Convertible Mop and Brush. (open access)

Convertible Mop and Brush.

Patent for improvements in convertible mops and brushes by using a “combination of the fountain-handle, the bail/frame secured thereto and provided with a rubber strip at its lower edge, and the mop secured to the bail/frame.” (Lines 3-7, p.2) Illustration is included.
Date: April 7, 1891
Creator: Bagby, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for improvements in automatic car-couplers by providing "the means for automatically coupling cars without exposing the operator to the risk and danger of going between the cars when coupling,” (lines 12-15) includes illustration.
Date: April 14, 1891
Creator: Chandler, Richard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Burglar-Alarm. (open access)

Burglar-Alarm.

Patent for a burglar-alarms by constructing “an alarm which would adapted and arranged to sound and to be operated at and by the raising of the window or opening of the door, and simultaneous with the sounding of the alarm to produce an illumination.” (Lines 10-15) Illustration is included.
Date: April 14, 1891
Creator: Canterbury, Crawford R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Compensating Pump-Spring. (open access)

Compensating Pump-Spring.

Patent for improvements in compensating pump-springs by “storing up in the downward or idle stroke of the suction-rod, a power which is expended during the upward stroke to assist the crank in lifting the rod; and at the same time reducing the power required to drive the pump, equalizing the resistance, increasing the efficiency and generally prolonging the life of the entire mechanism.” (Lines 36-40) Illustration is included.
Date: April 21, 1891
Creator: Black, William L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Derrick. (open access)

Derrick.

Patent for improvements in derricks or machines for hoisting heavy objects, which can be easily erected and operated; this device “can be manipulated with ease and by which the article being elevated or lowered may be changed in position without moving the support.” (Lines 20-23) Illustration is included.
Date: April 21, 1891
Creator: Lindsey, William E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn-Power. (open access)

Churn-Power.

Patent for improvements in churns is to “simplify and improve the construction of the means for operating vertically-reciprocating churn-dashers and to enable the dasher to be adjusted vertically, according to the amount of lacteal fluid to be churned.” (Lines 11-15) Illustration is included.
Date: April 21, 1891
Creator: Dickey, John S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device for Cooling Milk and Butter. (open access)

Device for Cooling Milk and Butter.

Patent for improvements in devices for cooling milk and butter by using textile materials to cover the buckets or pails that contain milk or butter or other food articles, then saturated these textile covered buckets or pails with water; thus reducing the temperature of the articles contained in the buckets or pails, owing to evaporation. Illustration is included.
Date: April 21, 1891
Creator: Hall, Charles T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press. (open access)

Baling-Press.

Patent for improvements in baling-presses by using a four-sided baling box/chamber with supporting-upright doors arranged at the top, at the front and one of the sides of the box. These doors can be hinged at diagonally-opposite corners of the box; locking-bolts are pivoted at the free end of the each door, the top door with locking-bar sliding through apertures in the uprights and the lever for operating the top door. Illustration is included.
Date: April 21, 1891
Creator: Klockmann, Henry G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baby-Walker. (open access)

Baby-Walker.

Patent for improvements in baby-walkers by using the combination of a circular base, standards, a rim connecting the tops of the standards, a rotating plate having runners on its lower side engaged with the rim, a guide-flange, a rigid central shaft having a ratchet-wheel, and a pawl for engaging the ratchet. Illustration is included.
Date: April 28, 1891
Creator: Lawson, Henry William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for improvements in wire stretchers by using a T-shaped lever “to stretch the wire readily to the desired tension, and is capable of maintaining the wire at that tension until after stapling or otherwise fastening the same to a post.” (Lines 61-65) Illustration is included.
Date: April 21, 1891
Creator: Kennedy, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon-Top. (open access)

Wagon-Top.

Patent for improvements in wagon-bodies by providing "a simple and effective means for tightening the canvas covering over the bows of wagon or other vehicle-bodies” (lines 17-19), includes illustration.
Date: April 14, 1891
Creator: James, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for improvement in automatic car-couplings “in which the coupling-pin (worked by a rope or chain) is guided in a vertical tube extending upward from the draw-head, and is supported in position for coupling by a block sliding with the draw-head,” (lines 9-14) includes illustration.
Date: April 14, 1891
Creator: Angerstein, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Milk-Cooler. (open access)

Milk-Cooler.

Patent for an improvement in milk-coolers “in which water is drawn by capillary attraction from a receptacle placed above the milk-receptacle onto a cloth wrapped around the latter, thus cooling the milk by evaporation.” (Lines 8-12) Illustration is included.
Date: April 7, 1891
Creator: Banks, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mill-Carriage-Wheel Guard. (open access)

Mill-Carriage-Wheel Guard.

Patent for a new mill-carriage-wheel guard "to prevent obstruction falling on the wheels or on the [railroad] track, this guard also carries scrapers in front and in rear and on each side of the wheel, whereby the obstructions are scraped off the track." (Lines 23-28) This guard can be used with a wood-working machine carriages and/or rail.” Illustration is included.
Date: April 28, 1891
Creator: Zimmerman, Joseph W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spark-Arrester. (open access)

Spark-Arrester.

Patent for improvements in spark-arresters for locomotives in “which [it] will prevent the sparks and cinders from falling upon the train and upon surrounding lands and buildings;” (lines 10-12) by using a combination of a curved smoke-stack, a cinder-box, conducting pipes and an ash pen. Illustration is included.
Date: April 7, 1891
Creator: Hadlock, Edson J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Suspension-Bridge. (open access)

Suspension-Bridge.

Patent for improvements in suspension-bridge by using a combination of upper main cables reached from one pillar to the opposite pillar and anchored in the rear side of the pillars. A pair of lower cables at each side of the bridge; each pair being crossed at the center of the A-shaped or angular girders, these girders are bent for use as receiving hooks to form vertical stays. A series of girders hold the upper and lower cables in position thus making the bridge strong, light and rigid span. Illustration is included.
Date: April 28, 1891
Creator: Tucker, Argyle W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Snap-Hook. (open access)

Snap-Hook.

Patent for improvements in snap-hooks by using just one “single piece of wire, having a stationary arm that bent to form an inwardly-extending shank with its extremity bent in a reverse direction upon itself to form a bearing; the spring-arm and the spring-loop formed by coiling the wire upon itself and crossing, and extending outward at an angle to form shoulders to strengthen the hook immediately in front of the spring-loop.” (Lines 61-70) Illustration is included.
Date: April 28, 1891
Creator: Stukes, John Marion
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine. (open access)

Washing-Machine.

Patent for improvements in washing-machines by using a combination of adjustable stationary rubbing-board and a rotary rubbing-cylinder to regulate the pressure on the clothes and at the same time, clothes can be cleaned without injury to them. Illustration is included.
Date: April 7, 1891
Creator: Polk, Kindrick Ford
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine. (open access)

Washing-Machine.

Patent for an improvement in washing-machines by using a novel arrangement of the rollers, the tub-supporting frame, the horizontal swinging rubber, and a series of closely arranged longitudinal spiral springs; so that “the pressure upon each separate article can be adjusted or regulated by the judgment of the [operator].” (Lines 12-14) Illustration is included.
Date: April 7, 1891
Creator: Bennington, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine. (open access)

Washing-Machine.

Patent for improvements in washing-machines known as “roller and bed and it consists of a rubber-bed adapted to operate in conjunction with a rotatory rubber…….the bed being regulated by tightening screw-nuts upon the hooks which connect the springs with the end walls of said casing.” (Lines 13-22) Illustration is included.
Date: April 21, 1891
Creator: Wood, Commodore R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Whiffletree. (open access)

Whiffletree.

Patent for an improvement in whiffletrees, made out of steel. It includes a description and illustration.
Date: April 21, 1891
Creator: Flatau, Louis S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Foot for Plow-Stocks. (open access)

Foot for Plow-Stocks.

Patent for improvements in plows by using the combination of “two forwardly-curved bars which clamped to a plow-beam, and the heel having its forward end rigidly secured between the lower ends of the bars and its rear portion bent upwardly and forwardly and secured between the bars.” (Lines 94-100) Illustration is included.
Date: April 28, 1891
Creator: Brown, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fish-Harvester. (open access)

Fish-Harvester.

Patent for a fish-harvester by providing “a floating device adapted to be anchored in a stream or other body of water and carrying the mechanism for taking fish from the water and delivering them to a suitable point on the shore, the whole operating either by steam, by wind, or by the current of the water.” (Lines 10-15) Illustration is included.
Date: April 14, 1891
Creator: Yoakum, Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sash-Balance. (open access)

Sash-Balance.

Patent for improvements in a combined sash balances and fasteners, using two sashes, a rotatable shaft, a ratchet and a friction-wheel; all these parts work together “to simplify the means whereby one sash is made to balance the other and by which either sash may be adjusted without disturbing the other.” (Lines 16-19) Illustration is included.
Date: April 7, 1891
Creator: Ingalls, Alfred
System: The Portal to Texas History