Automatic Railway-Gate. (open access)

Automatic Railway-Gate.

Patent for an automatic railway gate that consists of a picket shaft under the rails, cranks between the rails that are connected to the picket shaft, springs holding the shaft, tread rails that run along the rails and join the cranks, and guide blocks along each tread rail.
Date: February 13, 1894
Creator: Warren, Governor D.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Furnace. (open access)

Furnace.

Patent for improvements in furnaces. Patent for "a new and improved design for furnaces for returning smoke and gas to the ash pit" (lines 11-13) including instructions and illustrations. Patent for a new furnace design, including illustrations.
Date: February 7, 1893
Creator: Keene, Milton Walter & Henkle, Louis R.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Boring Artesian Wells. (open access)

Apparatus for Boring Artesian Wells.

Patent for an improved and simple apparatus for boring wells that is easily adjustable. The drill head will stay intact in most drilling situations with this apparatus.
Date: February 28, 1893
Creator: Brown, Frank O.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electrical Fare-Box. (open access)

Electrical Fare-Box.

Patent for device "to improve the illumination and increase the efficiency and subserviency of street-care fare-boxes. To these ends the source of light is located in the interior of the box, instead of being placed in a separate chamber at the outside of the box, as is now done, and electrical agency is utilized to produce the light and also to notify the driver that a passenger requires change and when a fair has been deposited in the box" (lines 8-17).
Date: February 8, 1887
Creator: Crowdus, Walter A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Book Adjuster. (open access)

Book Adjuster.

Patent for a new and improved book-adjuster. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the holder having the horizontal longitudinal recess and the vertical screw-threaded aperture, of the base-piece, the adjusting-screw swiveled at its lower end in the said base-piece, and the spring-catch" (lines 3-8).
Date: February 8, 1887
Creator: Adair, Irvine James
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Current Regulator for Dynamo Electric Machines. (open access)

Current Regulator for Dynamo Electric Machines.

Patent for a new and improved current regulator. This design "pertains to that class of regulators in which the collecting brushes of the commutator are automatically moved around the commutator and caused to occupy different positions relatively to the maximum lines of the magnetic field between the poles and the armature; and it embraces a novel method of controlling the movement of the brushes to compensate for variations in the speed of the machine and regulate the current in accordance with the work to be done" (lines 11-21).
Date: February 14, 1888
Creator: Crowdus, Walter A. & Sutton, Henry M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Artificial Leg. (open access)

Artificial Leg.

Patent for an artificial leg that has an improved ankle joint and a socket for the stump. It is also more comfortable than other artificial legs.
Date: February 12, 1895
Creator: Chapman, Edward
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boiler-Cleaning Compound. (open access)

Boiler-Cleaning Compound.

Patent for a boiler-cleaning compound made up of "an improved compound having sodium hydrate for a base, and having certain subordinate ingredients whereby its efficiency is increased, and whereby the action of the sodium hydrate is so modified that no detriment to the boiler iron will result" (lines 10-16).
Date: February 19, 1895
Creator: Hill, Martin L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Door. (open access)

Car-Door.

Patent for "an improved freight car door so supported that it will not be shaken or jarred off and can be easily opened and closed at all times no matter how heavily loaded the car may be." (Lines 16-20) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: February 26, 1895
Creator: Allen, Thomas C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Waffle-Iron. (open access)

Waffle-Iron.

Patent for a waffle iron that can be operated by placing it on a stove-top. It "consists in a base, a yoke pivoted thereto and swinging in vertical plane, and the molding and cooking irons carried by the yoke" (lines 15-18).
Date: February 14, 1893
Creator: George, Alexander B.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Well-Drilling Apparatus. (open access)

Well-Drilling Apparatus.

Patent for a well-drilling apparatus for boring Artesian and other wells. It is meant to "provide simple, efficient, and durable means for expanding or spreading the reamer-blades after the bit-carrying devices have been lowered sufficiently to arrange the reamer-blades below the plane of the lower end of the tubular drill-rod" (lines 10-17). Water pressure is also used to remove the cuttings from the boring-blades. Sections of cable that suspend and lower drill-bit carrying parts into the drill-rod are supported, and sections of drill-rod can be attached and added to the drill-rod. The method of securing the reamer-blades to the reamer-stock is improved with this patent. The parts fit snugly together and prevent water from getting into the drill-rod.
Date: February 18, 1896
Creator: Horton, Stephen A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lattice. (open access)

Lattice.

Patent for a simple, strong, and economic lattice that is meant for use in jail cells. It allows air and light into the cell, and they are formed with "alternately opposite depressions and elevations for the reception of the bars running at right angles thereto" (lines 12-24). It should have alternating bars of steel and iron.
Date: February 5, 1895
Creator: Hull, William S.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Well Digging Machine. (open access)

Well Digging Machine.

Patent for a new and improved well-digging machine. This design "consists in connecting to the bottom of [a] shaft a gang of plows, which effectually break and cut up the earth, and combing therewith a fixed and inclined shear-blade and detachable earth-receiver, the said shear-blade being located in the rear of the plows, for raising the earth from the motion of the plow, and delivering it automatically into the detachable earth-receiver, which is raised to the surface with its load by means of ropes and pulleys" (lines 27-37).
Date: February 6, 1883
Creator: Chambers, Job C. & Chambers, Silas
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cultivators. (open access)

Improvement in Cultivators.

Patent for a new and useful improvement in cultivators.
Date: February 5, 1878
Creator: Graves, Jefferson M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Grain-Planter. (open access)

Grain-Planter.

Patent for an inexpensive, simple, and durable grain planter that plants large grains like corn, peas, and wheat. The improved machine is perfectly timed and does not crush the seeds.
Date: February 7, 1893
Creator: Yarbrough, Orceneth Fisher
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gas-Compressor. (open access)

Gas-Compressor.

Patent for gas compressors for ice and refrigeration machines, with instructions and illustrations.
Date: March 4, 1891
Creator: Ambrose, Joseph D.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gas-Generator. (open access)

Gas-Generator.

Patent for an apparatus for generating gas from light hydrocarbons. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: February 11, 1896
Creator: Vestal, William B. & Ray, Samuel W.
Object Type: Patent
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
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Shaft-Tug. (open access)

Shaft-Tug.

Patent for an improvement of harness and shaft-tugs by providing a sleeve to fit the tug closely, a bolt to secure the tug and a strap clamps to the shaft; for the purpose of limiting the movement of the tug. Illustration is included.
Date: February 3, 1891
Creator: Davies, Thomas William & Downey, George Marshall
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Recording Ballot-Box. (open access)

Recording Ballot-Box.

Patent for a recording ballot box to "indicate accurately and instantly the result of an election" (line 10-12).
Date: February 10, 1880
Creator: Buck, James G. H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Whip-Holder. (open access)

Whip-Holder.

Patent for a whip holder that locks the end of the whip into the holder, and lap-robes and other similar articles can also be held in the invention so they cannot be stolen.
Date: February 9, 1897
Creator: Reeves, Fountain O.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Power Stand. (open access)

Power Stand.

Patent for a new and improved power-stand. In this design, "a single pulley is mounted upon a stand, the shaft of said pulley bearing at each end, outside of the stand, one part of a friction or other clutch, which may be engaged with or disengaged from the corresponding part of a clutch attached to the shaft of a machine" (lines 13-19).
Date: February 2, 1886
Creator: Hetherington, Johnathan S.
Object Type: Patent
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.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: O-5812 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: O-5812

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Grover Sellers, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Power of Commissioners' Court of Dallas County to purchase automobile for (1) County Judge in lunacy proceedings, (2) Tax assessor and Collector for official business, and (3) Probation Officer for official business.
Date: February 9, 1944
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History