Bridge. (open access)

Bridge.

Patent for a new and improved bridge. This design consists in "the combination, with the base, stringers, the top arched bars, and the upright tie-bars, of the intermediate stringers, arched bars, and their horizontal tie-bars, and wedge-keys . . . whereby the structure is greatly strengthened" (lines 85-91).
Date: December 13, 1881
Creator: Ibel, Justus H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Air-Brake Coupling (open access)

Automatic Air-Brake Coupling

Patent for "improved automatic pipe-coupling which shall overcome the difficulties found in the devices of this class heretofore in use, and which shall be cheap to manufacture, easy to repair, simple in construction, and extremely effective in use and operation" (lines 27-33).
Date: July 30, 1889
Creator: Roquemore, Peter G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
CAR-BRAKE (open access)

CAR-BRAKE

Patent for new and useful improvements for Caboose Cars' brakes. The brakes can be applied from within the car, and no strain is applied to the car frame or body.
Date: July 20, 1880
Creator: Dwyer, Denis R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Door Fastening. (open access)

Car Door Fastening.

Patent for a new and improved car-door fastening. This design "consists in a novel construction and arrangement of a staple, a hook-hasp, key, and a key-plate, whereby several advantages are obtained . . . for securing the sliding doors of box-cars and other railway-cars" (lines 8-14).
Date: April 19, 1881
Creator: Alexander, Francis Marion
System: The Portal to Texas History
Life Boat. (open access)

Life Boat.

Patent for a new and improved life boat. This design "consists in providing a steam-launch with a float on each side, secured by suitable strong braces thereto, and to provide said floats with a hand-rail, so that persons can hold onto said rails, and are prevented from being washed off" (lines 17-22).
Date: March 13, 1883
Creator: Dwyer, Daniel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Life Boat. (open access)

Life Boat.

Patent for a new and improved life boat. This design consists "[i]n a life-boat, the combination of a hull having the portion of its sides above the water-line overhanging and concave and having the portion of its sides below the water-line convex, with air-chambers having their inner walls curved corresponding to the curves of the upper portion of the sides and converging into the sides at their lower edges, the said chambers increasing in capacity toward the upper edges of the sides of the hull" (lines 22-31).
Date: June 16, 1885
Creator: Dwyer, Daniel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Filing Gin Saws. (open access)

Machine for Filing Gin Saws.

Patent for a new and improved machine to sharpen the teeth of cotton gin saws. This design utilizes two bevel-faced wheels connected to a block between two arms that clamp the saw blade. The bevel-faced wheels sharpen the teeth of the blade, and the nuts and bolts of the frame allow for movement as well as tightening and loosening.
Date: August 17, 1880
Creator: McAllister, Alexander F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench. (open access)

Wrench.

Patent for a new and improved wrench. This design is "especially adapted for manipulating pipe-joints, though applicable, also, for use in manipulating nuts, &c.; and it consists in the [novel] detailed construction and combination of operating parts" (lines 24-28).
Date: September 21, 1880
Creator: Weir, Duncan
System: The Portal to Texas History
Watch-Case Bow (open access)

Watch-Case Bow

Patent for improvements in fastenings for bows of watch-cases.
Date: March 19, 1889
Creator: Cooper, Jonathan H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Table. (open access)

Table.

Patent for a new and improved table. This design "is to increase the utility of tables by providing them with drawers extending from side to side, that will open from either side of the table, and also providing the drawers with additional means of support that will enable them to contain articles of great weight without injury to the structure, and thus adapt the same for use in stores" (lines 10-18).
Date: October 13, 1885
Creator: Davis, James Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock. (open access)

Nut Lock.

Patent for a new and improved nut-lock. This design "is to produce a nut-lock which will require a minimum number of parts to adjust, will require no other tools than a wrench, which will stay where adjusted in spite of any amount of pounding or concussion, and which, when desired, may be removed without difficulty. To this end [the] invention consists in a nut provided with a serrated face and a washer having sharp spring-lips engaging with the serrations. [The] invention also consists in a peculiarly-constructed washer for locking the nut" (lines 18-30).
Date: December 6, 1887
Creator: Parks, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Piston Packing. (open access)

Piston Packing.

Patent for a new and improved piston packing. This design consists in a "piston head cast entire and having radial arms bored out, in combination with the piston-segments, the steam-ports in the piston-plates, and stems of said segments, packing expansible rings on said stems, and the expansible packing-rings inclosing the said piston-segments" (lines 87-93).
Date: February 7, 1888
Creator: St. James, Henry L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Roller Cotton-Press (open access)

Roller Cotton-Press

Patent for a new improved Roller Cotton-Press. The "invention relates to machines for compressing cotton and other similar material into the form of cylindrical bales." (lines 15-18). Includes description and illustrations.
Date: July 19, 1887
Creator: Evans, Henry A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rope Attachment. (open access)

Rope Attachment.

Patent for a new and improved rope attachment. This design "relates to a novel and useful device which is adapted to be rigidly and substantially secured to the end of a rope, and which is constructed with a curved lip on its protruding end, so that when pressed over the loop of a snap-hook it will form a link or jointed connection of the snap-hook with the rope, ferrule, or clamp" (lines 12-19).
Date: August 13, 1889
Creator: Powell, John Seymour
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Gin. (open access)

Cotton Gin.

Patent for a new and improved cotton gin. This design "consists in the combination of the bevel-edged boards with the saws and brush, so as to facilitate the transfer of the cotton from the saws to the arc-shaped support consisting of the bevel-edged boards set at a short distance apart, and to thus straighten the fiber or lint. This gives the lint cotton a finer and lighter appearance, causing a ready allowance of a considerable addition to the usual price" (lines 8-17).
Date: July 18, 1882
Creator: Van Zandt, Jacob
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design is of "an automatic car-coupling pin that can be adjusted and used for coupling cars having the ordinary draw-bars and coupling pins" (lines 10-13).
Date: July 8, 1884
Creator: Schofield, James
System: The Portal to Texas History