Rotary-Engine. (open access)

Rotary-Engine.

Patent for a new and improved rotary engine. This design consists "of a wheel provided with radially-sliding pistons and revolving within a fixed circumferential steam-chest, and having fixed on its axle an eccentric and spring, that operate to throw the pistons or floats outward to receive the pressure of the steam or other motor that is to drive the engine" (lines 19-26).
Date: January 20, 1880
Creator: Adams, James Ansley
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Underscoring Attachment for Type-Writers. (open access)

Underscoring Attachment for Type-Writers.

Patent for an improvement on an underscoring attachment for type writers that allows the user to use the functions of underscoring, correcting, and cancelling characters as they type, allowing some functions to occur simultaneously, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 17, 1917
Creator: Aiton, Fred
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Poultry Drinking-Fountain. (open access)

Poultry Drinking-Fountain.

Patent for a poultry drinking fountain, which run water from a water tank to the the water trough and cuts off automatically when the trough is full.
Date: July 20, 1909
Creator: Anderson, Heartwell B.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Evaluation of Water Resources in Part of Central Texas (open access)

Evaluation of Water Resources in Part of Central Texas

Report studying the central Texas region's water resources, with notes that there has been rapid decline and contamination in the area. The aquifer is also being used faster than it can naturally replenish.
Date: January 1990
Creator: Baker, Bernard; Duffin, Gail; Flores, Robert & Lynch, Tad
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Book-Support. (open access)

Book-Support.

Patent for a book-support made to hold large, heavy books used in commercial and government offices. The platforms can be moved up and down by a crank on the side of the support.
Date: January 19, 1897
Creator: Barnes, William A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal Shears. (open access)

Animal Shears.

Patent for new and improved animal shears. This design consists in "mechanism for imparting a combined reciprocating and edgewise play to the cutting knife or knives in order to cause the teeth of said knife or knives to follow or describe a curved or oval path, and thus insure greater efficiency of operation; to provide for the proper lateral contact of the knives in order to insure their proper action and to regulate the pressure or force with which one knife bears on the other; [and] to provide a peculiar form of cutter-teeth which shall be automatic or self-cleaning" (lines 19-30).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Bechtol, William S. & Bessonette, William T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railway-Switch Stand. (open access)

Railway-Switch Stand.

Patent for a railway switch stand that locks "a switch of this class and from which the lock cannot be removed except when the switch is fully locked, thus obviating accidents by always insuring a locked condition of the switch after operation and thereby preventing the switch from being subsequently actuated by unauthorized persons" (lines 11-20), including illustrations.
Date: May 16, 1916
Creator: Berger, James H. & Rosson, George T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Press. (open access)

Cotton-Press.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive cotton press that gets cotton from a gin, forms it into a soft bat, and compresses it into a bale. The operator can tie a band around the bale. It consists of a frame, rollers, and gears.
Date: February 21, 1893
Creator: Bessonette, William T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Regional Water Plan: Region G (Brazos), 2016, Volume 1. Executive Summary and Regional Water Plan (open access)

Regional Water Plan: Region G (Brazos), 2016, Volume 1. Executive Summary and Regional Water Plan

Water plan for Region G (Brazos) describing water resources and suppliers for the area, usage statistics and forecasts, water needs, water supply plans for each county and city, recommended water management strategies, drought response plans, and the plan creation process.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Brazos G Water Planning Group
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Regional Water Plan: Region G (Brazos), 2016, Volume II. Identification, Evaluation, and Selection of Water Management Strategies (open access)

Regional Water Plan: Region G (Brazos), 2016, Volume II. Identification, Evaluation, and Selection of Water Management Strategies

Volume II of the Water plan for Region G (Brazos) including water management strategies, water conservation methods, wastewater reuse, new reservoirs, expansion of use of certain water sources, and water supply recommendations and projects.
Date: December 2015
Creator: Brazos G Water Planning Group
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Polishing Shoes. (open access)

Machine for Polishing Shoes.

Patent for "an improvement in machines for polishing shoes" (lines 8-9) including illustrations.
Date: February 19, 1889
Creator: Bright, Joseph Daniel
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wool-Press. (open access)

Wool-Press.

Patent for a wooden machine that is used to compress wool, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: February 19, 1884
Creator: Brooks, David F.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Carpenter's Square. (open access)

Carpenter's Square.

Patent for a carpenter's square that uses an improved attachment "for laying off bevels at various angles" (lines 15-16).
Date: June 16, 1914
Creator: Buckland, Charles O.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tire-Heater. (open access)

Tire-Heater.

Patent for a rotary tire-heater that used for and movably supported near a blacksmith's forge, where it can be swung over for use when needed. It economizes time and fuel, and is automatically adjustable.
Date: June 26, 1894
Creator: Callaway, John A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Broadcast Seeder. (open access)

Broadcast Seeder.

Patent for a broadcast seeder designed to "cultivate, plant, and subsequently roll or cover the seed, the elements for accomplishing the same being combined in a single device simply constructed" (lines 10-13).
Date: June 3, 1890
Creator: Callaway, Johnathan Asa
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spur. (open access)

Spur.

Patent for an improvement in spurs, this one containing a forked end with a rowel on each end of the fork. This is to ensure the rowels have a broad surface adjacent to each rowel and to prevent less injury to an animal when in use.
Date: February 4, 1919
Creator: Cook, Landon H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bathing-Suit. (open access)

Bathing-Suit.

Patent for a new and useful improvement in bathing suits.
Date: March 29, 1898
Creator: Davis, Jesse W D.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Locomotive Drive-Wheel. (open access)

Locomotive Drive-Wheel.

Patent for "driving-wheels for locomotives; and it has for its object to provide an approximately perfect balanced driving wheel and thereby materially decrease the internal disturbances to the mechanism of the locomotive due to the present methods of counterbalancing in the driving-wheel the reciprocating and revolving parts thereof." (Lines 12-19) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: March 9, 1897
Creator: Davis, Philip Z.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Locomotive Driving-Wheel. (open access)

Locomotive Driving-Wheel.

Patent for a perfectly balanced wheel for locomotives. It is meant to "materially decrease the internal disturbances to the mechanism of the locomotive due to the present methods of counterbalancing in the driving-wheel" (lines 15-18).
Date: March 9, 1897
Creator: Davis, Philip Z.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle-Wheel. (open access)

Vehicle-Wheel.

Patent for "driving wheels for locomotives; and it has for its object to provide an approximately perfect balanced driving-wheel and thereby materially decrease the internal disturbances to the mechanism of the locomotion due to the present methods of counterbalancing in the driving-wheel the reciprocating and revolving parts thereof." (Lines 12-19) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: March 9, 1897
Creator: Davis, Philip Z.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Engine. (open access)

Engine.

Patent for general "improvements in engines, and while one feature of our invention is adapted for use on all styles of engines, the invention in the complete form ...is especially suited for use on locomotive engines designed to exert high tractive power and to attain high speeds" (lines 12-19).
Date: February 19, 1895
Creator: Davis, Philip Z. & Barton, Alexander M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ore Separator (open access)

Ore Separator

Patent for ore separator. This invention "relates to separators or concentrators for separating or extracting gold from pulverized quartz sand or bearing dirt" (line 8-11). Illustration included.
Date: May 11, 1909
Creator: Donovan, John T., Sr.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sash-Fastener. (open access)

Sash-Fastener.

Patent for a Sash Fastener that can be used to improve the sash holders function with a simplifying construction.
Date: November 28, 1905
Creator: Dunn, Aaron Washington
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Force-Pumps. (open access)

Improvement in Force-Pumps.

Patent relating to "that class of force-pumps which are to be submerged and are double-acting" (lines 17-19). Includes instructions and illustration.
Date: July 8, 1879
Creator: Finney, James J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History