Ant-Trap. (open access)

Ant-Trap.

Patent for an ant-trap with an inflexible bottom with a hole in the middle, a perpendicular section rough on the inside and smooth on the outside, and the perpendicular smooth sides are attached to the edges of the bottom. The trap has a device that prevents the ants from running around the trap.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Carter, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for a certain new and useful wire stretcher, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 28, 1899
Creator: Hancock, Benjamin Columbus
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretching and Reeling Machine. (open access)

Wire Stretching and Reeling Machine.

Patent for a new and improved wire stretcher. This design "relates to improvements in wire-stretchers for use in building wire fences, and also adapted to take up the wire and reel the same when it is desired to take a fence down" (lines 12-16). It consists, "with the main frame, of the inclined and slotted standards secured thereto, the boxes arranged on said standards, the pivoted pawl carried by the boxes, and a reel-shaft carrying a pinion and arranged in the slots of the standards and supported by the boxes" (lines 89-95).
Date: November 4, 1890
Creator: Claunch, Martin B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Provision-Safe. (open access)

Provision-Safe.

Patent for a provision safe that keeps food cool that uses "a jacket of absorbent material inclosing a suitable frame provided with shelves for supporting the articles of food, and a vat for containing water and supplying it to the jacket by capillary action whereby the temperature is reduced through the process of evaporation" (lines 15-21). This patent improves the design of provision safes.
Date: November 21, 1893
Creator: Stephens, James Howell
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Sack Carrier. (open access)

Cotton-Sack Carrier.

Patent for a carrying sack meant to carry cotton to and from the field. It is not carried on a worker's back or dragged on the ground. The sack is on an adjustable axle and "may be arranged at an inclination to cause the truck to travel upon a curved line to facilitate the guiding of the same in operation; and furthermore, to provide a fender to prevent objects from falling between the cotton sacks and the wheels of the truck" (lines 14-20).
Date: November 28, 1893
Creator: Laird, Archibald F. & Hill, John M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Attachment for Cultivators. (open access)

Attachment for Cultivators.

Patent for a wheel-cultivator that attaches to planters or plows. It provides "means whereby a planter or a plow-beam carrying any desired cultivating implement can be attached to the frame of a riding or wheel cultivator frame, and thus enable the cultivator-frame to be applied to uses other than that for which it was intended" (lines 25-30).
Date: November 3, 1896
Creator: Morris, Thomas R.
System: The Portal to Texas History