Garden Tile. (open access)

Garden Tile.

Patent for a new and improved garden tile. This design "is to provide a . . . garden-tile which can be used as a plant-protector or as a curbing for walks, &c. The invention consists in a tile having a semicircular or U-shaped cross-section and open at the bottom and provided on its top with one or more necks through which the plants can grow" (lines 7-15).
Date: May 25, 1886
Creator: Flatau, Louis S.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gas Compressing Pump for Ice Machines. (open access)

Gas Compressing Pump for Ice Machines.

Patent for a new and improved pump for refrigerators. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the cylinder, having inlet at or near its lower end, a downward-closing valve at its upper end, an open-ended piston having internal ribs or projections, annular valve-seat around its upper open end, and a centrally-apertured bottom plate, of the valve having vertical movement within the piston and closing upwardly against the valve-seat, said valve being formed of the two sections . . . having hemispherical recesses and the lower section having an aperture, communicating therewith" (lines 30-42).
Date: December 25, 1888
Creator: Farnsworth, Thomas
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed Planter. (open access)

Seed Planter.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the seed-hopper and seed-slide, of the stationary catch and elastic spring-catch, both secured to the hopper and arranged to grasp the head of the brush" (lines 60-64).
Date: October 25, 1881
Creator: Brooks, James Madison
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Safety Stop for Elevators. (open access)

Safety Stop for Elevators.

Patent for a new and improved safety stop for elevators. This design "consists in a lever pivoted to the bottom of the car, and provided with a spring for throwing it into position transversely to the car-bottom, so that the ends of the lever can catch on horizontal bars secured to the sides of the elevator-shaft. A rope or cable is secured to one end of the lever and to the car-elevating cable, and keeps the spring taut, and prevents it from throwing the lever unless the elevating-cable breaks" (lines 11-20).
Date: March 25, 1884
Creator: Saunders, Ellison
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse-Power Machines. (open access)

Horse-Power Machines.

Patent for new and improved cog-wheel designed to improve horse-powered machines that are used in "flouring mills, and agricultural, and other machines" (lines 16-17) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 25, 1880
Creator: Hooker, William H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Marking Device. (open access)

Marking Device.

Patent for a new and improved merchandise tag. This design consists of a stick "provided with means for holding it fixed in its position after it has been inserted and having hinged to its outer end the tag having a strip of suitable material secured around its edges, as shown, so as to form on both sides of the tag the flanges adapted to receive the removable, reversible, and interchangeable cards (lines 1-8).
Date: August 25, 1885
Creator: Brown, Sampson Harvey
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow (open access)

Plow

Patent for a new type of plow granted to Anton Schindler.
Date: November 25, 1884
Creator: Schindler, Anton
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
Pruning Implement. (open access)

Pruning Implement.

Patent for a new and improved pruning implement. This design consists in "the combination, with a staff, of the jaw-arms pivoted to the staff and provided with the upwardly-projecting and curved jaws, the collars fitted loosely on the staff, the rods connecting the said collars, and the link-arms pivoted to the collar and to the jaw-arms" (lines 11-17).
Date: September 25, 1888
Creator: Hall, Francis Asbury
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Open Fire-Place (open access)

Open Fire-Place

Patent for improvements to an open fireplace making the different sections of the fireplace detachable and replaceable individually. Patent granted to Daniel E. Jones.
Date: September 25, 1885
Creator: Jones, Daniel 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
Abdominal Supporter. (open access)

Abdominal Supporter.

Patent for a new and improved abdominal supporter. This design "consist[s] of the waist-belt, the abdominal sector-shaped pads hung from the waist-belt by elastic straps, the straps buttoned to the belt behind and to the bottom of the abdominal pads in front, the side straps connecting the abdominal pads with the pieces at the back, and the front strap connecting the two abdominal pads together with the shoulder-straps" (lines 70-79).
Date: December 25, 1888
Creator: Gray, Harriet N.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dress-Chart. (open access)

Dress-Chart.

Patent for dress-chart, with illustrations. The purpose of this dress-chart relating to "pattern charts for cutting any and all garments" regardless of man, woman, or child (lines 9-11).
Date: August 25, 1885
Creator: Northen, Mary Eva
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. With this design, "[w]hen the cars are coupled, the shoulders upon the draw-heads will bear against each other, pressing the spring-bolts forward, which will tilt the free ends of the bails forward over the ends of the opposite draw-heads, thus forming a strong and safe coupling which may be uncoupled in a moment of time" (lines 92-98).
Date: September 25, 1883
Creator: Hathaway, Charles L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fruit Gatherer. (open access)

Fruit Gatherer.

Patent for a new and improved fruit gatherer. This design consists "[i]n a fruit-gatherer, the combination of the pole, the jaws attached to its upper end, the sliding collar, the links connecting the collar and the sleeve, the rods, the jaws, the ring, the tube attached thereto and encircling the pole below said jaws, and the sleeve which supports the ring and is adjustable on the pole longitudinally for the purpose of adjusting the mouth of said tube in the desired proximity to the said jaws" (lines 13-22).
Date: September 25, 1888
Creator: Hall, Francis Asbury
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
Cotton-Chopper. (open access)

Cotton-Chopper.

Patent for an improved design for a cotton chopper. The patent includes two sets of blades with opposite rotation and the ability to be stopped by the control of the operator. The design also includes improvements on cultivation and chopping for a more efficient process. Included are instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 25, 1880
Creator: Busch, William
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