Bag Rack. (open access)

Bag Rack.

Patent for a new and improved bag rack. This design "is to provide a new and improved rack adapted to hold a number of paper bags of different sizes, and also adapted to hold samples of groceries, cards, a ball of twine, advertising books, &c.The invention consists of a bag-rack having at one side a case containing a series of shelves and a transparent front, and of the combination therewith of a superposed twine-case having side compartments" (lines 7-16).
Date: April 14, 1885
Creator: Williams, Robert E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cartridge Belt. (open access)

Cartridge Belt.

Patent for a new and improved cartridge belt. This design "is to provide a new and improved cartridge-belt for holding cartridges securely, the said belt being simple in construction, strong, and durable. The invention consists in the combination of a belt, with a strap held on the same by up-right metal fasteners and forming pockets on the belt. The invention also consists in the combination, with the above belt and strap, of a cord passed transversely through the several pockets, and in other combinations of parts" (lines 11-18).
Date: April 14, 1885
Creator: Beach, Willie P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Door Check. (open access)

Door Check.

Patent for a new and improved door check. This design "consists in a disk pivoted on a plate and provided with a notch for receiving the corner of the door, and with a series of teeth with which a pawl engages for locking the disk in place after it has been adjusted" (lines 11-15).
Date: April 14, 1885
Creator: Callaway, James William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton and Corn Planter. (open access)

Cotton and Corn Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists "[i]n combination with the hopper having its front wall inclined and formed with a guide-groove, the inner wall of which is cut out, the belt having its side edges working in the groove, and having hooks attached to the same between the side edges, said hooks projecting through the cut-out portion of the groove, so as to have free communication with the seed in the hopper" (lines 88-96).
Date: April 21, 1885
Creator: Easley, Levi
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bed Bottom. (open access)

Bed Bottom.

Patent for a new and improved bed bottom. This design "consists in a spring-bed formed of two U-shaped spring-rods or frames formed by the rods, which frames have their end pieces crossed and secured at their free ends in the opposite ends of slates. To the longitudinal pieces of the spring-frames the side edges of a piece of canvas are secured, and spiral springs are secured on the slats below the canvas" (lines 11-19).
Date: April 21, 1885
Creator: Bentley, Travis C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling Press. (open access)

Baling Press.

Patent for improvements to press for making bales of hay.
Date: April 21, 1885
Creator: Chidester, John E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Picker's Sack. (open access)

Cotton Picker's Sack.

Patent for a new and improved sack for cotton pickers. This design "is to improve that class of sacks which are used by cotton-pickers and form a receptacle for cotton after it has been culled from the bolls, and in which it is carried to the gin. These sacks as now made are packed with cotton so as to be unwieldy, difficult to manipulate, and unhandy to empty, thus necessitating a great deal of labor and much waste of time" (lines 7-15).
Date: April 21, 1885
Creator: Dye, Charles Headen
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churning Device. (open access)

Churning Device.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists "[i]n a churning device, the combination, with a base and a spring-bar held therein, of a cross-bar hinged to the said base and a churn-carrying bar secured to the said hinged and spring-bars" (lines 69-73).
Date: April 21, 1885
Creator: Wood, Sylvanus B.; Wood, Hervey & Wiley, Thomas Wilson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Cleaner. (open access)

Cotton-Cleaner.

Patent for a machine "for the purpose of cleaning the cotton before it is ginned, and thus free it from foreign substances and produce a better grade of cotton than that which is ginned without being previously cleaned" (lines 15-19).
Date: April 28, 1885
Creator: Tucker, Stephen
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Buncher. (open access)

Cotton-Buncher.

Patent for an implement to thin and bunch young cotton plants, including illustrations.
Date: April 28, 1885
Creator: Tynes, Samuel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Indicator for Merchandise. (open access)

Indicator for Merchandise.

Patent for a new and improved advertising sign. This design "relates to apparatus or devices for marking or indicating upon the outside of boxes or drawers the names and prices of the merchandise or other articles contained therein; and it consists in the improved construction and combination of parts of a device of the above-mentioned class" (lines 23-29).
Date: April 7, 1885
Creator: Brown, Sampson Harvey
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire stretcher. This design "relates to that class of wire stretchers or tighteners which are adapted to be applied upon the strands of wire forming a fence, and are used to tighten or stretch the same by winding the strand about one end of the device and engaging the other end of the latter with the strand" ( lines 11-17).
Date: April 21, 1885
Creator: Irvine, John B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window Screen Holder. (open access)

Window Screen Holder.

Patent for a new and improved window-screen holder. This design "consists in the combination, with a window-frame and a window-screen held in the same, of wires secured on the casing of the frame and having bends near their upper ends, and of hook-eyes held on the sides of the screen-frame and surrounding the wires. The invention also consists in a plate pivoted to the under side of the bottom rail of the screen-frame for covering a recess formed in the under edge and inner side of the said rail or piece" (lines 13-23).
Date: April 21, 1885
Creator: Barlow, Henry C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ventilating Cover. (open access)

Ventilating Cover.

Patent for a new and improved ventilating cover. This design "consists in the detailed construction of the same . . . whereby the contents of . . . vessels are protected from dust, insects, and all kinds of impurity, and at the same time are thoroughly ventilated by free communication with the atmosphere, and so that any gases arising from the contents of said vessels will not be confined with the contents, but will pass off through the ventilating-cover into the surrounding air" (lines 16-26).
Date: April 28, 1885
Creator: Smith, Ralph Julius
System: The Portal to Texas History
Meat-Tenderer (open access)

Meat-Tenderer

Patent for an improved meat tenderer granted to Francis W. Carter. Improvements include not tearing the meat and self-cleaning upon each rotation.
Date: April 14, 1885
Creator: Carter, Francis W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Music Holder. (open access)

Music Holder.

Patent for a new and improved sheet-music holder. This design consists "[i]n a music-holder, the combination of the base-board, the tension arms, the frictional spiral-swings, the plates perforated to receive the screw, and having the countersunk perforation to receive the knots in the ends of the elastic cords, and the knot receiver" (lines 50-55).
Date: April 28, 1885
Creator: Frampton, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Force Pump. (open access)

Rotary Force Pump.

Patent for a new and improved rotary force-pump. This design "consists in a rotary force-pump constructed with a tubular standard provided with one or more flexible tubes having interior half-tubes and an interior cylinder mounted upon a crank-shaft and provided with adjustable bars carrying rollers whereby a liquid can be raised by the successive action of the said rollers upon the said flexible tubes" (lines 22-29).
Date: April 14, 1885
Creator: Serdinko, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence. (open access)

Fence.

Patent for a new and improved fence. This design consists in "[t]he combination of upright posts having top cross-pieces provided with depending hooks at their ends, hooks pivoted at the bottom portion of the posts and extending laterally in opposite directions, and the panels comprising a series of longitudinal rails, the lower one of which is provided with staples at its ends, and provided with wire strands engaging the ends of the rails and extending longitudinally above the series of rails, the strands being engaged with the hooks upon the cross-pieces" (lines 83-94).
Date: April 7, 1885
Creator: Tillman, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hearth Guard or Shield. (open access)

Hearth Guard or Shield.

Patent for a new and improved fireplace cover. This design consists in a "hearth guard or shield, the same consisting of a rectangular plate of sheet metal cut out to form the inside openings of different size, and bent at right angles at the point where the smaller opening in the vertical or upright part opens into the larger opening in the horizontal part, thereby forming projections or inside shoulders having notches adapted to be bent to fit the sides of the grate" (lines 64-73).
Date: April 7, 1885
Creator: Sanders, William Jefferson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter. (open access)

Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the plow-beam having the hopper provided with two seed-compartments and a discharge compartment, of the oscillating levers fulcrumed in hangers beneath the plow-beam, the rods provided with fixed cups, and the rods provided with the hinged cups, and the cranked wheel for operating the levers" (lines 10-17).
Date: April 14, 1885
Creator: Kimbro, Jerrymirah Haden & Kimbro, John Alburt
System: The Portal to Texas History