Improvement in Ox-Bows. (open access)

Improvement in Ox-Bows.

Patent for improvements to ox-bows so that they "shall not require bending, and which may be made in parts of the country where timber suitable for bending is scarce" (lines 9-12).
Date: May 24, 1870
Creator: Moore, Alfred L. D.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Planters, Cultivators, and Stalk-Choppers. (open access)

Improvement in Planters, Cultivators, and Stalk-Choppers.

Patent for a combined planter, cultivator, and chopper.
Date: May 12, 1874
Creator: McCaleb, John L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Cloth Fan for the Destruction of Insects. (open access)

Wire-Cloth Fan for the Destruction of Insects.

Patent for an improved fly-swatting fan that employs wire mesh to create less of a shadow so that the user has more of a chance to hit the insect. This improved fan also allows for easier flow of air that creates less of an air flow that might blow the insect away from the fan and allow for the insect to avoid injury or death. Included are instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 18, 1880
Creator: Taylor, Morse K.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Bale Binder. (open access)

Cotton Bale Binder.

Patent for a new and improved cotton bale binder. This design "consists of a simple contrivance for binding cotton and other bales together when loaded on flat cars to prevent the load from being shaken apart and separated by the shocks and jolts of the car, and also to prevent the bales from being pulled off by cotton thieves, the said contrivance consisting of two or more hooks having pulleys or eyes strung on a rope, the rope being fastened to one of the eyes or pulleys forming one end of the binder, the hooks being caught in the bands of the bales" (lines 7-18).
Date: May 8, 1883
Creator: Burr, Lewis
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Range-Finder for Rifles. (open access)

Range-Finder for Rifles.

Patent for range-finder for rifles, with illustrations. The invention "is adapted for ready application to a rifle by producing a simple dovetailed groove in the stock or stock-tip, near the front end" (lines 9-12).
Date: May 22, 1883
Creator: Ord, Edward O. C., Jr. & Kress, John A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Refrigerating Apparatus. (open access)

Refrigerating Apparatus.

Patent for a new and improved refrigerator. This design consists "[i]n a refrigerating apparatus, the combination of a trap cylinder communicating with a horizontal cylinder which unites two vertical piston-cylinders, said piston-cylinders having suction and compression valves arranged at their upper ends in a cap having separate communications with suction pipes with compression-pipes communicating with said trap-cylinder" (lines 44-52).
Date: May 12, 1885
Creator: Conacher, Alexander
Object Type: Patent
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, with a draw-bar having a socket and buffer-prongs on its ends, of a ball in the socket, coupling-hooks pivoted between jaws connected with the ball, a weighted stem projecting from the ball, and a sliding latch-rod for engaging with the stem and automatically releasing it when the cars come together" (lines 8-15).
Date: May 19, 1885
Creator: Hampl, Joseph & Jacobs, David
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stamp Canceler. (open access)

Stamp Canceler.

Patent for a new and improved stamp canceler. This design "is to provide a . . . stamp-canceler, which is so constructed that it punctures or perforates the stamp and inks it at the same time, but does not mutilate the letter or other contents of the envelope" (lines 7-12).
Date: May 4, 1886
Creator: Luzenberg, Edward A. & Sachs, Edward
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Two Wheeled Vehicle. (open access)

Two Wheeled Vehicle.

Patent for a new and improved vehicle. This design "is to provide a vehicle in which a person can ride over rough ground without serious inconvenience or discomfort incident to travel over such roads. . . . [and] to so construct a gig that a person can get into the same without serious inconvenience, and to this end it is made low, the rear of the shafts being extended in line with the axle and the step secured to the shaft and extending somewhat below it. . . . [and] to provide a gig with springs that will work in two directions—laterally and vertically" (lines 20-34).
Date: May 11, 1886
Creator: Buckel, Charles
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ice-Machine. (open access)

Ice-Machine.

Patent for the improvements of ice machine gas compressors and its adjuncts.
Date: May 25, 1886
Creator: Schuehle, Jacob
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Kitchen Cabinet. (open access)

Kitchen Cabinet.

Patent for a new and improved cabinet. This design "consist[s] of the body having a top . . . adapted to support a bread-board, the elevated casing provided with drawers, and an intermediate receptacle, the shelf thereof forming a recess . . . said recess adapted to receive the back edge of the bread-board . . . the hinged cover provided with a hinged shelf, the inclined abutments for said cover, and the cleat secured to one end of this cover at such an angle to the inclination of said abutments that when the cover bears against them the hinged shelf will be supported in a horizontal position by said cleat" (lines 22-37).
Date: May 3, 1887
Creator: Lane, Fernando G. & Acheson, Charles S.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ice Making and Blocking Machine. (open access)

Ice Making and Blocking Machine.

Patent for a new and improved ice machine. This design consists in "the combination of a non-conductive casing containing a freezing tank having water supply and discharge pipes, a water-tight diaphragm supported in said casing above the bottom of said tank having downwardly-tapered hollows in its upper surface and corresponding upwardly-tapered molds in its under surface, and a refrigerating medium contained within the said casing over said diaphragm and filling the hollows in the latter" (lines 82-91).
Date: May 17, 1887
Creator: Knox, George F.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Barrel for Outhouses. (open access)

Barrel for Outhouses.

Patent for a new and improved barrel. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the barrel-head having the opening, of the cover adapted to close said opening, the bolt extending through said cover and into the barrel, the clamping bar longer than the width of said opening in the barrel-head, said bar being centrally pivoted by a rivet to the lower end of said bolt, and a nut screwed upon the upper end of said bolt for clamping said cover in position" (lines 16-25).
Date: May 8, 1888
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Wardrobe, Bureau, and Wash Stand. (open access)

Combined Wardrobe, Bureau, and Wash Stand.

Patent for a new and improved combination chiffarobe and wash stand. This design is "constructed with a main wardrobe section provided with hinged upper doors having lower ledges or shelves, respectively, and bureau and wash-stand structures hinged at opposite sides of the wardrobe below its doors and adapted when closed to close the lower front part of the wardrobe, and said door-ledges forming top covers to the wash-stand and bureau" (lines 31-40).
Date: May 8, 1888
Creator: Wulff, Henry F.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Drilling Tool for Wells. (open access)

Drilling Tool for Wells.

Patent for a new and improved drilling tool for wells. This design "relates to tools for drilling or boring Artesian, oil, and other deep wells; and it has for its object to prevent the loss of drill or auger or any portion of the drill-rods. With this end in view the invention consists in the improved means for connecting the tool to the lower end of the drill-rod" (lines 9-15).
Date: May 28, 1889
Creator: McLane, Hiram H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sanitary Closet (open access)

Sanitary Closet

Patent for "improvements on sanitary closets for destroying the human excrement-s on the premises with little labor and expense" (lines 8-11).
Date: May 13, 1890
Creator: McCamant, Theodore F.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Propeller for Boats. (open access)

Propeller for Boats.

Patent for improvements in propellers for boats by “having a pair of hinged propeller-blades adapted to swing toward and away from each other, combined with fixed prongs; which are engaged with the propeller blades and hold them from displacement.” (Lines 60-65) Illustration is included.
Date: May 5, 1891
Creator: Gillespie, Lewis
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fan and Motoro Therefor. (open access)

Fan and Motoro Therefor.

Patent for a motor-propelled fan that can attach to any support, especially beds steads and other furniture. The motor is simple and can be easily manipulated.
Date: May 9, 1893
Creator: Sneckner, George A. & Roth, Charles E.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pneumatic Cotton-Picker. (open access)

Pneumatic Cotton-Picker.

Patent for an improved pneumatic cotton-picker that is meant "to produce a simple machine having a cotton receiving box or vacuum box and arranged to use both a blast and suction pipe, these pipes being oppositely arranged and the suction pipe being made to deliver into the cotton box" (lines 10-17). The cotton is sucked from the plants and delivers it into a cotton box. A guide lines the machine up with the row of cotton.
Date: May 23, 1893
Creator: Mauermann, Gustav A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Uterus-Battery. (open access)

Uterus-Battery.

Patent for "a simple and compact electrical or galvanic device, adapted, when placed in the womb of a patient, to develop a mild electric action and thereby promote the flow of the menses and render the same regular and painless" (lines 16-19).
Date: May 22, 1894
Creator: Hinkley, Charles Samuel Whitney
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Measuring and Proportioning Machine. (open access)

Measuring and Proportioning Machine.

Patent for "a device by which the mixing of various ingredients in certain desired proportions may be easily and accurately accomplished" (lines 8-11). It is meant for industrial measuring.
Date: May 5, 1896
Creator: Collins, Alonzo G.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lifting-Jack. (open access)

Lifting-Jack.

Patent for "an improved lifting-jack designed expressly for track-levelers, although the construction may be varied for other purposes." (Lines 9-12) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 12, 1896
Creator: Arnold, Raiford A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Cigar-Lighter. (open access)

Electric Cigar-Lighter.

Patent for a cigar lighter in which the cigar is lit on a glowing surface, improves on the ease of operating a cigar lighter, and provides space for an advertisement.
Date: May 4, 1897
Creator: Handshy, Henry M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for "automatic pin-and-link car-couplings in which a sliding spring-actuated block is employed for supporting the coupling-pin in an elevated position preparatory to coupling." (Lines 8-12) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 25, 1897
Creator: Lee, Charles
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History