Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the platform . . . having a spring buffer and a projection adjacent to and to one side of the buffer . . . the catch pivotally secured below the same and having a series of coupling shoulders on one side, the spring, and the stop arranged to act upon the side of the catch from which the coupling shoulders project" (lines 89-98).
Date: September 6, 1887
Creator: Ashford, Thomas Gresham.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter. (open access)

Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "slides over opposite holes in the bottom of its hopper and a dropping-cylinder provided with seed-cups on its periphery and removable screws rising from within the cups, whereby it may be changed . . . so as to plant corn or cotton" (lines 59-65).
Date: September 20, 1887
Creator: Becker, Philipp William Adolph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hammock or Swing. (open access)

Hammock or Swing.

Patent for a new and improved hammock. This design consists in "the combination of a suspended canopy, consisting of a hoop provided with screw-eyes and having a textile covering and a mosquito-netting secured thereto and depending therefrom, with a basket consisting of a hoop, a suitably-constructed bottom, a cushion, and a guard . . . and supporting-ropes secured at their lower portions to the basket and to the guard, and having snap-hooks at their upper ends adapted to engage the screw-eyes in the hoop of the canopy" (lines 5-15).
Date: April 24, 1888
Creator: Broderick, Martin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator. (open access)

Cultivator.

Patent for a new and improved cultivator. This design consists in "the combination, with the frame bearing the standards, of caster-wheels provided with shanks, which are vertically journaled in the bars at each side of said frame and in the ends of the cross-bar, the hand-lever which is secured at the forward end of the beam and pivotally connected to the center of said cross-bar and provided with a slot near its free end, the segmental upright, and the spring" (lines 16-25).
Date: March 29, 1887
Creator: Brown, Thomas Jefferson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator and Cotton-Chopper. (open access)

Cultivator and Cotton-Chopper.

Patent for an more efficiently designed cotton chopper.
Date: April 27, 1886
Creator: Brown, Thomas Jefferson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopper. (open access)

Cotton Chopper.

Patent for a new and improved cotton chopper. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a sulky having a loop secured to its axle, of a pair of hoes secured to a pair of pivoted bars, which are adapted to slide up and down in the loop, and a spring arranged between the bars to hold the hoes in a closed position . . . [and] provided with foot-rests for the driver, whereby the hoes may be forced into the ground" (lines 55-67).
Date: February 6, 1883
Creator: Craig, William Sinclair
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design consists in "the draw-head having the open space at its front end, the longitudinal groove in its side, extending rearward from said space, and the transverse recess at the rear end of said groove, the coupling bar resting in the groove and having a lug at its rear end" (lines 92-98). Said lug is "pivoted in the recess, and the hook at its front end arranged within the open space, and the spring having its rear end secured to the side of the draw-head in rear of the recess" (lines 1-4).
Date: December 6, 1887
Creator: Keith, John David
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oil Press Mat. (open access)

Oil Press Mat.

Patent for a new and improved oil press mat. This design "relates to mats between which cakes of ground cotton or other oil-yielding seed are held while being subjected to the action of the press which separates the oil from the cakes. The invention has for its object to provide certain improvements in the construction of such mats, whereby they are made more efficient and durable than those in general use" (lines 9-17).
Date: May 1, 1883
Creator: Mann, Frederic C. & Schumacher, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insecticide (open access)

Insecticide

Patent for "a compound or composition for the extermination of ants, moles, salamanders, prairie-dogs, large rats, &c." (lines 11-13).
Date: August 21, 1888
Creator: Simpson, James Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water Mill. (open access)

Water Mill.

Patent for a new and improved water mill. This design "relates to current water-mills, the object being to provide a mill of inexpensive and durable construction, having a wheel adapted to rise and fall with the tide, and thus to maintain a constant revolution and working of the mill. The invention consists in the combination of parts" (lines 11-18).
Date: August 28, 1883
Creator: Steinhagen, Cristofer Friderich Carl
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cane Mill. (open access)

Cane Mill.

Patent for a new and improved sugarcane mill. This design "consist[s] of the frame composed of [a] bed-piece, vertical standards, and horizontal pieces, [one] piece having [a] trough, the vertical shaft, horizontally movable . . . and provided with the gear, the roller having stationary shaft provided with pinion, the [other] roller having stationary shaft provided with pinion, boxes, and screw-threaded rods" (lines 81-89).
Date: February 9, 1886
Creator: Webb, John T.
System: The Portal to Texas History