Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for improvements in wire-stretchers by using a combination of winding-drum, a ratchet upon the drum and wire clutches for engagement with a wire to be stretched. Illustration is included.
Date: April 1, 1902
Creator: Walls, Joseph A. & Boyter, Robert L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "relates to car-couplings, and more especially to that part or portion of the mechanism usually termed 'link-lifters;' and the object of the invention is to provide means whereby the link can be lifted and caused to enter the draw-head of an approaching car by the operator when standing alongside the stationary car" (lines 7-14).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Small, Henry
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopper. (open access)

Cotton Chopper.

Patent for a new and improved cotton chopper. This design consists in "the combination, with the axle, of the U-frame having bearings at its ends for the axle and a rearwardly-disposed sleeve, a shaft mounted in the sleeve and projecting beyond the same at each of its ends and provided with choppers at its rear end and a gear at its front end, a master-gear splined upon the axle and having a grooved hub, and a pivoted yoke terminating in the hub and a lever for operating the same to throw the gear into contact with that upon the shaft" (lines 1-12).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Stanford, Jeff Hillon
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Crab and Fish Trap. (open access)

Crab and Fish Trap.

Patent for a new and improved seafood trap. This design consists in "a net or trap for crabs or fish, which comprises flat frame-sections hinged together, netting attached to said sections, and a rod or bar extending across said sections and engaging with suitable devices thereon for holding said sections partly extended until the hinged sides strike bottom and thereby release the rod or bar" (lines 83-90).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Franklin, Robert M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electro Medical Belt. (open access)

Electro Medical Belt.

Patent for a new and improved electro-medical belt. This design "consists in a belt or support constructed of multiple-ply electro-conductive belting, which [the design] make[s] by inserting a conductor or conductors between the folds of a multiple-ply band with suitable contact-points at the surface, a sling supported by and movable on the belt for carrying the electric generator, also constructed of the electro-conductive belting, and having detachable connectors between its contact points and those of the belt-contact plates, consisting of disks or plates provided with tongues" (lines 18-29).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Shelton, William J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Elevated Railway, &c (open access)

Elevated Railway, &c

Patent for improvements "to provide an improved track having provisions for readily tightening the track, each span or section being tightened by means of a single tightening device arranged, preferably. . . second, to provide an improved truck with guiding rollers or pulleys, the weight of the truck being carried upon yielding supports; third, a simple and improved swivel or turning device or connection between the car and track, whereby the turning of curves is more easily accomplished with a minimum of friction; fourth, to so mount the truck upon the track that displacement or removal thereof sidewise is impossible fifth, to provide an improved switch; sixth, to provide for a road-bed upon a span in crossing a stream or other analogous obstruction" (lines 14-31).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Turner, Ephraim M. & Taylor, James P.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse Collar Fastener. (open access)

Horse Collar Fastener.

Patent for a new and improved horse-collar fastener. This design "relates to certain new and useful improvements in horse-collar fastenings of that class designed to lock the two sides of the horse-collar and to permit of the ready separation thereof to facilitate the placing and removal of the collar when desired; and it has for its object to provide a simple and cheap device of this character wherein provision shall be made for the retention of the lever against the catch, and also means for preventing the drawing of the screws" (lines 15-26).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Bomar, Thomas B.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Riveting Machine. (open access)

Riveting Machine.

Patent for a new and improved riveting-machine. This design consists "of the upright frame having the cross-head in the upper front part thereof, the vertical driving rods . . . adapted to move in said cross-head, the upright with perforated top and spring-actuated sleeve attached to the frame below the rod, the separable rivet-holder attached to said rod by the arms, the frame, and the sleeve . . . the upright with solid top attached to the frame below the rod, and means, as pivoted levers . . . at the top of the machine, connecting-rods . . . and treadle-levers . . . for actuating the driving-rods" (lines 60-74).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Carl, Reinhold A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Saddle Jack. (open access)

Saddle Jack.

Patent for a new and improved saddle-jack. This design consists in "the combination, with a support, of a post having a hollow trunnion and carrying a saddle-tree support on its upper end, and a bolt passing through the hollow trunnion and carrying hooks on its upper end for engaging a saddle-tree to hold it on its support" (lines 84-90).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Garrett, Richard
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tire Adjuster. (open access)

Tire Adjuster.

Patent for a new and improved wheel adjuster. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the terminal tire-lugs having right and left screw-threaded sockets, of a right and left screw-stem, a turning block of substantially the same cross-section as the rim of the wheel, connected to the screw-stem so as to slide thereon but revolve rigidly together, and means . . . for locking the turning block to the terminal lugs" (lines 8-16).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Surratt, George
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water-Elevator (open access)

Water-Elevator

Patent for "an apparatus for use in connection with a well, whereby the well-bucket will be automatically elevated and emptied into a trough by the weight of the cattle that may come to the well to drink, the apparatus be ing particularly designed for use in the Western countries, where large numbers of cattle come to each well in herds" (lines 16-23).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Campbell, George W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windlass. (open access)

Windlass.

Patent for a new and improved windlass. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a frame having the cross-bars near its lower and upper ends, the windlass-shaft journaled in the side pieces of the frame and having the balance-wheels and the pinion, the operating-gears mounted in one side of the frame and one of said gears meshing with said pinion, an upright mounted upon the lower front cross-piece of the frame and having a guide-pulley at its upper end, arms extending laterally from said upright, and a guide-roller journaled in said arms" (lines 11-21).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Bridges, Thomas H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Seed Planter and Fertilizer Distributer (open access)

Combined Seed Planter and Fertilizer Distributer

Patent for device for planting, fertilizing, and cultivating seed and grain.
Date: April 1, 1884
Creator: Pickle, William Chesley
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Portable Saw Mill. (open access)

Portable Saw Mill.

Patent for a new and improved portable saw mill. This design "is to produce a portable saw-mill of such cheap and economical plan as can be built and repaired in almost any locality. The invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of the parts" (lines 12-17).
Date: April 1, 1884
Creator: Rodgers, William Crittington
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spring-Bottom Camp-Bed (open access)

Spring-Bottom Camp-Bed

Patent for an improved, less expensive, and easier to use camp bed granted to William Green Holden.
Date: April 1, 1884
Creator: Holden, William Green
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cart-Saddle (open access)

Cart-Saddle

Patent for a more animal-friendly saddle to attach a horse to a cart by adjusting the way the girth is handled as the cart is loaded.
Date: April 1, 1879
Creator: Franks, Ely Anderson
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Piano-Forte Actions. (open access)

Improvement in Piano-Forte Actions.

Patent for a new piano-forte action made of sheet-metal, including illustrations.
Date: April 1, 1879
Creator: Roedern, George O. V.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Manifold-Writing Tablet. (open access)

Manifold-Writing Tablet.

Patent for writing platform which allows for the creation of carbon copies.
Date: April 1, 1879
Creator: Morris, Robert, C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a plow designed with an implement to allow user to remove excess dirt from the blade as the plow is being used.
Date: April 1, 1879
Creator: Dyer, Charles V.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Ant Traps (open access)

Improvement in Ant Traps

Patent for the improvement of Ant traps, including to illustrated and labeled figures.
Date: April 1, 1873
Creator: Ames, Theodore G.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History