Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the coupling-box or draw-head and spring-pin, of the block, spring, and plate, united together as described, the plate being of suitable size to enter the bore of the draw-head" (lines 4-8).
Date: March 2, 1886
Creator: Veteto, George M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination Tool. (open access)

Combination Tool.

Patent for a new and improved multi-tool. This design "relates to improvements in combination tools, and is designed to produce a tool in which the wrench, hammer, and screwdriver are combined in a compact and useful form. The improvement consists, essentially, in the manner of combining the parts and in the particular construction thereof" (lines 10-17).
Date: August 11, 1885
Creator: Miller, Walker C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boot or Shoe Brace. (open access)

Boot or Shoe Brace.

Patent for a new and improved brace for shoes and boots. This design "relates to a brace adapted to be applied to boots and shoes, and is designed as a brace for the counter, heel, and instep; and it has for its object to provide a brace . . . which shall be simple in its construction, one that may be readily and easily applied, and manufactured and supplied at a slight cost" (lines 9-16).
Date: May 5, 1885
Creator: Awalt, Jessee C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Attachment to Cotton Gins. (open access)

Attachment to Cotton Gins.

Patent for a new and improved attachment for cotton gins. This design "consists of a lever-frame journaled to the gin-frame and carrying a shaft provided with a friction-pulley which may, by will of the operator, be thrown in contact with the driving-pulley of the gin, thus rotating the shaft, which is provided with a set of cleaning-blades fitting between the gin-saws between which they are, by the said mechanism, made to revolve rapidly, thus cleaning the said saws" (lines 18-27).
Date: April 26, 1881
Creator: Steward, Francis Marion
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insecticide Compound. (open access)

Insecticide Compound.

Patent for improvements in insect-exterminating compounds and processes; the ingredients for the mixture and instruction on how to prepare the compound are included. No illustration.
Date: April 4, 1882
Creator: Nettle, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Treasure Vault for Railway Cars. (open access)

Treasure Vault for Railway Cars.

Patent for a new and improved safe. This design consists in "a safety treasure-vault for express cars, &c., with the combination of the walls, floor, and roof of the vault constructed of bullet-proof steel plate riveted together at their corners, and the angle-irons to which the walls, floor, and roof are riveted, the bullet-proof steel-plate door, the parcel-delivery window, the combined desk-shelf and bullet-proof shutter, the said vault provided with a port-hole and the bullet-proof plug that stops the port-hole" (lines 21-31).
Date: July 3, 1888
Creator: Olsson, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Household Utensil. (open access)

Household Utensil.

Patent for a new attachment for buckets. This design is for a metal cup with hooks by which to hang from the rim of the bucket and a groove to receive the handle of the dipper or ladle. This allows for the dipper to be stored near the bucket without resting on the floor.
Date: June 20, 1882
Creator: Sims, Thomas W. & Fischer, Fred
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harvesting Sack Supporter. (open access)

Harvesting Sack Supporter.

Patent for a new and improved harvesting-sack supporter. This design "relates to improvements in supporting devices for harvesting-sacks, being especially adapted for use in corn-pulling, and by cotton-pickers, and its objects are to provide means whereby the sack may be so attached to the picker that its weight will be distributed proportionately over the body of the wearer, and will not strain and tire the back of the person bearing the same" (lines 16-24).
Date: March 2, 1886
Creator: Poteet, James Elias
System: The Portal to Texas History
Slicing Machine. (open access)

Slicing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved slicer. This design "consists, essentially, in the combination, with a suitable frame and slotted clamping or holding plates, which are adjustable with relation to each other in order to accommodate articles of varying thickness, of a revolving eccentric or cam shaped cutter having a spiral or volute edge and secured spirally upon a shaft which has its bearings of the frame of the machine, and which, when revolved through the medium of the said spirally-arranged cutter and the slotted clamping-plates, has an automatic lateral motion imparted to it" (lines 17-29).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Miller, Walker C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Self Cooling Journal Box. (open access)

Self Cooling Journal Box.

Patent for a new and improved journal-box. This design consists "[i]n a self-cooling journal-box, the combination of the walls having top and bottom supporting the lubricating packing, and the housing forming water-chamber below and at the sides of the chamber formed by the walls and bottom, and [another] water-chamber above the top" (lines 66-72).
Date: January 29, 1889
Creator: Storey, Julius W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter. (open access)

Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "[t]he improved interchangeable or convertible machine . . . comprising the diverging bars, the standards pivoted thereto and carrying shovels, the bridle-loops pivoted to the standards and engaging the bars, the journal-boxes bolted to the diverging bars, the axle mounted in said boxes and having a crank-arm at one end, the carrying-wheels mounted on the axle, the hopper removably secured on the diverging bars by the same bolts that secure the bearing-boxes thereto, [and] the longitudinal partition in the hopper" (lines 5-17).
Date: October 9, 1888
Creator: Thornton, Thomas William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Game Apparatus. (open access)

Game Apparatus.

Patent for a new and improved game. This design "relates to that class of game apparatus in which tilting levers or arms located at the end of an alley or board and bearing numerals designating their value in the game are designed to be struck by balls, so as to displace or change the position of said levers. The invention consists in the construction and combination of the parts forming the apparatus" (lines 14-22).
Date: April 19, 1881
Creator: Pittman, William D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Earth Borer and Excavator (open access)

Earth Borer and Excavator

Patent for an Improvement in Earth Boring and Excavating Machines whereby the machines may operate continuously except for the addition of shaft and belt sections.
Date: July 24, 1880
Creator: Carley, John Wesley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence. (open access)

Fence.

Patent for a new and improved fence. This design calls for two spring-bars to be driven into the ground alongside two crossbars and laced between the latter. This lacing of spring-bars allows for "much additional bracing strength" for the crossbars and enables barbed wire to be stretched along where the spring-bars intersect (line 33).
Date: April 11, 1882
Creator: Daviss, Horatio P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator. (open access)

Cultivator.

Patent for a new and improved cultivator. This design has for its object "to render the points or shovels laterally adjustable with relation to each other and the plow-beam and to render the side rows of points or shovels reversible in position on the plow-beam" (lines 19-23).
Date: March 29, 1887
Creator: Kirven, Peter E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Sweep. (open access)

Cotton Sweep.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-sweep. This design "has for its object to provide a sweep which can be used either as a solid sweep or with one wing solid and the other cut away; to so construct the cut-away wing that it can be run very close to the plants without injuring them or throwing too much dirt or earth thereon to cover them, and to provide a sweep which shall be cheap, strong, durable, and effective" (lines 27-35).
Date: January 19, 1886
Creator: Awalt, Jesse C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Gin Attachment. (open access)

Cotton Gin Attachment.

Patent for a new attachment for cotton gins. This design consists in "[t]he combination, in a cotton-gin, of the carrier, feed-roller, having teeth or projections, and the adjustable sliding rake . . . [and] the combination of the carriers, the latter having covering, receiver, toothed feed-roller, adjustable rake, gin-saws, and brush" (lines 68-75).
Date: July 12, 1881
Creator: Compton, Willis W.
System: The Portal to Texas History