Bale Tie Buckle (open access)

Bale Tie Buckle

Patent for bale tie buckle. Illustration included.
Date: April 25, 1905
Creator: Jenkins, John C. & Flowers, W. H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boot Cleaner. (open access)

Boot Cleaner.

Patent for a new and improved boot cleaner. This design "affords facilities for readily and conveniently scraping all parts of the boot or shoe. The heel is scraped on [a] semicircular portion located at the top of the arch, the sides of the sole by the arms, the upper hollow of the foot by the projections, [and] the toe by the lower side of the arch or bow" (lines 38-45).
Date: May 25, 1886
Creator: Scovel, Purley A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Sack Carrier. (open access)

Cotton-Sack Carrier.

Patent for cotton-sack carriers "which will offer no impediment to the free movements of the picker," and constructed "such that the ends of the carrier will not engage and 'hang' upon the stalks of cotton, and will pass readily over irregularities in the surface of the field." (Lines 22-38) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 25, 1894
Creator: Johns, Calvin L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopper. (open access)

Cotton Chopper.

Patent for a new and improved cotton chopper. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the frame and the operating-gearing, of the vertical shaft, supported by the frame and acted on by the operating-gearing, the horizontal plate rigidly secured to the lower end of the shaft and provided with radial grooves, and slots in said grooves, the feet having their upper ends bent at right angles, fitted in said grooves and adjustably secured therein by bolts passing through the radial slots, the lower ends of the feet carrying choppers" (lines 39-49).
Date: October 25, 1887
Creator: Ballard, John J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Seed Dropper. (open access)

Cotton Seed Dropper.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "the frame, the roller journaled in the rear side thereof and having the crank, the seed-spout, the supporting bars on opposite sides of the frame, the rigid shaft connecting the said bars, the seed-disk rigidly secured to the said shaft and having the curved fingers or teeth, the hopper journaled on the shaft and adapted to oscillate thereon, the said hopper having the discharge-opening in its lower side, through which the lower edge of the seed-disk connects, and the pitman connecting the crank with the hopper" (lines 26-37).
Date: October 25, 1887
Creator: Ballard, John J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Adjustable Book Support. (open access)

Adjustable Book Support.

Patent for a new and improved book rest. This design consists "of an upright pivoted in a support or base, a sliding lower supporting cross-bar, an upper sliding supporting-bar, both bars having sockets upon their rear sides sliding upon the upright and provided with set-screws, and leaf-clamps consisting of a piece of spring doubled at one end to form slides sliding upon the arms of the upper cross-bar, forming curved yielding portions, forming transverse eyes at the other ends, having flat blocks hinged at the said eyes, and provided with thumb-pieces" (lines 72-83).
Date: November 25, 1884
Creator: Johnson, William Oscar
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: M-516 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: M-516

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, Crawford Martin, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether the Superintendent of Terrell State Hospital may refuse to furnish to a widow of a deceased patient the medical records of the deceased patient who dies shortly after his discharge
Date: November 25, 1969
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water Elevator. (open access)

Water Elevator.

Patent for a new and improved water elevator. This design "relates to improvements in water-elevators in which water is made to perform the operations heretofore performed by steam; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of parts . . . whereby the rarefaction of heated air is employed to raise or set in motion a continuous stream of water" (lines 14-21).
Date: January 25, 1881
Creator: Smith, William A. & Smith, Robert T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tobacco-Stemming Machine (open access)

Tobacco-Stemming Machine

Patent for a machine for stemming tobacco.
Date: February 25, 1902
Creator: Bush, Andrew J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Toy. (open access)

Toy.

Patent for a toy consisting of two movable figures stationed on a circular base. One figure is hinged using a cord that passes through the base and can be pulled or retracted to allow the figure to collapse and spring upright. The second figure has a spring operated arm to strike and knock down the first figure.
Date: February 25, 1919
Creator: Fermier, Victor E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stove Flue (open access)

Stove Flue

Patent for a stove flue. Illustration included.
Date: February 25, 1908
Creator: Thompson, Everett E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sweat Leather for Riding Saddles. (open access)

Sweat Leather for Riding Saddles.

Patent for a new and improved sweat-leather for saddles. This design "has for its object to construct sweat-leathers which shall be absolutely impervious to the sweat and moisture exuding from the animal, and thus serve to protect the rider's clothes. Sweat-pads, as ordinarily constructed of leather, are liable to be permeated with moisture, by which their efficiency as protectors is not only impaired, but they are liable to curl up . . . To avoid this . . . [the] improved sweat-pads [have] linings of India-rubber" (lines 20-31).
Date: December 25, 1883
Creator: Harriss, James Wilson
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Gas-Lighter (open access)

Electric Gas-Lighter

Patent for a gas lighter that is designed to be durable and reliable, with an improved method of controlling the supply of gas to the burner.
Date: March 25, 1902
Creator: Ruebel, C. A. Ernst
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History