Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "relates to car-couplings, and more especially to that part or portion of the mechanism usually termed 'link-lifters;' and the object of the invention is to provide means whereby the link can be lifted and caused to enter the draw-head of an approaching car by the operator when standing alongside the stationary car" (lines 7-14).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Small, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Composition for Preserving Food (open access)

Composition for Preserving Food

Patent for "combustible compositions which, when ignited, produce a gas or gasses which have preservative and purifying effects upon various substances and surfaces or places exposed to the fumes. It is more especially designed, however, for preserving fruits, vegetables, meats, and other perishable articles." (lines 12-19).
Date: April 15, 1890
Creator: Radam, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Channel Cleaner. (open access)

Channel Cleaner.

Patent for a new and improved channel cleaner. This design "is to construct an apparatus which may be anchored in a channel where there are sand-bars, for the purpose of agitating the water and stirring up the sand, so that the current may remove it. [The] invention consists in a trunk or large tube perforated along the bottom and provided at one end with a flaring mouth for concentrating the current within the trunk; also, in the combination, with the trunk, of a stirrer and a motor-screw for driving the same" (lines 17-28).
Date: April 22, 1890
Creator: Evans, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press (open access)

Baling-Press

Patent for improvements in baling presses "in which the necessary motion may be imparted to the plunger in a rapid and effective manner, and which shall be productive of considerable saving of labor and power" (lines 15-19)
Date: April 29, 1890
Creator: Anderson, Zachariah J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "consists in the combination of the draw-heads provided with projections, a coupling-link, an operating-rod loosely connected to each of its ends, and a suitable support or guide through which these rods move . . . The object of [the] invention is to provide a car-coupling in which the two cars are coupled together by means of a link which is provided with an operating rod at each end, both of the rods and the link being attached to one of the cars only" (lines 14-26).
Date: April 29, 1890
Creator: Campbell, Neil Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the standards, the longitudinal bars connecting the same, the driving-shaft journaled on the upper bars, the counter-shaft journaled on the lower bars and provided with a crank-disk at one end, gearing between the driving-shaft and the counter-shaft, the balance-wheel on the counter-shaft, the rock-shaft journaled on the upper bars and provided with the oppositely-extending crank-arms between the said bars, the crank arm depending from the end of the rock-shaft, [and] the pitman" (lines 88-99).
Date: April 29, 1890
Creator: Anderson, Henry C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon Attachment. (open access)

Wagon Attachment.

Patent for a new and improved wagon attachment. This design "relates to hay frames or racks for use with the ordinary box wagon-bodies; and it has for its object to provide a light frame or rack of simple construction adapted for adjustment to wagon boxes or bodies of different width and so constructed as to be folded in a compact form. To these ends the invention consists in a foldable hay frame or rack adapted to fit into a wagon-body and adapted for adjustment to such body; also, in structural features and combination of parts" (lines 19-30).
Date: April 8, 1890
Creator: Haupt, William W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Knee and Head Block for Saw Mills. (open access)

Knee and Head Block for Saw Mills.

Patent for a new and improved knee and head block. This design consists, "with a saw-mill carriage, of a head-block extending flush with the outer edges of the tracks of said carriage and provided with the usual groove or recess extending the entire length of said head-block, a knee sliding in said groove and provided on its front vertical edge with a recess, and a log-supporter fitting flush within said recess and provided at its lower end with a forwardly-extending lug or projection" (lines 39-48).
Date: April 29, 1890
Creator: Willis, George F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine (open access)

Washing-Machine

Patent for improvements to cylinder washing machines.
Date: April 29, 1890
Creator: Anderson, Henry C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windlass. (open access)

Windlass.

Patent for a new and improved windlass. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a frame having the cross-bars near its lower and upper ends, the windlass-shaft journaled in the side pieces of the frame and having the balance-wheels and the pinion, the operating-gears mounted in one side of the frame and one of said gears meshing with said pinion, an upright mounted upon the lower front cross-piece of the frame and having a guide-pulley at its upper end, arms extending laterally from said upright, and a guide-roller journaled in said arms" (lines 11-21).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Bridges, Thomas H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Forming Cotton-Seed Meal into Cakes (open access)

Machine for Forming Cotton-Seed Meal into Cakes

Patent for "an organized machine adapted to rapidly compress charges of cotton-seed meal into cakes of sufficient solidity to bear handling and removal to a press, whereby the oil is expressed therefrom, and to deliver said cakes at a point or points in convenient proximity to said press or presses, so that the time and labor involved in preparing the meal for the, press and of inserting it therein will be reduced to the minimum" (lines 9-18).
Date: April 8, 1890
Creator: Price, James S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water-Elevator (open access)

Water-Elevator

Patent for "an apparatus for use in connection with a well, whereby the well-bucket will be automatically elevated and emptied into a trough by the weight of the cattle that may come to the well to drink, the apparatus be ing particularly designed for use in the Western countries, where large numbers of cattle come to each well in herds" (lines 16-23).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Campbell, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Veterinary Medicine (open access)

Veterinary Medicine

Patent for "a compound for the eradication of screw-worms in animals, and it has for its object toprovide a simple and inexpensive compound of this character which will quickly and efficiently destroy the worms, and at the same time serve as both an astringent and antiseptic to the wound" (lines 10-16).
Date: April 22, 1890
Creator: Youngkin, John A. & Youngkin, Josiah S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace Carrier. (open access)

Trace Carrier.

Patent for a new and improved trace-carrier. This design consists in "[a]n improved back-band buckle with hooks, consisting of a body portion formed of a single piece of wrought-wire, the meeting ends of each bent downward, upward, outward, and again downward to form chain-holding hooks or loops, and the tongues pivoted upon the said body portion" (lines 89-95).
Date: April 15, 1890
Creator: Brown, John Stoddart
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tire Adjuster. (open access)

Tire Adjuster.

Patent for a new and improved wheel adjuster. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the terminal tire-lugs having right and left screw-threaded sockets, of a right and left screw-stem, a turning block of substantially the same cross-section as the rim of the wheel, connected to the screw-stem so as to slide thereon but revolve rigidly together, and means . . . for locking the turning block to the terminal lugs" (lines 8-16).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Surratt, George
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stirrup Leather Stay. (open access)

Stirrup Leather Stay.

Patent for a new and improved stay. This design "is to provide a stay which will cause the stirrup to hang in proper position for insertion of the rider's foot in mounting" (lines 7-10). To this end, it consists, "with the stirrup, of the U-shaped stay embracing the stirrup cross-piece and extending adjacent to the ends thereof and the central loops along the upper edges of the stay, and of less length than the stay, to receive the relatively narrow stirrup-strap, whereby a narrow stirrup-strap may be successfully used on a stirrup having a wide upper end" (lines 74-82).
Date: April 8, 1890
Creator: Padgitt, Jesse D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pad for the Backs of Horses. (open access)

Pad for the Backs of Horses.

Patent for a new and improved pad for horses. This design consists in "the air-tight cushion composed of opposite blanks of elastic air-tight material secured along their adjacent edges, and a central longitudinally-disposed dividing strip dividing the cushion into opposite compartments, and provided with openings affording communication between the compartments" (lines 62-68).
Date: April 22, 1890
Creator: Mudford, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tire Tightener. (open access)

Tire Tightener.

Patent for a new and improved tire tightener. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the spokes, the felly, and the tire . . . of the plates, each provided with rearwardly-extending apertured portions, forwardly-projecting fingers, and semi-socketed portions on their lower faces, the upper face of the plate being straight, its lower face inclined, the upper face of the plate inclined, and the lower face thereof straight, whereby when said plates are fitted in place, they will wedge between the felly and the shoulder of the spoke, said socket portions adapted to fit over said shouldered portion of the spokes" (lines 8-21).
Date: April 29, 1890
Creator: Mayo, William Archer
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Time-Alarm and Annunciator (open access)

Electric Time-Alarm and Annunciator

Patent for "a combined call and annunciator system by which any number of signals can be sent automatically or manually and various signals received through the annunciator, the apparatus serving to send signals to or from any number of distant points on the circuit at any time" (lines 17-23).
Date: April 4, 1890
Creator: Suren, Nathan H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electro Medical Belt. (open access)

Electro Medical Belt.

Patent for a new and improved electro-medical belt. This design "consists in a belt or support constructed of multiple-ply electro-conductive belting, which [the design] make[s] by inserting a conductor or conductors between the folds of a multiple-ply band with suitable contact-points at the surface, a sling supported by and movable on the belt for carrying the electric generator, also constructed of the electro-conductive belting, and having detachable connectors between its contact points and those of the belt-contact plates, consisting of disks or plates provided with tongues" (lines 18-29).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Shelton, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Riveting Machine. (open access)

Riveting Machine.

Patent for a new and improved riveting-machine. This design consists "of the upright frame having the cross-head in the upper front part thereof, the vertical driving rods . . . adapted to move in said cross-head, the upright with perforated top and spring-actuated sleeve attached to the frame below the rod, the separable rivet-holder attached to said rod by the arms, the frame, and the sleeve . . . the upright with solid top attached to the frame below the rod, and means, as pivoted levers . . . at the top of the machine, connecting-rods . . . and treadle-levers . . . for actuating the driving-rods" (lines 60-74).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Carl, Reinhold A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Flower Pot Trellis (open access)

Flower Pot Trellis

Patent for a flower pot trellis which is used "to be applied to flower-pots of various sizes to support plants or vines without interfering with their roots" (p.2).
Date: April 15, 1890
Creator: Brown, John Stoddart, of Galveston, Texas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Saddle Jack. (open access)

Saddle Jack.

Patent for a new and improved saddle-jack. This design consists in "the combination, with a support, of a post having a hollow trunnion and carrying a saddle-tree support on its upper end, and a bolt passing through the hollow trunnion and carrying hooks on its upper end for engaging a saddle-tree to hold it on its support" (lines 84-90).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Garrett, Richard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse Collar Fastener. (open access)

Horse Collar Fastener.

Patent for a new and improved horse-collar fastener. This design "relates to certain new and useful improvements in horse-collar fastenings of that class designed to lock the two sides of the horse-collar and to permit of the ready separation thereof to facilitate the placing and removal of the collar when desired; and it has for its object to provide a simple and cheap device of this character wherein provision shall be made for the retention of the lever against the catch, and also means for preventing the drawing of the screws" (lines 15-26).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Bomar, Thomas B.
System: The Portal to Texas History