Truck. (open access)

Truck.

Patent for an improvement in trucks adapted for railroad use including handling baggage and freight and allowing the supporting wheels to be arranged with respect to the body of the truck so they can be moved longitudinally.
Date: May 25, 1920
Creator: Hall, James T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window Sash And Curtain Operating Mechanism (open access)

Window Sash And Curtain Operating Mechanism

Patent for a window sash and curtain mechanism that works in tandem with electronic security systems. Sash/Curtains can be moved normally, but an alarm can be set to detect when the window itself is tampered with.
Date: October 25, 1917
Creator: Schwarz, Henry W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steering Gear Stabilizer (open access)

Steering Gear Stabilizer

Patent for a steering gear stabilizer for car steering wheels. Intent of gear is to keep steering wheel from getting out of the driver's hands when going over rough terrain.
Date: January 25, 1921
Creator: Hornburg, Charles A
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric-Line-Apparatus Protector (open access)

Electric-Line-Apparatus Protector

Patent for electric-line-apparatus protector used to protect telephone and other electrical circuits from damaged caused by electricity. This is a simple and efficient device.
Date: July 25, 1916
Creator: Higgins, Peter K. & Parker, Frederick R.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator-Hobble (open access)

Cultivator-Hobble

Patent for an improved cultivator hobble, including illustrations.
Date: September 25, 1917
Creator: Hackfeld, John H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
GATE (open access)

GATE

Patent for a Gate. "My invention is an improved gate adapted for use as a farm-gate and for other uses." (lines 11-12) and illustrations.
Date: August 25, 1903
Creator: BRUCE, ROBERT A
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Evaporative Cooler (open access)

Evaporative Cooler

Patent for an evaporative cooler. Illustrations included.
Date: June 25, 1912
Creator: Walkup, John A. & Walkup, Charles W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
End Gate For Wagons (open access)

End Gate For Wagons

Patent for and end gate for wagons. Illustration included.
Date: September 25, 1906
Creator: Winans, Myron L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
La Vega Independent School District, June 2010 (open access)

La Vega Independent School District, June 2010

This report reviews the management and performance of La Vega Independent School District's (LVISD) educational, financial, and operational functions.
Date: June 25, 2010
Creator: Texas. Legislative Budget Board.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn or Cotton Dropper (open access)

Corn or Cotton Dropper

Patent for corn or cotton dropper in which improvements are made on general efficiency, "simplicity, expensiveness, [and] durability" (lines 12-13).
Date: December 25, 1888
Creator: Brown, William Franklin
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machinery for Irrigating Purposes (open access)

Machinery for Irrigating Purposes

Patent for a machine that irrigates with a water wheel. The water wheel is connected to a float and a rod connected that is connected to a crank on the shaft of the wheel.
Date: September 25, 1888
Creator: Owen, Benajah Dotte
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Engine and Superheater Apparatus. (open access)

Combined Engine and Superheater Apparatus.

Patent for a "combined steam superheater apparatus and engine driven thereby, which in turn is utilized to automatically shift the steam feeding and cut off devices, and such invention primarily has for its object to provide a combined mechanism of this character which will effectively operate for its intended purposes" (lines 7-14). It also requires a minimal amount of effort to operate, sifts solids out of the water, and retains heat.
Date: December 25, 1894
Creator: Walker, James C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Storage-Condenser and Lint-Cotton Conveyer. (open access)

Storage-Condenser and Lint-Cotton Conveyer.

Patent for a storage-condenser and lint-cotton conveyor. It forms lint-cotton into a bat so it can be delivered to a baling machine. with this invention, "a battery or batteries of gins can continuously discharge lint-cotton to a mechanism for conveying the same to a point in juxtaposition to cotton baling or pressing mechanism, and the necessity of stopping the gins during the time the bale is being tied, where a single press-box, or single pressing mechanism is used, is avoided, thus enabling the gins to continuously operate even when a single press-box or single baling or pressing mechanism is employed" (lines 18-28). Lint-cotton discharged from a gin is stored while a bale is being tied or pressed, and the bat the lint-cotton conveyor produces is even so the density of the bale is even. Air can escape from the bat-forming apparatus, eliminating dust from the cotton.
Date: February 25, 1896
Creator: Tennison, John S.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire Kindler. (open access)

Fire Kindler.

Patent for a new and improved fire-kindler. This design is for "[a] fire-kindling torch consisting of two perforated sections, each having an exterior longitudinal ridge, and angular side flanges, and provided at one end with lugs which bear flatly against each other, a pivot-pin passing transversely through the lugs to permanently connect the sections and form a pintle on which they can turn, and a handle connecting the other ends of the sections together, said sections having an interposed filling of mineral wool" (lines 1-11).
Date: December 25, 1883
Creator: Osborn, Adelbert E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ratchet Wrench. (open access)

Ratchet Wrench.

Patent for a new and improved ratchet wrench. This design "relates to improvements in ratchet-wrenches wherein a handle carrying a rotating head having jaws to grasp a nut is provided with pivoted pawls, so that by oscillating the handle the pawls serve to rotate the head and screw or unscrew the nut, bolt, or other device" (lines 8-14).
Date: March 25, 1884
Creator: Osborn, Adelbert E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Door Check. (open access)

Door Check.

Patent for a new and improved door-check. This design "relates to improvements in devices for checking the movements of a door to prevent its forcible contact with a wall or other object, and for automatically fastening it in an open position, so that it will not be accidentally closed. The invention consists of a check or catch plate adapted to be secured to the floor or wall and provided with an inclined track for the passage of a spring-bolt on the door, a transverse projection being arranged vertically at the rear end of said inclined track and formed into a seat for the spring-bolt" (lines 8-20).
Date: May 25, 1886
Creator: Cevor, Charles
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History