Dust Box. (open access)

Dust Box.

Patent for a new and improved dust-box. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a floor having an aperture cut into it and provided with a door flush with the surface of the floor, of a dust-box having a square bottom and diverging sides formed with outwardly-projecting flanges re-enforced upon their under sides by plates or bars and having strips secured to the inner sides, having their upper ends bent inward" (lines 76-83).
Date: August 17, 1886
Creator: Ethridge, John H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Anti-Friction Wagon Slide. (open access)

Anti-Friction Wagon Slide.

Patent for a new and improved anti-friction wagon slide. This design "consists of flat side pieces provided with bolt-holes near their ends, and connected to diametrically-opposite points of nearly-cylindrical end pieces, which have holes through their axes for the reception of the roller-shaft. The recess is so formed that the lower portion of the end pieces shall bear against its ends when the frame is put in place. This arrangement, together with the bolts through the corners of the frame and the coupling-tongue, prevents any tendency of the frame to displacement" (lines 42-54).
Date: July 27, 1886
Creator: Jowell, George Ratcliff.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Smoke Generator. (open access)

Smoke Generator.

Patent for a new and improved smoke machine. This design "relates to certain new and useful improvements in devices for containing fuel, so that the same can be burned slowly, so as to produce a large amount of smoke, the device being intended for the purpose of protecting orchards, vineyards, &c., from frost; and my invention consists in a perforated cylinder having a removable top and a bottom with an opening which is covered with a sliding door" (lines 15-24).
Date: May 4, 1886
Creator: Kizziar, James Williams
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ventilator. (open access)

Ventilator.

Patent for a new and improved ventilator. This design consists in "[t]he improved combined flue and ventilator . . . consisting of an outer casing surmounted by a cap and provided with a central flue, funnels hinged to the outer casing and provided with flexible connections for elevating the same, and means for conducting the air downward from said funnels" (lines 8-15).
Date: April 27, 1886
Creator: Shanley, Michael H.
System: The Portal to Texas History