Cot. (open access)

Cot.

Patent for a cot that "may be easily and quickly applied to wagons, cars, and to all other places where beds are inconvenient" (lines 8-10). It attaches to a vertical wall.
Date: October 2, 1894
Creator: Looney, Joseph H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for an improvement wire-stretcher using a sliding, adjustable plate (non-rotating) that provides unique means for attaching, stretching, and adjusting the wire.
Date: April 2, 1918
Creator: Moore, Charles M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire stretcher. This design "facilitate[s] the building of wire fences; and it consists in the construction and novel arrangement of the transporting bed or wagon, its spindles for the spools of wire, and its transverse windlass-rollers and their ratchets and pawls" (lines 16-21).
Date: August 2, 1881
Creator: Morter, John Letcher
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Saddle-Trees. (open access)

Improvement in Saddle-Trees.

Patent for the improvement of saddle trees used in the construction of "Spanish or Texas saddles." (line 16)
Date: April 2, 1878
Creator: Melton, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Plow, Harrow, and Cultivator. (open access)

Combined Plow, Harrow, and Cultivator.

Patent for improvement in the construction of combined plows, harrows, and cultivators.
Date: May 2, 1882
Creator: Moss, John Carlton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Post Office Case. (open access)

Post Office Case.

Patent for a new and improved carrying case for mail. This design calls for a metal cylinder with twenty-six compartments (one for each English letter) around a central compartment. The compartments may be rotated to gain access to any of them via hinged doors at the top of the case.
Date: November 2, 1880
Creator: Crowder, John R. & Haile, James Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Needle Beam for Bridges. (open access)

Needle Beam for Bridges.

Patent for a new and improved needle-beam for bridges. This design "relates to needle-beams for bridges; and its objects are, first, to provide them with appliances whereby to maintain wire cables in proper position and conduct them between the termini of the bridge; second, to provide for interweaving the strands of the cable during the progress of the construction; third, to adapt the parts to coact so that they will maintain the cables permanently in their pristine condition; fourth, to provide such correlation of the parts that they shall uniformly conduce to invariable results" (lines 15-27).
Date: April 2, 1889
Creator: Rudyon, Edwin Elijah
System: The Portal to Texas History