, when the joints are made between the shingles, prevents the water from obtaining access to the roof-boards, and directs it down the shingle to the bead, where the water is drained off" (lines 80-86).
Date: March 22, 1887
Creator: Harry, Hugh W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow Mold Board. (open access)

Plow Mold Board.

Patent for a new and improved plow mold board. This design "consists of a circular roll arranged in the mold-board near the point and covered with belting, which, in the forward movement of the plow, is revolved and carries the earth backward on an endless belt passing around rollers journaled in the end of transverse slots made in the mold-board, whereby, in the forward movement of the plow, the belt is revolved and the friction of the earth on the mold-board decreased and the plow scoured" (lines 17-28).
Date: August 22, 1882
Creator: Dahlman, Carl Oscar
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow Point. (open access)

Plow Point.

Patent for a new and improved plow-point. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the double mold-board rigidly fixed to the curved beam in the rear of the lower end thereof, of the point having symmetrical corners and lugs adapted to pass beneath the front edge of said mold-board and prevent rocking of the point upon the beam, to which alone it is attached, and bolts securing said point in position" (lines 65-73).
Date: May 22, 1888
Creator: Martin, Isaac Jasper
System: The Portal to Texas History
Radial Tube Boiler. (open access)

Radial Tube Boiler.

Patent for a new and improved boiler. This design "consist[s] of a horizontal steam reservoir, a vertical cylinder provided with radial tubes suspended therefrom and forming a steam-generating chamber, all supported by standards placed underneath said horizontal steam-reservoir and outside of the casing surrounding said steam-generating chamber, and the fire-box placed under said steam-generating chamber" (lines 67-75).
Date: January 22, 1889
Creator: Clarke, John & Savage, Robert W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rack and Pinion Mechanism. (open access)

Rack and Pinion Mechanism.

Patent for a new and improved rack-and-pinion mechanism. This design "relates to improvements on rack-and-pinion mechanism to dispense with the connecting-rod on steam-engines, whereby a more equal, constant motive power at any point of the piston-stroke, and no dead or weak points of the same, will be obtained" (lines 9-14).
Date: October 22, 1889
Creator: MacDonald, Peter M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harrow. (open access)

Harrow.

Patent for a new and improved harrow. This design "consist[s] of a central longitudinal beam having perforations, the jointed toothed frame pivoted to supports on the beam, the handles connected at their forward ends to the said beam, the brace-rods pivoted to the handles and to a cross-bar resting on the beam, and the vertical bolt adapted to the perforations in the beam to adjust the cross-bar thereupon, and thereby raise and lower the handles" (lines 85-94).
Date: November 22, 1887
Creator: Wilson, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Motor. (open access)

Electric Motor.

Patent for a new and improved electric motor. This design "consists, essentially, in such combination of an automatic circuit-breaker with a bar of soft iron secured centrally on a shaft journaled in bearings secured to the motor frame and rotating within a coil or helix that the rotation of said bar will continuously make and break the circuit, and that the action of the circuit-breaker will cause the continuous rotation of the bar" (lines 17-26).
Date: June 22, 1886
Creator: Emley, James E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device for Cleaning Gun Barrels, Flues, &c. (open access)

Device for Cleaning Gun Barrels, Flues, &c.

Patent for a new and improved gun-barrel cleaner. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a flat shank having a hole in its intermediate portion, a pivot-bolt having its middle round and its ends square, and a cleaning-head secured upon said bolt, said head consisting of two parts, one part being secured upon each end of said bolt" (lines 4-9).
Date: February 22, 1887
Creator: Simpson, John Speake
System: The Portal to Texas History
Deep Well Pump. (open access)

Deep Well Pump.

Patent for a new and improved well pump. This design consists in "the timber bed arranged on the bottom of the well, in combination with two superposed metallic cylinders connected by a stock, said stock being provided at the bottom with inwardly-turned flanges made fast to said bed" (lines 55-60).
Date: March 22, 1887
Creator: Clark, Alexander Evans
System: The Portal to Texas History
Curtain Holder. (open access)

Curtain Holder.

Patent for a new and improved curtain-holder. This design "has relation to that class of curtain-holders which are adapted to hold or clasp the lower part of a window-curtain, so as to hold it up against the window frame or casing when it is desired to spread the curtains apart, and has for its object to so construct a device of that class that the holding hook or catch which clasps the folds of the curtain may be turned down so as to be out of the way when the device is not in use" (lines 22-31).
Date: December 22, 1885
Creator: Wilson, Nelse
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator. (open access)

Cultivator.

Patent for a new and improved cultivator. This design consists "[i]n a garden cultivator, the frame having slotted arm [that is] journaled, clevis, standard with plow, slotted arm, and wheels . . . [and] handles, adjusted . . . to lower and raise said handles" (lines 59-67).
Date: June 22, 1886
Creator: Miltenberger, Emile Rudolph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Stalk Cutter and Puller. (open access)

Cotton Stalk Cutter and Puller.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-stalk cutter and puller. This design "is to facilitate the removal of cotton-stalks from land in preparing it for subsequent cultivation" (lines 17-19).
Date: November 22, 1881
Creator: Richardson, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Press. (open access)

Cotton Press.

Patent for a new and improved cotton press. This design "consists of a horizontal press with reciprocating follower, worked by power, the press being arranged to receive the cotton from a chute descending from the floor above the press, the said press and the driving mechanism being constructed and arranged . . . specifically" (lines 7-13).
Date: January 22, 1884
Creator: Allen, John Chapman
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Gin. (open access)

Cotton Gin.

Patent for a new and improved cotton gin. This design calls for the circular saw blades of the gin to pass through two metal ribs, one of which aligns with the tip of the saw teeth, while the other aligns with the root of the saw teeth.
Date: August 22, 1882
Creator: Basom, Ransford W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Gin Feeder. (open access)

Cotton Gin Feeder.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-gin feeder. This design consists in "a rectangular inclined box, endless feeding belts having spiked slats, the revolving fan at the upper end of the inclined box, and screen at the opposite end and lower side of the box, through which the sand and dirt from the cotton may escape, the current of air from the revolving fan assisting in expelling the sand and dirt, the latter falling between the slats and down the inclined bottom of the box and out through the screen" (lines 73-83).
Date: June 22, 1886
Creator: Wiley, Jesse G.
System: The Portal to Texas History