Automatic Railway-Gate. (open access)

Automatic Railway-Gate.

Patent for an automatic railway-gate or cattle-guard for use "at crossings, the entrances to tunnels, bridges or trestles, or at other places where it is desirable to guard the tracks" (lines 11-13). The invention is a simple and effective way for closing gates, can be operated from a distance, and is controlled by the wheels of passing trains.
Date: August 14, 1894
Creator: Baade, John
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cotton Separator and Distributer. (open access)

Combined Cotton Separator and Distributer.

Patent for a simple and efficient cotton separator and distributor that elevates and moves cotton from a wagon into a gin. It has supply and suction pipes, an air-tight cotton distributing box with an opening on one side and a gravity drop door on the other, a mechanism that moves the box in and out of the line of suction of the pipes, and a group of circular distributing boxes that rotate between the pipes.
Date: September 4, 1894
Creator: Paine, Herbert A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Atomizer. (open access)

Atomizer.

Patent for an atomizer meant to distribute liquids, powders, and vapors. Its parts can be easily changed so it can be used in different situations, for cleaning, and to make its use more efficient.
Date: October 2, 1894
Creator: Rees, H. Clay
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Core-Holding Mechanism for Cotton-Baling Machines. (open access)

Core-Holding Mechanism for Cotton-Baling Machines.

Patent for a core-holding mechanism for cotton-baling machines that provides "new and improved means for engaging and disengaging the core, so that it is guided vertically, and the bale is susceptible of being conveniently and rapidly removed from the machine and a core introduced for the formation of another bale" (lines 19-24).
Date: November 27, 1894
Creator: Smith, Hamilton E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Baling Machine. (open access)

Cotton-Baling Machine.

Patent for an effective cotton-baling machine that improves on how cotton is compressed and fed into the rotary, that stretches the cotton to its thinnest, that improves on how the core is carried, that raises and lowers the compressor roller, that improves on the rack-and pinion mechanism, that improves on how the ends of the cotton roll are pressed, and that quickly and easily finishes each bale.
Date: November 27, 1894
Creator: Smith, Hamilton E. & Dare, Benjamin A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press. (open access)

Baling-Press.

Patent for a baling press made up of a vertically movable core that moves up as it gets wrapped up in the internet, supporting drums, a feed apron that presses the material to the core, a pivoted swinging frame with a compression roller, a bale support, a mechanism that lifts the frame when the bale is finished, and a rack-and-pinion mechanism that raises the compression roller that moves up to let the bale get bigger, and a mechanism that rotates the rack-and-pinion.
Date: November 27, 1894
Creator: Smith, Hamilton E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Baling Machine. (open access)

Cotton-Baling Machine.

Patent for a cotton-baling machine that compresses cotton between two pressure-rolls and rolls it around a core. This invention improves "the mode of applying pressure to the pressure rolls, and [improves] the manner of mounting the core-roll in position within the compress, and for facilitating the removal of said core-roll; and the elevation therefrom of the compress-roll" (lines 15-21).
Date: November 27, 1894
Creator: Bessonette, Charles Lewis
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
Wave-Motor. (open access)

Wave-Motor.

Patent for a wave motor that gathers and stores power from the full force of the waves in their rise and fall. The motor operates a drive shaft.
Date: March 6, 1894
Creator: Walker, James C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hydraulic Propulsion of Vessels. (open access)

Hydraulic Propulsion of Vessels.

Patent for an improvement on a previous patent granted to the inventor (No. 480,533). "It consists in means for draining the bearings of the jet nozzles, and in means for ventilating and draining the ship's hold" (lines 12-16).
Date: January 9, 1894
Creator: Walker, James C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stamp Sticking or Sealing Machine. (open access)

Stamp Sticking or Sealing Machine.

Patent for a stamp sticking or sealing machine that is meant "to provide a device with a moistening pad capable of applying moisture to the mucilage of the stamps, and with a guide or way through which the stamps may be passed, and by which they are guided to and past the moistening pad; and the invention consists in certain novel features of construction whereby the device is made capable of easier manipulation, whereby it may be held in one hand so as to cause the stamps to make contact with the pad, thus leaving the other hand of the operator free to draw the stamps over the pad and to affix them" (lines 8-21).
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Shaw, James Tyus
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Soil-Breaking Machine. (open access)

Soil-Breaking Machine.

Patent for a soil-breaking machine that breaks soil, plows and grades, cuts clods, and other things. The invention has a main frame, a drum that has heads and separated cutters that connect the heads, soil-ejector bars that eject dirt, and a carrier that deposits dirt at a desired point.
Date: November 27, 1894
Creator: Ross, William H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ice-Cream Freezer. (open access)

Ice-Cream Freezer.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive combined ice cream freezer and milk shaker that makes different flavors of ice cream at the same time and can also make a milk shake or lemonade. The machine consists of five receptacles lined up on a frame, with a crank going through the middle of each. The crank mixes the contents of the receptacles.
Date: January 30, 1894
Creator: Harton, Thomas J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Engine. (open access)

Rotary Engine.

Patent for a stably constructed and effective rotary engine in which "the full effect of live steam under a full head can be attained at all times on the drive shaft" (lines 12-14).
Date: February 27, 1894
Creator: Walker, James C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Perforating Mechanism for Cylinder Printing-Presses. (open access)

Perforating Mechanism for Cylinder Printing-Presses.

Patent for a perforating mechanism for cylinder printing-presses that is simple and automatic. It produces "lines of perforations at any required distance apart and of any desired length in paper or cardboard at the time of printing thereon the forms for checks, draft, bills, notes, tickets or other printed or lithographed matter" (lines 12-17).
Date: April 17, 1894
Creator: Kellner, Eugene
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Compress. (open access)

Cotton-Compress.

Patent for a cotton-compress in which the "cotton is fed to the compress direct from the gin, and is wound into a dense cylindrical bale, and the said invention consists in certain novel means for adding additional pressure to the bale as it is being rolled up, in readily detaching the finished bale from the machine, in providing a reservoir for the surplus cotton, when the gin is running and the machine has stopped" (lines 14-22).
Date: November 27, 1894
Creator: Bessonette, Charles L. & Bessonette, William T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History

Gatesville Sheet

Topographic map of a portion of Texas from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) project. The map includes towns, historic or notable sites, bodies of water, and other geologic features. Scale 1:125000
Date: 1894
Creator: Geological Survey (U.S.)
Object Type: Map
System: The Portal to Texas History

Meridian Sheet

Topographic map of a portion of Texas from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) project. The map includes towns, historic or notable sites, bodies of water, and other geologic features. Scale 1:125000
Date: 1894
Creator: Geological Survey (U.S.)
Object Type: Map
System: The Portal to Texas History