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
Boot and Shoe Indicator. (open access)

Boot and Shoe Indicator.

Patent for a new and improved boot and shoe display. This design "is to provide an indicator for the use of retail dealers in boots and shoes, or other merchandise and wares, by which apparatus the stock can be kept with great accuracy and facility. To that end . . . an indicating-plate with slides [is included], which is to be attached upon the boxes, shelves, drawers, or other receptacles for the goods, as an indicator for showing what goods are contained in the receptacle" (lines 8-17).
Date: April 3, 1883
Creator: Woodlief, George T. & Dunn, George Roe.
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 "comprises a draw-head slotted from top to bottom, and having at its forward end an incline, a peculiar latch to engage automatically with the slot in the draw-head, a pivoted weight for holding the latch in position, and a lever pivoted in the draw-head and operated from the outside for throwing up the latch and uncoupling the car" (lines 15-22).
Date: April 3, 1883
Creator: Coburn, Daniel W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Blacking Brush and Blacking Box Holder. (open access)

Combined Blacking Brush and Blacking Box Holder.

Patent for a new and improved combination blacking brush and blacking box holder. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a blacking brush, of a swinging frame held on the back of the brush, and of devices for holding a blacking-box loosely, so as to be adapted to be rotated in the said swinging frame" (lines 82-86).
Date: April 3, 1883
Creator: Wood, Edmund Lorenzo
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Cultivator and Chopper. (open access)

Cotton Cultivator and Chopper.

Patent for a cotton cultivator and chopper, with illustrations. The "invention pertains to that class of machines which are designed and employed for thinning out and cultivating rows of cotton plants" (lines 15-18).
Date: April 3, 1883
Creator: McCarty, Eugene
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Gin Feeder. (open access)

Cotton Gin Feeder.

Patent for a new and improved feeder for cotton gins. This design consists in "the combination, with the driving mechanism, of the alternating sections, the shaft or rod, loop-rods and staples, the crank-shaft, and hooked rods . . . [and] of the adjustable comb, the crank-shaft, hinge-connection, arm, and cross-bar" (lines 3-12).
Date: April 3, 1883
Creator: Nix, Manning Lafayette
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator (open access)

Cultivator

Patent for "new and useful improvements in Plows and Cultivators" (lines 5-6), with illustrations.
Date: April 3, 1883
Creator: Nutting, James H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Shepherd's Crook. (open access)

Shepherd's Crook.

Patent for a new and improved shepherd's crook. This design "has relation to shepherd's crooks; and it consists in the construction and novel arrangement of the tapering and balanced staff, the slender neck near the head or crook, the broad bearings of the crook, and the guard-knob on the end thereof" (lines 16-21).
Date: April 3, 1883
Creator: Deland, Edward E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wind Engine. (open access)

Wind Engine.

Patent for a new and improved wind engine. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a suitable frame, of the shaft, having wind wheel or drum, provided with rods having wings and arms or cranks, and laterally projecting brackets, having bell-crank levers, loaded at their lower ends, the connecting rods, sleeve[s], washer, spring, and . . . having pivoted rods connecting said sleeves with the arms" (lines 94-102).
Date: April 3, 1883
Creator: Fletcher, George Ephraim
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Machines for Tightening Iron Bands on Bales. (open access)

Improvement in Machines for Tightening Iron Bands on Bales.

Patent for an apparatus that consists of "a series of metal bars to be inserted between what is known as the 'channel bars or teeth,' both on the upper and lower platens of a compress used for compressing cotton-bales, which bars thus inserted shall be so attached to the channel-bars that, by the force of springs, the said bars will be kept below the surface of the teeth on the platens, allowing ample space to insert the iron bands to be used in tying the bales, in the same manner as they are now universally inserted." (Lines 13-23) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 3, 1877
Creator: Quin, Michael
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Mosquito-Net Frames. (open access)

Improvement in Mosquito-Net Frames.

Patent for "mosquito-net frames which are made adjustable, so that they may be extended over the bed or folded compactly, according to the requirements of use." (Lines 8-11) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 3, 1877
Creator: Volle, Johann F.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Seed Planters. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Seed Planters.

Patent for an improvement in cotton-seed planters using a combination of an adjustable agitator and a movable self-adjusting stirrer, including illustration.
Date: April 3, 1860
Creator: Sweeny, Samuel P.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Plows. (open access)

Improvement in Plows.

Patent for the improvement of the Rotary-Disk Cutters for plows that enable it to swivel and be supported by guides, including illustration.
Date: April 3, 1855
Creator: Hall, Thomas J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History