Automatic Railroad or Farm Gate. (open access)

Automatic Railroad or Farm Gate.

Patent for an improved automatic railroad or farm gate that uses the "weight of the car or wagon upon an operating-board and automatically close[s] after the train has passed, and which can also be opened by hand when it is desired to let a single person pass through, either upon foot or horseback" (lines 20-25).
Date: October 4, 1892
Creator: Benson, Joseph Robinson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Coin-Operated Boot or Show Blackening Machine (open access)

Coin-Operated Boot or Show Blackening Machine

Patent for a shoe or boot blackening machine that operates automatically with the depositing of a coin, and as such drastically decreases labor and time needed for shoe or boot blackening.
Date: October 11, 1892
Creator: Knight, Nute B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cotton Chopper and Planter (open access)

Combined Cotton Chopper and Planter

Patent for a combined cotton chopper and planter, made to be easy to construct and easy to convert between functions.
Date: October 11, 1892
Creator: Parker, Francis H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Antifriction Clasp. (open access)

Antifriction Clasp.

Patent for a new and improved anti-friction clasp. This design "is to provide means whereby the wear due to the rubbing of inclosed rods or ropes against an inclosing casing may be reduced to a minimum and whereby the central alignment of the rods or ropes with respect to the inclosing casing may be accurately preserved" (lines 11-17). It consists in "a series of friction balls or rollers mounted therein and projecting from the periphery thereof and being divided into sections adapted to be clamped at any point around the rod or rope" (lines 97-101).
Date: October 25, 1892
Creator: Black, William L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine (open access)

Washing-Machine

Patent for improvements on washing machines in order "to simplify and improve the construction of washing-machines and to provide one which will remove the dirt from fabrics without inj uring the latter and which may be conveniently operated with a minimum amount of exertion on the part of the operator" (lines 10-16).
Date: October 4, 1892
Creator: Elkins, William Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vine Cutter. (open access)

Vine Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved vine-cutter. This design "is to provide a suitable device . . . whereby a sweet-potato vine may be severed from the main stalk on each side of a ridge, the parts of the same being of simple and effective construction and operation" (lines 12-17). It consists in "a post or support, divergent elongated horizontally-arranged cutters secured to the opposite sides thereof and having their lower rear sides formed into cutting-edges of concave form, said cutters being deflected downward at a slight angle of inclination" (lines 66-72).
Date: October 4, 1892
Creator: Francis, Samuel H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing Machine. (open access)

Washing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved washing-machine. This design "is to simplify and improve the construction of washing machines and to enable clothes to be thoroughly washed without liability of injuring them" (lines 10-14). This design consists in "a frame comprising the legs, the rounds connecting the legs, and the parallel horizontal side bars connecting the upper ends of the legs at each side of the frame, the ends of the frame being open at the top, a diamond-shaped washing-machine body journaled between the sides of the frame, the spiral springs arranged at each end of the horizontal bars" (lines 89-98).
Date: October 25, 1892
Creator: Gardner, David
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hot Box Alarm. (open access)

Hot Box Alarm.

Patent for a new and improved hot-box alarm. This design "relates to alarms to indicate overheated journal-boxes; and it has for its object to provide a device of this character . . . which will be useful upon boxes of stationary engines, car-wheels, or any style or form of machinery in which shafting or boxes are employed which are liable to get overheated" (lines 8-16). It consists, "with a journal-box, of a cylinder supported upon said box and designed to accommodate a liquefying solid, a perforated plunger supported upon the solid within the cylinder and adapted to work through the solid when melted" (lines 12-17).
Date: October 4, 1892
Creator: Basel, John Conrad & Fruehauf, Eduard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump. (open access)

Pump.

Patent for a pump "of the double-cylinder type, in which a continuous and steady stream of water is sucked from the well and forced to the point of use, and in such a pump to provide means for operating the same, whereby the same power will be required to raise the plunger that it does to force the same downward, and to this end providing such improved mechanisms and connections which will evenly distribute the power exerted by the operator to actuate the pump" (lines 9-19).
Date: October 4, 1892
Creator: Smith, Millage Math.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tongue Support. (open access)

Tongue Support.

Patent for a new and improved tongue-support. This design "is to provide a simple and inexpensive tongue-support capable of being readily applied to any vehicle" (lines 9-12). It "consist[s] of the two wires provided intermediate their ends with coils and twisted together at opposite sides of the coils to provide the spring-arms" (lines 48-51).
Date: October 25, 1892
Creator: Johnson, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay-Press (open access)

Hay-Press

Patent for a hay press that is both efficient and easy to use so that the bales may be "rapidly and firmly compressed" (lines 18-19).
Date: October 18, 1892
Creator: Mealer, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Floor-Clamp. (open access)

Floor-Clamp.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive floor-clamp that aids in laying floors so that the floor is laid uniformly and has a good joint. This prevents the floors from warping or curving.
Date: October 18, 1892
Creator: Zauner, Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Feed Apparatus for Locomotives. (open access)

Feed Apparatus for Locomotives.

Patent for a new and improved feed apparatus for locomotives. This design is "for feeding the boiler of a locomotive-engine wherein a feed-pipe extends from a tank or tender to an injector a conical strainer is located in the three-way valve-casing for intercepting dirt, leaves, and foreign matter, to prevent the same passing with the feed-water to the boiler" (lines 9-15). It consists, "with a valve-casing containing a valve and having pipes or tubes for connecting, respectively, with a tank or tender and an injector or boiler, [and] of a strainer having steam-jet orifices arranged round its base" (lines 69-73).
Date: October 25, 1892
Creator: Raynor, Irwin Halpin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow-Stock. (open access)

Plow-Stock.

Patent for a strong and durable plow-stock that is "capable of receiving and operating in connection with any form of sweep, bull-tongue, or shovel plows, and [provides] means whereby the latter may be adjustably connected to the stock, and said stock readily adjusted, whereby the penetration of the plow may be increased or diminished in accordance with the character of plowing to be done" (lines 10-17).
Date: October 18, 1892
Creator: Koenig, Ernst
System: The Portal to Texas History
Quilting Attachment for Sewing Machines. (open access)

Quilting Attachment for Sewing Machines.

Patent for a new and improved quilting attachment for sewing machines. This design "is to provide a device . . . adapted to be adjustable in any manner desired over the leaf, table, or arm of a sewing-machine" (lines 14-17). It consists in "a standard supporting a track-bar, a bar swiveled to said hanger and having end journals, and curved end yokes or arms movably connected to said end journals of the latter bar and supporting-rollers, said curved end yokes or arms having the said bar connected to the central part of the upper portions of the same and open at their lower ends" (lines 15-24).
Date: October 25, 1892
Creator: Galloway, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railroad-Crossing. (open access)

Railroad-Crossing.

Patent for a railroad crossing that "consists in certain devices organized in a manner to secure automatic alignment of a series of movable rail-sections with the main rails of a track on which a train is traveling in the direction of the crossing, the approach of the train setting in motion the devices by which the rail-sections are controlled, and thus dispensing with an attendant at the crossing to set the contrivance for the safe passage of the train through the crossing" (lines 12-22).
Date: October 11, 1892
Creator: Knight, Mosses G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Discharge Mechanism for Harvesters (open access)

Discharge Mechanism for Harvesters

Patent for the binder-deck of harvesters "and it consists, broadly, of a flexible deck having its lateral edges fixed and its middle portion hinged at one edge and free at the other, and means for automatically lowering the latter when the bundle of grain is to be discharged in order that the discharge may be facilitated" (lines 11-17).
Date: October 25, 1892
Creator: Stroud, Wiley N. & Corey, Rufus H.
System: The Portal to Texas History