Churn-Dasher. (open access)

Churn-Dasher.

Patent for "reciprocating churn-dashers with rotary heads." (Lines 11-12) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 5, 1891
Creator: Sterling, Isaac F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal Trap. (open access)

Animal Trap.

Patent for a new and improved animal-trap. This design consists "[i]n a trap comprising a well having ingress-openings in diametrically-opposite sides, the combination, with a cage constructed to move vertically in the said well, of plates mounted in ways and constructed to slide past and cover the said openings and having connection with the cage to counterbalance the same" (lines 86-93).
Date: April 5, 1892
Creator: McLeod, Charlie Mike
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Boring Artesian Wells. (open access)

Apparatus for Boring Artesian Wells.

Patent for a new and improved artesian-well borer. This design "has for its object to furnish a combination tool which will wear or cut the harder grades or rock frequently met with in boring wells of this class, and also to furnish a tool which will be harder than the common steel too or auger, thereby dispensing with the necessity of taking out and sharpening" (lines 13-20). It consists in "[a] fluted hemispherical mass of corundum for boring Artesian wells, said mass being provided with cutting-edges which extend from the apex to the base, [and] a metallic core embedded within the mass" (lines 16-20).
Date: April 5, 1892
Creator: Brown, Frank O.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Elevating, Distributing, and Feeding Seed-Cotton to Gins (open access)

Apparatus for Elevating, Distributing, and Feeding Seed-Cotton to Gins

Patent for improvements to cotton gins so that seed cotton can be fed to two gins at the same time, while using the same power as would normally be necessary for one gin.
Date: April 12, 1892
Creator: Murray, Stephen D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator. (open access)

Cultivator.

Patent for a new and improved cultivator. This design consists, "with the beam consisting, essentially, of the forwardly-converging branches at their forward ends and having the downwardly and forwardly curved branches at their rear ends and rack-teeth" (lines 100-104). It further consists "of the feet comprising parallel branches pivotally connected to the ends of the downwardly and forwardly curved branches of the beam branches, the gravitating pawls pivoted between the upper ends of the feet branches and adapted to engage the rack-teeth of the beam branches" (lines 1-8).
Date: April 12, 1892
Creator: Ponton, William E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mosquito Bar Frame. (open access)

Mosquito Bar Frame.

Patent for a new and improved mosquito-bar frame. This design "relates to improvements in that class of mosquito-bar frames which are adapted to be placed above a bed, so as to support the mosquito-netting in a way to cover the bed and guard the occupants thereof; and the object of [the] invention is to produce an extremely simple frame which may be easily dropped into a horizontal position over the bed or as easily tipped up and made to slide behind the head-board, where it will be entirely out of the way" (lines 7-17).
Date: April 12, 1892
Creator: Holden, Elbridge G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Feed Trough. (open access)

Feed Trough.

Patent for a new and improved feed trough. This design "is to provide a portable feed rack and trough adapted to hold a quantity of feed and to discharge the same as is found necessary" (lines 10-13). It consists in "a platform mounted on runners and provided at its sides with troughs, bins arranged at the ends of the platforms and provided at the lower ends of their sides with openings" (lines 99-102). It further consists in "slides arranged in . . . recesses and adapted to vary the size of said openings, strips arranged on the outer edges of the inclined bars, and set-screws connecting the strips" (lines 3-7).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Anderson, John Stow
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Chopper (open access)

Cotton-Chopper

Patent for "a cheap and simple machine adapted to chop or hoe cotton and simultaneously plow or hill the same; furthermore, to adapt the chopper to form stands composed of any number of plants and at any distance apart, and, finally, to provide means for raising and lowering the plows out of and into operative position and throwing the chopping mechanism into and out of gear, which means are controlled in a convenient manner by the driver or operator" (lines 10-20).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Balshaw, David
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blind Stop. (open access)

Blind Stop.

Patent for a new and improved blind-stop. This design is "to provide a cheap and simple device designed to be secured to a window-casing and be interposed between any two adjacent pivoted slats, and thus support the same and the series in an open position and against accidental closing by their own weight or by the wind" (lines 9-16). It consists in the "holder for slats of blinds, consisting of a spring-metal strip bent at its center to form an eye and opposite terminals, the latter being adapted to be interposed between two adjacent slats, and the ends of the terminals oppositely bent" (lines 72-77).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Deats, Wallen S. & Brown, Daniel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fruit Jar. (open access)

Fruit Jar.

Patent for a new and improved fruit jar. This design consists, "with a jar having an inwardly-curved upper end and a removable bottom portion, of a series of projections at the base of the said curved portion, and a perforated plate having notches formed in its periphery which register with the said projections which when turned rest thereon" (lines 3-10).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Vogt, August
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blank Book. (open access)

Blank Book.

Patent for a new and improved blank book. This design "is an improvement upon the Megee-Miller blank book which adapts it for use of type-writers and others requiring one whose sheets or leaves may be readily detached and again secured together after having been written or printed. The sheets are detachably connected with a binding-strip by means of a cord or cords" (lines 7-14).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Burris, James W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Aerial Ship (open access)

Aerial Ship

Patent for "a ship for navigating the air, which shall be almost or quite as easily governed and controlled as regards its course of travel, irrespective of the direction of the wind and in other respects, as a ship provided with propelling means, used to sail in or through the water" (lines 9-15).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Riddle, William Nelson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Docket, Record, or Similar Book (open access)

Docket, Record, or Similar Book

Patent for a docket, record or similar book that places all necessary material together for recording events, adjusting the space for each title head so that it is sufficient, easing the strain on accountants who need to continue entries, and also make sure the book is easy and efficient to make.
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Fry, Edwin Crittenden
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Battery. (open access)

Electric Battery.

Patent for a new and improved electric battery. This design consists "[i]n an electric generator, a receptacle for steam, and means for admitting steam thereto, in combination with electrodes consisting of two parallel disks suspended within said steam-receptacle, electrodes of opposite polarity to the aforesaid electrodes arranged between the disks of the first-named electrodes, a shaft extending through the said receptacle upon which the latter electrodes are mounted, and means for rotating the said shaft" (lines 41-50).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Emley, James Edward
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling (open access)

Car-Coupling

Patent for a simple, inexpensive, durable, and efficient car coupling "which will insure positive automatic coupling when two opposite draw-heads come together" (lines 16-18).
Date: April 26, 1892
Creator: Bird, Robert L. & Bird, John L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Decorticating Jute, Ramie, and Other Fibrous Plants (open access)

Machine for Decorticating Jute, Ramie, and Other Fibrous Plants

Patent for "a machine for separating the valuable fibrous portions of the stems of the plants of the jute, ramie, flax, and hemp, and like varieties from refuse matter and preparing the same for use with the least possible injury and waste" (lines 10-15).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Fremery, Felix B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Compressor and Discharging Mechanism for Grain-Binders (open access)

Compressor and Discharging Mechanism for Grain-Binders

Patent for "improvements in compressing and discharging mechanism and a starting mechanism for grain-binders constructed on an ordinary harvester-platform, so as to adapt the well-known Appleby type of binders to be used on an ordinary harvester-platform, the sheaf to be formed direct on the platform, thus adapting the above mentioned cord-tying mechanism to be used in connection with the conveyer invented by myself and patented February 17, 1891, No. 446,473" (lines 12-23).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Schubert, George
System: The Portal to Texas History
Butt Board for Grain Binders. (open access)

Butt Board for Grain Binders.

Patent for a new and improved butt board for grain binders. This design "relates to improvements in butt-boards for grain-binders to even the butts of the gavel of grain to be bound and to also adjust said gavel in regard to length so that short grain will be bound near the center as well as long grain . . . [i]t has reference more especially to the construction of the butt-board and operating parts, so as to even the butts of the grain and adjust the same to proper position to the binder at one single movement of the butt-board" (lines 12-27).
Date: April 26, 1892
Creator: Schubert, George
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam Cooking Stove. (open access)

Steam Cooking Stove.

Patent for a new and improved steam stove. This design "is to provide a stove . . . that can be used on a gas-stove base, a lamp-stove, an ordinary cooking-stove, or even over a camp-fire, and which when so used will provide an apartment for baking or warming and another apartment for steaming, the steam being generated within a surrounding boiler and by the heat that has been used to heat the oven" (lines 11-20). It consists in "a casing divided vertically by a transverse boiler-body, chambers in the sides of the lower-half of the casing . . . and a transverse pipe" (lines 34-38).
Date: April 12, 1892
Creator: James, Will S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tool for Tightening Wheel Tires. (open access)

Tool for Tightening Wheel Tires.

Patent for a new and improved tire tightener. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a tubular member having having one end beveled and provided with a transverse hole and provided at its other end with an interiorly-arranged annular shoulder, a set-screw passing through the tubular member and arranged near the shoulder, a nut resting on the tubular member and provided with an extension projecting into the same and bearing on the shoulder and provided with an annular groove receiving the set-screw, and a screw passing through the nut into the tubular member" (lines 28-39).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Hamblen, William Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace Iron. (open access)

Trace Iron.

Patent for a new and improved trace-iron. This design "is to provide a new and improved trace-iron which is simple and durable in construction and arranged to readily connect with the end of the trace without the employment of rivets and which can be readily attached to or detached from the hame. The invention consists of two leaves pivotally-connected with each other and adapted to fold one on the other, one leaf being provided with a hook passing through an aperture in the other leaf and adapted to engage the trace" (lines 7-19).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Dankworth, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Post Hole Auger. (open access)

Post Hole Auger.

Patent for a new and improved post-hole auger. This design "is adapted to be attached to a cart or wagon and moved from place to place thereon in line with the proposed operating fence and operated to bore post-holes without the necessity of detaching it from the wagon, whereby the machine may be readily transported and arranged in position for use" (lines 14-20). It consists, "with a wagon having brackets secured to one side thereof, of a vertically-sliding frame moving within said brackets and carrying an earth-auger and gearing for actuating said auger" (lines 14-18).
Date: April 5, 1892
Creator: Cryer, Henry M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Poison-Distributer (open access)

Poison-Distributer

Patent for a distributor for "pulverized paris-green, londonpurple, arsenic, and other poisons in a dry state over cotton and other plants" that is "of exceedingly simple and durable construction and capable of attachment to any form of cultivator, and also to provide a means whereby the poison to be delivered from the machine may be regulated as to quantity in a convenient and expeditious manner, and, further, to provide a means whereby the poison as delivered from the machine will be spread over the plants at each side of the machine" (lines 11-24).
Date: April 12, 1892
Creator: Richter, Franz Ludwig
System: The Portal to Texas History
usp015/00472545 (open access)

usp015/00472545

Patent for "a simple and economical device of this character, which shall possess superior advantages with respect to efficiency, and whereby sand and dirt is effectually excluded and the grease or other lubricating material prevented from escaping" (lines 15-21).
Date: April 12, 1892
Creator: Miller, William J.; McBean, Robert S. & McBurnett, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History