Corn or Cotton Dropper (open access)

Corn or Cotton Dropper

Patent for corn or cotton dropper in which improvements are made on general efficiency, "simplicity, expensiveness, [and] durability" (lines 12-13).
Date: December 25, 1888
Creator: Brown, William Franklin
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machinery for Irrigating Purposes (open access)

Machinery for Irrigating Purposes

Patent for a machine that irrigates with a water wheel. The water wheel is connected to a float and a rod connected that is connected to a crank on the shaft of the wheel.
Date: September 25, 1888
Creator: Owen, Benajah Dotte
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bin. (open access)

Bin.

Patent for a new and improved bin. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a casing having bearing blocks or shoulders, a tilting bin located in said casing and provided with a sloping top, and an automatic cover placed loosely in the casing above the shoulders and provided on the under side, near its front edge, with a cleat fitting within the upper part of the bin, whereby said cover is adapted to close the upright bin and limit its forward movement when opened" (lines 7-16).
Date: March 6, 1888
Creator: Hunter, Edward T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History

Meridian Sheet

Topographic map of a portion of Texas from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) project. The map includes towns, historic or notable sites, bodies of water, and other geologic features. Scale 1:125000
Date: 1888
Creator: Geological Survey (U.S.)
Object Type: Map
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oil Distributer for Harbors, &c. (open access)

Oil Distributer for Harbors, &c.

Patent for a new and improved oil-distributor. This design consists "in a device for distributing oil upon the waves in the vicinity of piers and harbors, the combination, with the main tank upon the shore, of a main pipe extending from it into the water, auxiliary tanks along the main line, and perforated auxiliary lines connected with the auxiliary tanks" (lines 23-30).
Date: December 4, 1888
Creator: Lyle, John Newton
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire Kindler. (open access)

Fire Kindler.

Patent for a new and improved fire starter. This design "has for its object to provide novel means for making comparatively inexpensive fire-kindlers; and to such end the invention consists, essentially, in a vessel having two chambers, one capable of being opened at the top and adapted to contain ashes, and the other closed, except as to a bottom passage in communication with the ash-chamber, and adapted to contain a combustible fluid—such as petroleum oil or other liquid hydro-carbon—which flows through the said bottom passage to saturate the ashes and prepare them for use" (lines 8-20).
Date: April 3, 1888
Creator: Streeter, George D.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire Kindler. (open access)

Fire Kindler.

Patent for a new and improved fire starter. This design "is to provide novel means for determining when the oil is exhausted from the oil vessel and to provide novel means for keeping the ashes from direct contact with the oil-supply openings . . . [for] ashes possess great capillary attraction and take up more hydro-carbon fluid than is requisite when the ashes are dry and not tightly packed, so that the ashes become soft and mushy" (lines 12-21).
Date: April 3, 1888
Creator: Streeter, George D.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mattress Stuffing Machine (open access)

Mattress Stuffing Machine

Patent for a device to stuff a mattress, comprising a combination of ropes, pulleys and gears.
Date: January 10, 1888
Creator: Stephenson, E. N.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History