Texas Hill Country Trail Region: Exploring the Mystique of Central Texas (open access)

Texas Hill Country Trail Region: Exploring the Mystique of Central Texas

Travel guide for the various cultural and historical sites along the Texas Hill Country Trail in Central Texas.
Date: April 2010
Creator: Texas Historical Commission
Object Type: Pamphlet
System: The Portal to Texas History
Leaf for Books (open access)

Leaf for Books

Patent for certain improvements in leaves for books, specifically hotel registers and similar, that materially prolong the life of the leaf.
Date: April 23, 1918
Creator: Moore, William R.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Marking Attachment for Planters. (open access)

Marking Attachment for Planters.

Patent for an attachment for agricultural machines, such as planters and cultivators, that marks off the distance between rows. The attachment consists of a marker that projects laterally from the ground to form a guide for the driver of the machine.
Date: April 8, 1913
Creator: Hallenbeck, Garrett L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay-Rack. (open access)

Hay-Rack.

Patent for a hay rack, which allows animals to feed on the hay while it on the rack from all sides and underneath it.
Date: April 7, 1908
Creator: Jackson, Peter C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mechanical Movement. (open access)

Mechanical Movement.

Patent for improvements in mechanical movements by using cranks and wrist pins to “converting rotary motion, like that of a wheel or pulley, into reciprocating motion.” (Lines 12-14) Illustration is included.
Date: April 8, 1902
Creator: McKean, Frank
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Manure Distributer. (open access)

Manure Distributer.

Patent for a new and improved fertilizer distributor. This design consists in "the rotating shaft having the stirring apparatus, the wheels loosely mounted on the said shaft, the detent to engage the shaft and prevent it from rotating, and the clutch mechanism to secure one of the wheels to the shaft" (lines 5-10).
Date: April 12, 1887
Creator: Harrell, Solomon James
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