Cotton-Cleaner. (open access)

Cotton-Cleaner.

Patent for a machine that cleans cotton by placing the seed into a rotating cylinder it is carried and removed using air presser through spiral fan blades and pins to rid impurities, including illustrations.
Date: September 11, 1860
Creator: Smith, Charles
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Beverages and Sirups from Mustang Grapes. (open access)

Improvement in Beverages and Sirups from Mustang Grapes.

Patent for manufacturing a syrup by mixing brown sugar, water, and Mustang grapes.
Date: June 11, 1872
Creator: Wood, Joshua C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Machines for Destroying Cotton Worms. (open access)

Improvement in Machines for Destroying Cotton Worms.

Patent for a machine to distribute poison to destroy Cotton Worms, including illustrations.
Date: September 1, 1874
Creator: Davis, Nicholas A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Propelling Devices for Street-Cars and the Like (open access)

Improvement in Propelling Devices for Street-Cars and the Like

Patent for and improvement in propelling devices for street cars and the like, includes illustration.
Date: February 16, 1875
Creator: Trible, Herndon & Davis, Nicholas A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cultivator and Chopper. (open access)

Improvement in Cultivator and Chopper.

Patent for an improvement in cultivators and choppers which will allow for the adjustment by height and width.
Date: October 7, 1876
Creator: Killough, William B.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Plows. (open access)

Improvement in Plows.

Patent for "an improved plow, which shall be so constructed that it may be readily adjusted for use as a subsoil-plow, as a turning-plow, as a scraper and cultivator, and as a scraper, cultivator, and hiller, and which shall be simple in construction and effective in operation in either capacity." (Lines 11-18) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 10, 1876
Creator: Newton, John R.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton and Corn Planters. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton and Corn Planters.

Patent for a new and improved cotton and corn planter design with an axle that has agitators, including illustrations.
Date: December 10, 1878
Creator: Hall, James Madison
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Wrenches. (open access)

Improvement in Wrenches.

Patent for furnishing "an adjustable wrench for holding and turning bolts, pipes, taps, &c." (lines 7-9). Includes instructions and illustration.
Date: July 1, 1879
Creator: Killough, William B.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse Detacher. (open access)

Horse Detacher.

Patent for a new and improved device for detaching animals from vehicles. This design "relates to horse detaching devices, the object being to provide a device of this character of simple, inexpensive, and durable construction, and adapted to readily disengage the traces from the single tree. [The] invention consists in the improved construction and combination of parts" (lines 10-16).
Date: February 13, 1883
Creator: Willson, Sam A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Buckle. (open access)

Buckle.

Patent for a new and improved buckle. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with [a] frame, having [a] hook on [a] cross-piece and [a] tongue on [another] cross-piece, of a loop or keeper, arranged on the under side of frame and between the two cross-pieces" (lines 69-73).
Date: April 10, 1883
Creator: Thomas, Floyd W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device For Illustrating the Transposition of Musical Scales (open access)

Device For Illustrating the Transposition of Musical Scales

Patent for an improvement in machines for transposing musical scales in which a marked and perforated original scale is run over the machine and automatically transported, with levers and rods to mark the sharps, flats, and other information.
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Neill, John, Frances
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow (open access)

Plow

Patent for an improved invention providing a convertible plow and cultivator. Illustrations included.
Date: December 8, 1885
Creator: Moore, Thomas M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hand Support for Use in Writing. (open access)

Hand Support for Use in Writing.

Patent for a new and improved writing aid. This design "is an improved device to rest the hand and give ease and fluency thereto in writing; and it consists, essentially, in a support made of glass, rubber, or other similar suitable material, and having very smooth edges to travel without friction over the writing-paper, in combination with a hand-rest pivoted and capable of a certain degree of motion thereon, and having connected to it the handle of the pen" (lines 18-27).
Date: March 16, 1886
Creator: Wyche, John Louis
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Planter and Chopper (open access)

Cotton Planter and Chopper

Patent for improvements in "combined cotton planters and choppers; and it consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices" (line 9-12), includes detailed illustration.
Date: July 3, 1888
Creator: Lester, Isaac L. & Whittly, Josiah
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for improvements in automatic car-couplers by providing "the means for automatically coupling cars without exposing the operator to the risk and danger of going between the cars when coupling,” (lines 12-15) includes illustration.
Date: April 14, 1891
Creator: Chandler, Richard
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Derrick. (open access)

Derrick.

Patent for improvements in derricks or machines for hoisting heavy objects, which can be easily erected and operated; this device “can be manipulated with ease and by which the article being elevated or lowered may be changed in position without moving the support.” (Lines 20-23) Illustration is included.
Date: April 21, 1891
Creator: Lindsey, William E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Music-Holder. (open access)

Music-Holder.

Patent for an improved music-holder. The music-holder is comprised of a base adapted to be secured to a music rest with a standard pivoted on the base. The standard is fixed with a spring-pressed shaft in order to press the book to the music stand.
Date: October 27, 1891
Creator: French, Clarence E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Safety-Valve (open access)

Safety-Valve

Patent for a safety valve that can be used on water and gas boilers.
Date: June 21, 1892
Creator: Ball, John W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Messenger's Picket. (open access)

Messenger's Picket.

Patent for a new and improved messenger's picket. This design "is an improvement in means of protection for express-[people] or express-messengers on railway-trains from successful attack by robbers. In other words, it is an improved form of bullet-proof cage or miniature fort in which the express-[person] or messenger may lock himself [or herself] in case of danger and from which he [or she] may watch and fire upon his [or her] assailants with almost perfect safety" (lines 7-15).
Date: August 30, 1892
Creator: Hays, James C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device for Loading Baggage (open access)

Device for Loading Baggage

Patent for the description and illustration of an "improved device for lifting baggage such as trunks or other articles, in loading and unloading them form cars, platforms or other locations"(lines 11-14) including instructions and illustrations. Patent for a new lifting device design with different size baggage, including illustrations.
Date: January 3, 1893
Creator: Samuel Richard Heidelberg
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Broom-Rack. (open access)

Broom-Rack.

Patent for an improvement in a device to hold brooms and items with handles by simplifying the design and making it more resistant to strain.
Date: February 14, 1893
Creator: Jones, Wesley C. P.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Feeder and Cleaner. (open access)

Cotton Feeder and Cleaner.

Patent for feeders and cleaners for cotton gins: "provide a combined feeder and cleaner for cotton gins which is not only thoroughly and effectually cleans cotton before it passes to the gin, but at the same time it regularly and positively feeds the cotton to the gin in such cleaned condition" (lines 10-15).
Date: April 25, 1893
Creator: Oliphint, Alfred
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cart-Scale. (open access)

Cart-Scale.

Patent for light, strong, and inexpensive bale weighing scales that "employ a truck or sulky frame, suitable for transporting goods; furthermore, means combined with said frame whereby the goods may be readily weighed; furthermore, means for supporting the goods on the truck independent of the weighing mechanism" (lines 13-19).
Date: August 8, 1893
Creator: Coupland, Benjamin C. & Hough, Franklin T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Safety-Valve. (open access)

Safety-Valve.

Patent for an improved safety valve for boilers that consists of a valve chamber with a socket at its bottom, a valve seat with a steam outlet, a valve in the socket, a steam inlet tube that passes through and below the valve, a piston mounted in a guide chamber, a spring that holds the piston, a guide chamber with a valve seat, and a steam cylinder.
Date: October 10, 1893
Creator: Cameron, Charles Hoyle
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History