Insecticide Composition. (open access)

Insecticide Composition.

Patent for an insecticide to kill red ants and "other noxious insects" (line 9).
Date: March 24, 1885
Creator: Howard, Frank M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon Brake. (open access)

Wagon Brake.

Patent for a new and improved wagon brake. This design consists "[i]n a wagon-brake, the combination of the lever, provided with a pawl having the heel, the ratchet-wheel, and the catch, having the projecting portion . . . [and] a break-lever provided with a brake-lock, the ratchet-wheel, [and] barrel connected to the cord by a brake-lever (lines 92-100).
Date: August 25, 1885
Creator: Barmore, Albert King
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water Elevator. (open access)

Water Elevator.

Patent for a new and improved water-elevator. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with endless chains having links provided with staples, of the buckets having apertured side flanges through which the staples pass, and fastenings passing through the staple in front of the apertured side flanges to hold the buckets in place" (lines 90-96).
Date: November 3, 1885
Creator: Porter, Thomas A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vermin Poison. (open access)

Vermin Poison.

Patent for "insecticide compositions for exterminating prairie-dogs, ants, &c." (lines 6-7), including dosages and instructions for use.
Date: October 13, 1885
Creator: Womack, John David
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stock Car. (open access)

Stock Car.

Patent for improvement to stock cars, "so constructed that the hay-racks swing up automatically and the troughs can be lowered to be out of the way when not in use and can easily be swung up when the animals are to be watered" (lines 8-13).
Date: September 22, 1885
Creator: Lines, Daniel
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Earth Auger. (open access)

Earth Auger.

Patent for a new and improved auger. This design "relates to a new and improved earth-auger made funnel shaped, with side cutting-edges, and adapted to be inverted for emptying the auger; and the invention consists of the construction and arrangement of parts" (lines 7-12).
Date: May 26, 1885
Creator: Porter, Thomas A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopper (open access)

Cotton Chopper

Patent for a new and improved stalk chopper. This design "consists in the combination of a suitable carrying-frame, which is to be attached to the plow, a shaft on which the chopping-wheel is placed, and which is operated by the revolving axle, and the chopping-wheel having adjustable cutting blades" (lines 13-18).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Miller, Julian Tolbert
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn and Cotton Planter. (open access)

Corn and Cotton Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the main frame . . . provided with the hopper, covers, and transporting-wheel, of the vibrating-lever pivoted at its lower end to the side of the frame, and pivoted at its middle to the lateral arm, secured to the feed-slide and operated by means of the pitman, which is connected at its lower end to the crank-axle, the upper end thereof being pivoted to the upper end of the lever" (lines 17-26).
Date: September 8, 1885
Creator: Williams, George W. & Hook, Joseph
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History

Taylor 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: 1885
Creator: Geological Survey (U.S.)
Object Type: Map
System: The Portal to Texas History