Vault Cash-Indicator. (open access)

Vault Cash-Indicator.

Patent for a vault cash-indicator meant to "provide a new and improved indicator, designed for indicating an amount of money, commercial articles, &c.; for instance, indicating the amount of money contained in a safe or vault" (lines 7-11).
Date: April 23, 1895
Creator: Hamilton, Samuel R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tuning Device for Pianos. (open access)

Tuning Device for Pianos.

Patent for "a means whereby the strings of a piano may be easily and deliberately tuned, and when tuned they will be held absolutely rigid and unyielding under all circumstances while the pins are set in wood, thus avoiding any possibility of the jarring of the parts." (Lines 36-42) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 23, 1895
Creator: Orser, Levi
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gearing for Windmills. (open access)

Gearing for Windmills.

Patent for gearing for windmills that "is more particularly designed to provide an improved construction of gearing by which the movement of the wind wheel is transmitted to the pump rod, whereby [the inventor] secures superior advantages with respect to efficiency in use" (lines 14-19).
Date: April 23, 1895
Creator: Keys, Milton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Reversible Gutter. (open access)

Reversible Gutter.

Patent for a simple and durable reversible gutter for houses and other buildings that can be easily cleaned and painted.
Date: April 23, 1895
Creator: Freeze, John Andy
System: The Portal to Texas History
Method of and Apparatus for Protecting Electric Circuits. (open access)

Method of and Apparatus for Protecting Electric Circuits.

Patent for a method of and apparatus for protecting electric circuits from unauthorized use. The inventor uses the arrangement of circuits described in an expired patent (No. 110,362).
Date: April 23, 1895
Creator: Oram, John M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dilator. (open access)

Dilator.

Patent for a dilator meant to enlarge the urethral and other canals of the human body. It is meant of "elastic material and capable of distention, or dilation, under the pressure of air, water, or other fluid introduced and to combine with said dilator means whereby its uniform enlargement under internal pressure shall take place without increase of length, thereby avoiding the objection common to all, rubber and similar structures heretofore, that interior pressure produced elongation at the expense of increase in diameter, while any inequality of strength, or thickness, caused unequal expansion" (lines 13-24).
Date: April 23, 1895
Creator: Parker, Elisha J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device for Placing Torpedoes. (open access)

Device for Placing Torpedoes.

Patent for "a device especially adapted for placing torpedoes on railroad tracks and at the same time fixing the torpedo in position, the work being accomplished in a simple and expeditious manner while the train is in motion, whereby one train following another may be signaled without stopping the first train, thus preventing rear end collisions." (Lines 7-15) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 23, 1895
Creator: Seamands, James D.
System: The Portal to Texas History