Combined Plow and Harrow. (open access)

Combined Plow and Harrow.

Patent for a simple, inexpensive, and effective combined plow and harrow that can be used as a plow and harrow at the same time, or the operator can detach one and only use the other. The machine can be adjusted to better suit different types of soil.
Date: April 18, 1893
Creator: Lee, George W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ventilator. (open access)

Ventilator.

Patent for a new and improved ventilator. This design consists in "[t]he improved combined flue and ventilator . . . consisting of an outer casing surmounted by a cap and provided with a central flue, funnels hinged to the outer casing and provided with flexible connections for elevating the same, and means for conducting the air downward from said funnels" (lines 8-15).
Date: April 27, 1886
Creator: Shanley, Michael H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Milk Cooler. (open access)

Milk Cooler.

Patent for a new and improved milk cooler. This design "has relation to that class of devices for keeping vessels containing milk or other fluids cool, in which water is drawn by capillary action from a receptacle onto a cloth wrapped around the vessel, cooling the vessel and its contents by evaporation; and it consists in the improved construction and combination of parts of such a device, and more particularly to the top of the can and the cover for the same" (lines 21-30).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Jowell, George Ratcliff
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ice-Cream Freezer. (open access)

Ice-Cream Freezer.

Patent for an ice-cream freezer that "effectually and with slight labor freez[es] cream; to be so constructed as to freeze the cream into sticks of merchantable size and adapted for retail trade; and, furthermore, to provide for a simultaneous manufacture of ice, so that as the cream is frozen water may be congealed forming ice that may be subsequently employed in the freezer or otherwise" (lines 10-18).
Date: April 3, 1894
Creator: Skipper, James M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Show-Case (open access)

Show-Case

Patent for new and useful improvements to show cases.
Date: April 30, 1889
Creator: Fain, Emmet C. & Poston, George C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse Detacher. (open access)

Horse Detacher.

Patent for a new and improved horse detacher. This design "consists in two longitudinally-movable rods or bolts which are attached to the front axle and are adapted to engage the eyes of the thill-clips; the levers connected at their lower ends to the adjacent ends of the said rods or bolts; a ring embracing and adapted to slide on the upper arms of the said levers whereby they may be drawn together to disengage the outer ends of the rods or bolts from the thill-clips; the band or strap connected to the said ring, and means whereby the said strap may be drawn by the driver of the vehicle" (lines 13-25).
Date: April 24, 1888
Creator: McMorries, James
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse-Detacher. (open access)

Horse-Detacher.

Patent for improvements in devices of attachments for wagons or similar wheeled vehicles, by improving “the attachment to the brake rod or shaft of the wagon, connected also with the bolts which secure the shafts or pole in the clips on the wagon-axle, by means of which the brake-shaft may be rocked so as to apply the brakes and stop the wagon, hold the shafts or pole, and thus disconnect them from the wagon.” (Lines 16-22) Illustration is included.
Date: April 28, 1891
Creator: McMorries, James
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
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
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for a tool to stretch telephone wire, barb wire, and wire fencing. The tool connects to and holds in place a wire using a lock. While locked in place, the wire is stretched without the need of chains.
Date: April 28, 1914
Creator: Armstrong, Henry H. & Armstrong, H. H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fly-Trap. (open access)

Fly-Trap.

Patent for a funnel-shaped fly trap for catching flies and other insects by either entrapment or drowning. Includes instructions and an illustration.
Date: April 7, 1914
Creator: Raifsnider, Alfred
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Occurrence, Availability and Chemical Quality of Ground Water in the Cretaceous Aquifers of North-Central Texas: Volume 1 (open access)

Occurrence, Availability and Chemical Quality of Ground Water in the Cretaceous Aquifers of North-Central Texas: Volume 1

Report on the quality and availability of ground water in the cretaceous aquifers of north-central Texas. Includes maps, hydrographs, rainfall data, pumpage, and more.
Date: April 1982
Creator: Nordstrom, Phillip L.
Object Type: Report
System: The Portal to Texas History