Brake-Lever. (open access)

Brake-Lever.

Patent for a brake lever that is locked by an arc-shaped ratchet-bar. There is "a pawl loosely mounted on the rear side of said lever and bearing against said side when the brake is set, said pawl being spring-actuated to move parallel with said side and project beyond the same and contact radially with the ratchet-teeth between said yoke" (lines 25-30).
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Burkett, Joseph B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press. (open access)

Baling-Press.

Patent for a simple and efficient baling-press that has an improved press-box and plunger-operating power. The connections between the power and the plunger will be lighter and the feed-opening of the press-box will be closed automatically. The machine has a continuously-rotating operating wheel that allows for an easier way to engage and disengage the pitman.
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Franks, Lewis W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Disk Plow. (open access)

Disk Plow.

Patent for "a new and useful improvement in disk plows, the object being to construct a plow of the kind described in which the resistance encountered by the main cutting or master disk in operation is counteracted by oppositely-disposed disks, one of which acts as a subspoiler, the other as a jointer, making a partial penetration of the land, which is followed by the master-disk in the succeeding furrow." (Lines 24-33) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Stewart, John A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Crate. (open access)

Crate.

Patent for "a crate for packing and transporting bottles of such material and such form of construction as will present a minimum liability to breakage of the contents." (Lines 9-13) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Riviere, Richard Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for a car-coupling that has a "hollow draw-head provided with a horizontal chamber, a vertical pin-hole near the forward end of said chamber, and a slot in the lower part of said draw-head opening into said chamber, of a sliding latch mounted in said chamber and provided with a lip projecting beyond the outer end of said latch and curved downward as shown, and with a groove on the lower side of said latch, of a pivoted arm engaging in said groove, and a weight integral with said arm and wholly inclosed within said slot and adapted to move said sliding latch forward beneath the lower end of the pin when the latter is raised" (lines 5-18). A coupling pin is mounted in the pin-hole.
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Barry, Jefferson D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Press. (open access)

Cotton-Press.

Patent for "a compress having a continuous operation, whereby one bale of cotton is being formed by the compress all the time the same is working, and thereby rendering it unnecessary to completely stop the working of the entire press for every single bale made until the bale can be wrapped and discharged out of the press." (Lines 15-22) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 14, 1896
Creator: Griffin, Thomas J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Convertible Corn and Cotton Planter, Stalk-Cutter, and Roller. (open access)

Convertible Corn and Cotton Planter, Stalk-Cutter, and Roller.

Patent for a convertible corn and cotton planter, stalk-cutter, and roller. It has a main frame, a supplemental frame that has its front end hinged to the front of the main frame, a roller with circular journaled in the supplemental frame, transverse segment-plates with removable blades attached to the supplemental frame, spaces between the segment-plates, an axle, driving-wheels, a sprocket wheel and chain, feed-boxes, means for feeding the grain, and wheels for laying the ground and the coverers.
Date: April 28, 1896
Creator: Mauldin, Columbus Scott
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window-Shade Raiser. (open access)

Window-Shade Raiser.

Patent for an improved way of raising, lowering, and locking window shades into place. "The operating-cord passes over a pulley located between two larger disks, one of which is screwed toward the other by a spring to clamp the folds of the cord and is screwed in the opposite direction by means of a lever, upon which the chord itself acts when drawn in the proper direction" (lines 14-20).
Date: April 14, 1896
Creator: McCauley, John H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Log-Loading Mechanism. (open access)

Log-Loading Mechanism.

Patent for a machine that hauls and loads logs upon cars from either side of the track, or both sides at once. The machine can easily be transported on a car. The machine "consists, essentially, in a platform of about the length of an ordinary log-car and of a height and width to enable it to span the same, mounted upon which are a steam engine and a boiler and a rotating crane, said platform being provided with pivoted legs for holding it above the track, with pivoted legs for holding it above the track, with means for locking said legs in a vertical position" (lines 23-30).
Date: April 14, 1896
Creator: Fletcher, William Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mirror Attachment for Dressers. (open access)

Mirror Attachment for Dressers.

Patent for a mirror attachment for dressers with an improved clamping mechanism so that it can be easily adjusted when in use and easily put to the side when not in use. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Gibson, Lizzie & Crank, Albert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Means for Making Bats for Mattresses. (open access)

Means for Making Bats for Mattresses.

Patent for a simple means for making bats for mattresses, and is an improvement on a previous patent (No. 399,041). "I gin into a room or place having the width or the length of the average width or length of a mattress, but extending the necessary length-say twenty or twenty-five feet, more or less to allow the cotton or material used to settle uniformly across it, the top at the extreme end preferably covered with wire-gauze to assist the draft from the gin. The floor and sides of this box or room or other receptacle into which the material for the mattress-bats is falling from the gin is provided with a means to carry the ginned material along from the gin as fast as it is worked. The bats may be formed in one long continuous web,from which the desired length may be cut" (lines 19-34)
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Haynes, Daniel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a plow that improves on a previous patent granted to the inventors (No. 507,854). The improvements are that the "stock may be used in connection with any form of share needed for working a crop" (lines 14-16) and the plow provides "a sweep-stock with a point which will be integral with its shoe or foot-bar, and which will assist in holding the share in position" (lines 20-23).
Date: April 28, 1896
Creator: Symmank, Herman & Matthijez, Ernst
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stump-Puller. (open access)

Stump-Puller.

Patent for a stump-puller that "can be quickly assembled and taken apart, to devise a device which will admit of the rope being quickly paid off from the capstan after the stump has been uprooted, and, finally, to provide a machine which can be easily handled and which will perform the required work in a rapid and satisfactory manner and which can be transported from one stump to the other by being dragged upon the ground" (lines 10-19).
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Widmer, Louis J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tree-Protector. (open access)

Tree-Protector.

Patent for "wire fenders or protectors for trees, [the] purpose being to provide a simple and inexpensive guard capable of being readily applied to trees of any size and having such construction that it shall be held by its own elasticity at such a distance from the trunk that rabbits or other rodents shall not be able to gnaw the bark, and the fender shall not chafe or wear the tree by continued use." (Lines 8-17) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Smith, John Dawson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stirrup. (open access)

Stirrup.

Patent for a light and durable stirrup that can be used in light and heavy saddles and has an improved construction.
Date: April 28, 1896
Creator: Turner, Ephraim M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Railway. (open access)

Electric Railway.

Patent for "a new and useful improvement in electric railways, and particularly to such railways as are adapted to use underground conduits, and has for its object to so construct such conduit and the line-wire connections therefor as to insure a constant connection between the line-wire and the motor of the car, and, further to greatly simplify and increase the efficiency of such systems." (Lines 8-17) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 14, 1896
Creator: Reid, Lemin Wallace
System: The Portal to Texas History
Strainer for Coffee-Pots, &c. (open access)

Strainer for Coffee-Pots, &c.

Patent for a strainer for coffee and tea strainers "so constructed as to be attachable in the lower end of the spout or body of the pot, as shown; and the object of my improvement is to construct a strainer to be removable, durable, of minimum cost, and perfect in its operation" (lines 13-18).
Date: April 21, 1896
Creator: McClellan, John A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Refrigerating Apparatus. (open access)

Refrigerating Apparatus.

Patent for a refrigerating apparatus that consists of a circular table that has a reservoir in its middle and jars mounted on fibrous mats and secured in a grid around the reservoir. Fibrous bags surround the jars and the excess material is gathered and goes into the reservoir.
Date: April 28, 1896
Creator: Dodge, Israel A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clutch. (open access)

Clutch.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive clutch used for transmitting power. The clutch has "independent rotable disks that act on peripheral eccentric proportions, which are so arranged that the said disk will be held free from contact with the drive-shaft and the entire bearing of the clutch mechanism thrown on the grip members, whereby the shaft-apertures in the disks can be made sufficiently large to overcome any irregularity of the bearing-faces of the internal cam portions and obviating the necessity of providing outside collars" (lines 17-27).
Date: April 28, 1896
Creator: Carleton, Ernest WIlliam
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed-Planter Attachment. (open access)

Seed-Planter Attachment.

Patent for "seed-planter attachments; and it has for its object to provide a new and useful machine of this character adapted to simultaneously plant two rows of corn, cotton, or other seed at any desired distance apart and to also provide means for marking the third row at any width from the planter." (Lines 8-15) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 14, 1896
Creator: Adkins, Stephen J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Riding-Saddle. (open access)

Riding-Saddle.

Patent for a ridding-saddle that is an improvement previously granted to Jesse D. Padgitt (No. 540,940). The improvements include increasing the strength to the flexible rear portion of the saddle. The first patent was for a saddle "distinguished by a tree or frame formed of a short rigid fork and a flexible body or rear portion, including a seat and cantle, constructed of leather or other suitable flexible material" (lines 10-14).
Date: April 28, 1896
Creator: Padgitt, William C. & Padgitt, Jesse D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mergenthaler Linotype-Machine. (open access)

Mergenthaler Linotype-Machine.

Patent for an improvement "to the elevator-arm of the Mergenthaler linotype-machine, and its object is to prevent the rubbing of the matrices against the inner walls of the channel-plates when being raised therefrom." (Lines 9-13) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Sundstrom, Herman Theodor
System: The Portal to Texas History
Reaping-Machine. (open access)

Reaping-Machine.

Patent for a reaping-machine that has grooved rollers spread throughout a recess in the base, slides where the rollers are mounted, horizontal movable shafts with pinions, racks on the slides that engage the pinions, a ring-driver wheel that surrounds the rollers and fits in the rollers with interior flanges, cutters, a belt extending from the rollers to the mechanism that operates the cutters, and a belt that connects the rolls. The cutter is a series of knives on a bar and springs that prevents the cutter from moving independently.
Date: April 7, 1896
Creator: Rich, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History