Bill File. (open access)

Bill File.

Patent for a new and improved bill file. This design "is to provide a cheap and simple file, upon which the papers may be strung and from which they may be removed with the least amount of trouble, and which is adapted to be locked to securely retain the papers thereon in such manner that they are readily accessible for inspection. To this end [the design] provide[s] . . . a wire loop having ends adapted to lap, fit snugly, and lock the one upon the other, and which may be opened for the ready reception and removal of papers, said loop being fitted to turn or swivel about an axis" (lines 11-23).
Date: February 4, 1890
Creator: Seaman, Milton L. B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination of Sulky Plow and Cultivator (open access)

Combination of Sulky Plow and Cultivator

Patent for "a mounted adjustable frame adapted to the use of either cultivator or plow, and which shall be provided with means whereby the track can be narrowed or widened and the depth regulated as desired; also, by which the standard or standards can be raised or lowered independently of or dependently upon the height of axle-arm" (lines 13-21).
Date: February 4, 1890
Creator: Stevens, Isaac W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design consists in "[a] car-coupling link having a slotted spring-head adapted to hold the link in a draw-head by frictional contact therewith, and arranged and adapted to permit a coupling-pin to pass through the slots in the said link and its spring-head" (lines 48-53).
Date: February 4, 1890
Creator: Thompson, James Alfred M.
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.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling (open access)

Car-Coupling

Patent for "a new and improved car-coupling which is simple and durable in construction and very effective and automatic in operation" (lines 8-11).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Finley, Robert Lee & Harper, Henry Hughes
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn Planter. (open access)

Corn Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the plate, having extensions and laterally-extending arm or bracket, the hopper mounted upon the extension of the plate, the seed-slide or coiled spring connecting the front end of the latter with the bracket, metal plates secured to the front and rear sides of the rear wall of the hopper above the seed-slide, the brush or cut-off arranged between said plates, and suitable operating mechanism for retracting the seed-slide against the tension of the coiled spring" (lines 6-17).
Date: February 18, 1890
Creator: Cromer, Thomas L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn or Cotton-Seed Platter (open access)

Corn or Cotton-Seed Platter

Patent for improvements in "a combined plow and interchangeable revolving seed-dropper so constructed as to permit of its being readilyconverted into a corn or cotton-seed planter with the least trouble" (lines 19-23).
Date: February 18, 1890
Creator: Peeler, John Wiliam
System: The Portal to Texas History
Attachment for Chairs. (open access)

Attachment for Chairs.

Patent for a new and improved chair. This design consists "[i]n a reading and writing attachment for chairs, the combination of a bail-shaped clamp adapted to be applied to a chair-arm, an upright slotted arm, a set-screw passing through said slotted arm and engaging the clamp, a plate carried by the upper end of said slotted arm, and a table pivotally connected to said plate, whereby the table may be adjusted vertically, horizontally, and obliquely" (lines 66-75).
Date: February 25, 1890
Creator: Hutton, Milton C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press (open access)

Baling-Press

Patent for "an exceedingly rapid baling of the hay, to provide for the easy transportation of the press and the power employed in connection therewith, and to provide for the adjustment of the size of the baling-chamber" (lines 9-13).
Date: February 25, 1890
Creator: Mattijetz, Andreas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Bending and Embossing Sheet Metal (open access)

Machine for Bending and Embossing Sheet Metal

Patent for "new and improved machine which is simple and durable in construction, very effective in operation, and especially designed for simultaneously curving and embossing sheet-metal plates for use as cornices, metal shingles, &c" (lines 8-13).
Date: February 25, 1890
Creator: Baldwin, Benjamin J., Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lemon-Squeezer (open access)

Lemon-Squeezer

Patent for "a device to which a lemon may be subjected and halved, squeezed, and the skins ejected, the steps being taken in the order mentioned and by one operation of the machine" (lines 10-14).
Date: February 4, 1890
Creator: Dunlap, William O.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon Spring. (open access)

Wagon Spring.

Patent for a new and improved wagon spring. This design "is to provide a vehicle in which springs of great strength may be employed which will not require stay-chains, and which will not increase the height of the wagon-body and cause inconvenience in loading and unloading the vehicle and in getting in and out, and, furthermore, to provide a vehicle in which the wagon-body may be but slightly elevated above the axles, and in which the springs will have great play" (lines 17-26).
Date: February 25, 1890
Creator: Conley, Miles D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lumber-Drier (open access)

Lumber-Drier

Patent for "means adapted to superheat steam and supply it to a drying-chamber, substantially" (lines 28-30).
Date: February 4, 1890
Creator: Hooton, James M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lumber-Kiln (open access)

Lumber-Kiln

Patent for a "kiln proper . . . constructed with special reference to combustion of cinders or sparks, and thereby preventing their escape into the chamber containing the lumber" (lines 7-10)
Date: February 25, 1890
Creator: Anderson, Andrew T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace Carrier. (open access)

Trace Carrier.

Patent for a new and improved trace carrier. This design consists, "with the back-band and its depending loop, of the . . . improved trace-carrier, consisting of the inverted-U-shaped carrier-frame terminating in opposite trace-receiving eyes, and the V-shaped bifurcating tongue, the lower end of which is adapted to engage a link of the trace-chain and the upper branches or bifurcations of which are bent to form eyes, loosely receiving the frame intermediate its terminals and at each side of the loop" (lines 72-82).
Date: February 25, 1890
Creator: Strole, James P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design consists, "with the beam and two or more depending bolts and two or more series of opposite flanged supporting plates mounted on the bolts, of two or more pairs of bifurcated L-shaped opposite hangers mounted in the plates and held rigid by the latter, and side beams, and bolts passing through the side beams and supports and making the side beams adjustable" (lines 4-12).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Walton, Sam Houston
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay Press. (open access)

Hay Press.

Patent for a new and improved baling press. This design consists "[i]n a double-acting baling-press, the combination, with the two followers having the apertured end lugs, of the sliding casting having the curved shoulders, the central aperture, and the apertured end lugs, the top plate having the apertured end lugs and central opening, the drive-wheel having the handle-socket and formed with the tapering opening and the central opening, the central pivot, and the king-bolt" (lines 13-22).
Date: February 4, 1890
Creator: Hill, Abraham J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing Machine. (open access)

Washing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved washing machine. This design consists in "a boiler, a cylinder journaled therein and having closed ends, its outer periphery composed of a series of open troughs arranged in pairs, the troughs in each pair opening toward each other, a series of open-ended funnel-shaped tubes arranged in a line drawn centrally around the periphery of the cylinder, [and] the said tubes extending inwardly from the outer face of the cylinder and having their contracted discharge ends near the center of the cylinder" (lines 22-32).
Date: February 25, 1890
Creator: Rose, Horatio
System: The Portal to Texas History
Scraper. (open access)

Scraper.

Patent for a new and improved road scraper. Prior to this design, "difficulty has been experienced in . . . discharging the dirt from the pan or bowl . . . It is the object of [the] present invention to . . . obviate the difficulty mentioned, and to construct a scraper which will be practically self-dumping . . . the invention consists . . . in a scraper in which the bowl is divided with the rear section hinged at the back in such manner as that when allowed to drop it will dump the contained dirt, and, if desired, arrest the motion of the lower portion of the bowl and cause the same to tilt sufficiently" (lines 16-40).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Rath, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spring Motor. (open access)

Spring Motor.

Patent for a new and improved spring motor. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a motor with a drum attached to one of its shafts . . . the spring which bears upon the stop and which is rigidly secured to the frame at its outer end, the stop being pivoted . . . [and] a rod provided with a cone bearing laterally against said spring for increasing or decreasing the friction of the spring against the drum" (lines 73-84).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Wallace, James T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Saw Jointer. (open access)

Saw Jointer.

Patent for a new and improved saw jointer. This design consists, "with a casing having an opening in the longitudinal center of one of the sides, of a movable block fitted in the casing back of the opening, said block having a groove therein opposite the opening, and an adjustable screw extending through the casing into the block and adapted to regulate the position of the block" (lines 84-91).
Date: February 4, 1890
Creator: Randall, James Edwin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ruler. (open access)

Ruler.

Patent for a new and improved ruler. This design consists in "the combination of the flexible top piece or strip having parallel longitudinal ruling-edges and the separate tapering feet secured to the underside of said strip at suitable distances apart throughout the length of the latter, and with the ruling-edges of the top strip overlapping them" (lines 43-50).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Matthews, Oscar S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Power Device for Baling Presses. (open access)

Power Device for Baling Presses.

Patent for a new and improved power device for baling-presses. This design consists, "with a suitable frame, of a crank-shaft journaled therein, a pitman, and two disks, one loosely and the other rigidly mounted on said shaft and provided, respectively, upon their adjacent faces with a pair of shoulders and a lug, the length of the cut-away portion between said shoulders being greater than the length of said lug, whereby independent movement of the two disks is permitted, and a sweep rigidly attached to the loosely mounted disk" (lines 79-89).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Nott, Henry W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pipe Wrench. (open access)

Pipe Wrench.

Patent for a new and improved pipe wrench. This design consists, "with the stationary jaw provided with a shank and an inclined portion on the shank, of a movable jaw, also provided with a shank, having an inclined portion on it and pivotally connected to the stationary jaw, and a loop pivoted to the stationary jaw and engaging with the shank of the movable jaw, whereby the said two inclined portions are retained in working position" (lines 85-94).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Bartlett, William George & McCoy, John William
System: The Portal to Texas History