Improvement in Cotton-Gins. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Gins.

Patent for the improvement of the cotton-gin by the arrangement of two cylindrical brushes and rollers to reduce damaging the staple of the cotton, illustrations included.
Date: April 19, 1859
Creator: Gottheil, Edward
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blind Stop. (open access)

Blind Stop.

Patent for a new and improved blind-stop. This design is "to provide a cheap and simple device designed to be secured to a window-casing and be interposed between any two adjacent pivoted slats, and thus support the same and the series in an open position and against accidental closing by their own weight or by the wind" (lines 9-16). It consists in the "holder for slats of blinds, consisting of a spring-metal strip bent at its center to form an eye and opposite terminals, the latter being adapted to be interposed between two adjacent slats, and the ends of the terminals oppositely bent" (lines 72-77).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Deats, Wallen S. & Brown, Daniel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blank Book. (open access)

Blank Book.

Patent for a new and improved blank book. This design "is an improvement upon the Megee-Miller blank book which adapts it for use of type-writers and others requiring one whose sheets or leaves may be readily detached and again secured together after having been written or printed. The sheets are detachably connected with a binding-strip by means of a cord or cords" (lines 7-14).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Burris, James W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Aerial Ship (open access)

Aerial Ship

Patent for "a ship for navigating the air, which shall be almost or quite as easily governed and controlled as regards its course of travel, irrespective of the direction of the wind and in other respects, as a ship provided with propelling means, used to sail in or through the water" (lines 9-15).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Riddle, William Nelson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Door Fastening. (open access)

Car Door Fastening.

Patent for a new and improved car-door fastening. This design "consists in a novel construction and arrangement of a staple, a hook-hasp, key, and a key-plate, whereby several advantages are obtained . . . for securing the sliding doors of box-cars and other railway-cars" (lines 8-14).
Date: April 19, 1881
Creator: Alexander, Francis Marion
System: The Portal to Texas History
Caster. (open access)

Caster.

Patent for an improved design for casters, otherwise known as "rollers for bedsteads and the like" (lines 15-16), including illustrations.
Date: April 19, 1881
Creator: Custer, George
System: The Portal to Texas History
Canceling Stamp. (open access)

Canceling Stamp.

Patent for a new and improved stamp canceler. This design utilizes a washer, flanges, and vertical slots "for the purpose of adjusting the roughened face of the head . . . so that the correct operation of the face is insured" (65-68). This represents an improvement over previous stamp cancelers.
Date: April 19, 1881
Creator: Grothaus, Frederick E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Walking Seed-Planter (open access)

Walking Seed-Planter

Patent for an improved walking seed-planter.
Date: April 19, 1881
Creator: Thomas, Joseph H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Decorticating Jute, Ramie, and Other Fibrous Plants (open access)

Machine for Decorticating Jute, Ramie, and Other Fibrous Plants

Patent for "a machine for separating the valuable fibrous portions of the stems of the plants of the jute, ramie, flax, and hemp, and like varieties from refuse matter and preparing the same for use with the least possible injury and waste" (lines 10-15).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Fremery, Felix B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Compressor and Discharging Mechanism for Grain-Binders (open access)

Compressor and Discharging Mechanism for Grain-Binders

Patent for "improvements in compressing and discharging mechanism and a starting mechanism for grain-binders constructed on an ordinary harvester-platform, so as to adapt the well-known Appleby type of binders to be used on an ordinary harvester-platform, the sheaf to be formed direct on the platform, thus adapting the above mentioned cord-tying mechanism to be used in connection with the conveyer invented by myself and patented February 17, 1891, No. 446,473" (lines 12-23).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Schubert, George
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tool for Tightening Wheel Tires. (open access)

Tool for Tightening Wheel Tires.

Patent for a new and improved tire tightener. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a tubular member having having one end beveled and provided with a transverse hole and provided at its other end with an interiorly-arranged annular shoulder, a set-screw passing through the tubular member and arranged near the shoulder, a nut resting on the tubular member and provided with an extension projecting into the same and bearing on the shoulder and provided with an annular groove receiving the set-screw, and a screw passing through the nut into the tubular member" (lines 28-39).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Hamblen, William Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace Iron. (open access)

Trace Iron.

Patent for a new and improved trace-iron. This design "is to provide a new and improved trace-iron which is simple and durable in construction and arranged to readily connect with the end of the trace without the employment of rivets and which can be readily attached to or detached from the hame. The invention consists of two leaves pivotally-connected with each other and adapted to fold one on the other, one leaf being provided with a hook passing through an aperture in the other leaf and adapted to engage the trace" (lines 7-19).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Dankworth, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock. (open access)

Nut Lock.

Patent for a new and improved nut lock. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the bolt, the nut having a dovetailed groove across its face, of uniform width throughout its length, and a recess at one side of said groove, and a key having tapered sides and sliding into the dovetailed groove from one side of the nut, said key having a pointed end to engage the bolt and also provided with a projecting part to be bent over into engagement with the recess in the nut" (lines 69-78).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Robinson, William D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stove Pipe Damper. (open access)

Stove Pipe Damper.

Patent for a new and improved stove-pipe damper. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a damper-blade with a spindle rigidly attached thereto and having at one end a cylindrical pivot projecting beyond the periphery of the blade, and at the opposite end a screw projecting beyond said periphery, of a supporting-ring in which the projecting ends of said spindle are journaled, the bearing of the cylindrical end of said spindle being in an inwardly-bent portion of said supporting-ring" (lines 50-59).
Date: April 19, 1887
Creator: Lederle, Edward Emil
System: The Portal to Texas History
Feed Trough. (open access)

Feed Trough.

Patent for a new and improved feed trough. This design "is to provide a portable feed rack and trough adapted to hold a quantity of feed and to discharge the same as is found necessary" (lines 10-13). It consists in "a platform mounted on runners and provided at its sides with troughs, bins arranged at the ends of the platforms and provided at the lower ends of their sides with openings" (lines 99-102). It further consists in "slides arranged in . . . recesses and adapted to vary the size of said openings, strips arranged on the outer edges of the inclined bars, and set-screws connecting the strips" (lines 3-7).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Anderson, John Stow
System: The Portal to Texas History
Farm and Garden Implement. (open access)

Farm and Garden Implement.

Patent for a new and improved tool rack. This design "consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, whereby the device may hold implements of various kinds—such as the hoe, rake, a fork, shovel-blade, a trowel, and similar hand-tools—by simply detaching one tool from the holder and inserting another" (lines 12-18).
Date: April 19, 1887
Creator: Hewitt, Ditus Pinson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Saddle Bags (open access)

Saddle Bags

Patent for improvements in saddle bags
Date: April 19, 1881
Creator: Elliot, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pen or Pencil Holder. (open access)

Pen or Pencil Holder.

Patent for a new and improved pen or pencil holder. This design obviates "many of the serious objections to the ordinary pen-holder . . . among which may be mentioned cramp and that which is known as 'writer's paralysis.' In addition to this the use of this device will save many tedious hours to the child who is learning to write, as by its use no time will be wasted in teaching the child how to hold his [or her] pen or pencil" (lines 69-77).
Date: April 19, 1887
Creator: Merrick, Sarah J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Peg for Violins. (open access)

Peg for Violins.

Patent for a new and improved violin peg. This design "has for its object to dispense with the usual string-aperture in the peg and to so construct the peg that a string may be expeditiously, conveniently, and securely attached thereto and as readily and conveniently removed therefrom, as desired, and to accomplish these objects without disfiguring the peg" (lines 11-18).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Rowe, George H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Game Apparatus. (open access)

Game Apparatus.

Patent for a new and improved game. This design "relates to that class of game apparatus in which tilting levers or arms located at the end of an alley or board and bearing numerals designating their value in the game are designed to be struck by balls, so as to displace or change the position of said levers. The invention consists in the construction and combination of the parts forming the apparatus" (lines 14-22).
Date: April 19, 1881
Creator: Pittman, William D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Battery. (open access)

Electric Battery.

Patent for a new and improved electric battery. This design consists "[i]n an electric generator, a receptacle for steam, and means for admitting steam thereto, in combination with electrodes consisting of two parallel disks suspended within said steam-receptacle, electrodes of opposite polarity to the aforesaid electrodes arranged between the disks of the first-named electrodes, a shaft extending through the said receptacle upon which the latter electrodes are mounted, and means for rotating the said shaft" (lines 41-50).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Emley, James Edward
System: The Portal to Texas History
Docket, Record, or Similar Book (open access)

Docket, Record, or Similar Book

Patent for a docket, record or similar book that places all necessary material together for recording events, adjusting the space for each title head so that it is sufficient, easing the strain on accountants who need to continue entries, and also make sure the book is easy and efficient to make.
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Fry, Edwin Crittenden
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fruit Jar. (open access)

Fruit Jar.

Patent for a new and improved fruit jar. This design consists, "with a jar having an inwardly-curved upper end and a removable bottom portion, of a series of projections at the base of the said curved portion, and a perforated plate having notches formed in its periphery which register with the said projections which when turned rest thereon" (lines 3-10).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Vogt, August
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Chopper (open access)

Cotton-Chopper

Patent for "a cheap and simple machine adapted to chop or hoe cotton and simultaneously plow or hill the same; furthermore, to adapt the chopper to form stands composed of any number of plants and at any distance apart, and, finally, to provide means for raising and lowering the plows out of and into operative position and throwing the chopping mechanism into and out of gear, which means are controlled in a convenient manner by the driver or operator" (lines 10-20).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Balshaw, David
System: The Portal to Texas History