Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for automatic car-coupling for passenger and freight cars.
Date: April 26, 1887
Creator: Ferguson, George Jones
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton or Hay Press. (open access)

Cotton or Hay Press.

Patent for a new and improved baling-press. This design consists in "[a] duplex cotton or other press comprising connected pressing-boxes, each having a loose lower platen and platen-supports on its sides, devices . . . for raising said lower platens, a truck for supporting said boxes, traveling wheels or rollers journaled to said truck and having bevel or V-shaped treads or peripheries, a track mounted upon suitable supports and having a V-shaped or recessed top face to receive and guide said wheels or rollers during the reciprocatory movements of said truck and the thereto-connected boxes" (lines 15-27).
Date: April 26, 1887
Creator: Berry, William Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dental Chair. (open access)

Dental Chair.

Patent for a dental chair improvement.
Date: April 26, 1887
Creator: Stiles, Edmund P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harness-Saddle (open access)

Harness-Saddle

Patent for the "construction and combination of devices" (line 10) that serve as "an improvement in harness-saddles" (lines 8-9) for horses, with illustrations.
Date: April 26, 1887
Creator: Goodman, William Dave & Tuttle, Frank
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hypodermic Syringe. (open access)

Hypodermic Syringe.

Patent for a new and improved hypodermic syringe. This design consists in "the combination of a barrel, a sleeve secured to said barrel and having a diaphragm adapted to close the end of the barrel, a needle-carrier having a cylindrical projection working in the sleeve, an outlet-tube secured to the needle-carrier and extending through the diaphragm in the sleeve, and a coiled spring arranged around said tube within the cylindrical projection of the needle-carrier" (lines 71-80).
Date: April 26, 1887
Creator: Dunbar, Addison
System: The Portal to Texas History
Toy Race-Course. (open access)

Toy Race-Course.

Patent for toy race-course.
Date: April 26, 1887
Creator: Cordray, Henry A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Tightener. (open access)

Wire Tightener.

Patent for a new and improved wire tightener. This design consists in "the combination of the disks or sections connected by the central bar, the oppositely-pointing lever-arms, the transverse pin fitting into corresponding openings in the disks or sections on one side of the central bar, the locking-pin adapted to fit into any two corresponding openings of the concentric series of openings made in the disks, and a rope or similar device connecting the wire to be stretched with the disks and their connections" (lines 93-103).
Date: April 26, 1887
Creator: Boyd, James W.
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
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
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
Process of Curing Moss (open access)

Process of Curing Moss

Patent for invention relates to new and improved process of curing Spanish moss object of the invention being to shorten the time here to fore deemed necessary to properly cure the moss, second to obtain a larger percentage of higher grades of fiber will not be injured but will appear in a sound healthy condition, and fourth to so treat the moss that any desired grade of fiber may be obtained. [5-15]
Date: April 17, 1887
Creator: Lottman, Charles F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Press (open access)

Cotton Press

Patent for an improved cotton press that construct a cotton-press in which the cotton will be compressed by a continuous operation as it is received from the cotton-gin (line 21-24), the device “consists of two series of rollers arranged in a circle” (line 26).
Date: April 16, 1887
Creator: Brady, Lewis Peter & Brady, WIlliam
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
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam Boiler Feeder (open access)

Steam Boiler Feeder

Patent for improvments in automatic steam-boiler feeders
Date: April 7, 1887
Creator: Kelly, George A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Recutting Files. (open access)

Apparatus for Recutting Files.

Patent for a new and improved file re-cutter. This design consists "[i]n an apparatus for recutting files by electro-chemical action, the dialectric plates and the carbon plates having their upper ends attached to said non-conducting plates, whereby the files to be recut are disposed between the carbon plates when in the solution" (lines 76-82).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Emley, James E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Brake. (open access)

Car Brake.

Patent for a new and improved car-brake. This design consists in "brake-shoes [which] are jointed by pivots to brake-blocks of the usual form, which are suspended from the truck-timbers by suitable suspending links or clevises, so that they may have a free longitudinal movement when acted upon by the actuating mechanism, and said blocks and brake-shoes are separated by transverse brake-bars, in order that they may be kept truly in-line with the car-wheels at all times" (lines 16-25).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Greer, John William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupler. (open access)

Car-Coupler.

Patent for a car-coupler, with illustrations. The purpose of this patent for a car-coupler was to improve existing car-couplings by providing, "safe, convenient, and expeditious means for readily coupling and uncoupling sections of cars with the danger incurred of getting between them" (lines 12-16).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Williamson, John A., JR.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Jar Fastener. (open access)

Jar Fastener.

Patent for a new and improved jar fastener. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a fruit can or jar, having a continuous groove across its bottom and up its sides, of a U-shaped bolt resting in said groove, a cap-plate resting on the top of the jar and through which the legs of the bolt extend, and securing nuts turning on the ends of the bolt above the cap-plate" (lines 78-84).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Dickey, Marion Flutcher
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
System: The Portal to Texas History
Slicing Machine. (open access)

Slicing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved slicer. This design "consists, essentially, in the combination, with a suitable frame and slotted clamping or holding plates, which are adjustable with relation to each other in order to accommodate articles of varying thickness, of a revolving eccentric or cam shaped cutter having a spiral or volute edge and secured spirally upon a shaft which has its bearings of the frame of the machine, and which, when revolved through the medium of the said spirally-arranged cutter and the slotted clamping-plates, has an automatic lateral motion imparted to it" (lines 17-29).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Miller, Walker C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spoke Socket for Vehicle Wheels. (open access)

Spoke Socket for Vehicle Wheels.

Patent for a new and improved spoke-socket for wheels. This design consists in "a felly-joint and spoke-socket, consisting of the U-shaped plate . . . of the contrivance having at its ends flanges or plates provided at their side edges with lips or supplementary flanges clamping or hugging the tire . . . [and] the wedge having a slot inserted between said fellies" (lines 54-68).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Miller, Thomas S.
System: The Portal to Texas History