78th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Concurrent Resolution 10 (open access)

78th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, House Concurrent Resolution 10

Concurrent resolution introduced by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate relating to the wrestling team of St. Mark's School of Texas in Dallas on its 500th dual meet win.
Date: May 23, 2003
Creator: Texas. Legislature. House of Representatives.
Object Type: Legislative Document
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Targets for Shooting-Galleries (open access)

Improvement in Targets for Shooting-Galleries

Patent for a shooting gallery target that releases balls when hit in the center.
Date: May 29, 1877
Creator: Hoshall, David W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Clod-Crushers. (open access)

Improvement in Clod-Crushers.

Patent for a land-drag and clod-crusher that will effectually crush the clods, level the land, and pack the soil, at one and the same operation.
Date: May 16, 1876
Creator: Crockett, John M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cotton and Corn Planter. (open access)

Combined Cotton and Corn Planter.

Patent for an improved, inexpensive, and simple planter that is "adapted to plant either corn or cotton and that at predetermined distances; to so construct the machine as to adapt it readily for change from one form of planter to the other; and to improve the manner of securing the furrow-opening shovel-carrying standard and the seed tube, whereby the former and latter are prevented from breaking or becoming injured should they contact with a stone, stump, or other obstacle of sufficient size and firmness to injure them" (lines 10-21).
Date: May 16, 1893
Creator: Schofield, James Drommond
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Child's Seat for Vehicles. (open access)

Child's Seat for Vehicles.

Patent for a removable child's seat for buggies, phaetons, carriages, sleighs, and similar vehicles that folds up so it can be stored under the seat when not in use. The chair sits next to the dash, and is locked into place so the child is safe.
Date: May 15, 1894
Creator: Padgitt, Thomas B.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Piston-Rod Packing (open access)

Piston-Rod Packing

Patent for "provide a metallic packing for piston-rods that is self-adjusting; secondly, to provide a packing the parts of which are so arranged as to avoid any escape of steam through the gland of the stuffing-box; thirdly, to provide a packing that does not require a lubricator; fourthly, to provide a packing that relieves the piston of all friction, except when steam is admitted to stuffing-box end of cylinder" (lines 19-27).
Date: May 9, 1890
Creator: Carlson, Frank A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Axle Box for Locomotives. (open access)

Axle Box for Locomotives.

Patent for a new and improved axle-box for locomotives. This design "has relation to self-adjusting wedges for axle or driving boxes for locomotives, and has for its objects to produce a wedge that is controlled by a spring, which can be readily and easily adjusted for removing the pounding and lost motion between the axle-box and pedestal" (lines 11-17).
Date: May 21, 1889
Creator: Carlson, Frank August
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Gin Brush (open access)

Cotton-Gin Brush

Patent for "a cheap, durable, efficient, and simple brush adapted for use in cotton-gins, the parts of which may readily be assembled or detached for purposes of construction, renewal, replacement, or repair" (lines 9-14).
Date: May 28, 1889
Creator: Swann, Warner Minor & Swann, Richard Tompkins
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bed Spring. (open access)

Bed Spring.

Patent for a new and improved bed-spring. This design consists in "the adjustable tie that connects the springs beneath the slats. This device is simple, cheap, convenient, and durable. It is adjustable to slats placed at different distances apart, and will remain in position when placed upon the slats, holding the diagonal rows of springs in a straight line, causing the springs to remain uniform all over the bed" (lines 72-80).
Date: May 19, 1885
Creator: Davis, Charles Robert
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Conveying and Cleaning Apparatus. (open access)

Cotton Conveying and Cleaning Apparatus.

Patent for improvements in cotton conveying and cleaning apparatus by using the combination of “a rearwardly-open feeder and a conveyer in position to receive cotton discharge at the rear of the feeder” (lines 103-105), as a result when a conveyer bring “cotton to the feeder, it would provide a branch in position to take up the cotton delivered by the conveyer” (lines 106-108) thus preventing undue accumulation of excess cotton and continuous movement of the cotton in all the parts. Illustration is included.
Date: May 5, 1891
Creator: Elam, William E.; Thomas, Robert S. & Hardwick, Saunie W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Track Sweeping and Oiling Attachment for Street-Cars. (open access)

Automatic Track Sweeping and Oiling Attachment for Street-Cars.

Patent for improvements in automatic track sweeping and oiling attachments to street cars by having a transverse shaft carries a hub which has a series of brushes. When “the street car moves forward, the brushes on the transverse shaft are revolved, which sweep the rails and keep them clean.” (Lines 90-93) Illustration is included.
Date: May 12, 1891
Creator: Nesmith, Robert Henry
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Pump and Motor. (open access)

Combined Pump and Motor.

Patent for a new and improved pump and motor. This design "is to produce a simple apparatus which may be connected with a main water or service pipe and which will operate by the fluctuation of pressure in said main or pipe so as to operate the pump. The device is especially advantageous in raising water from a well or cistern to a tank placed at a higher elevation, or it may be placed on a pump in place of an air-chamber and used as a feed-pump for a boiler or on a hydraulic ram as an auxiliary pump" (lines 9-18).
Date: May 3, 1892
Creator: Henderson, Thomas
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Wheel and Axle. (open access)

Car Wheel and Axle.

Patent for a car wheel and axle made up of a built-up metallic wheel with dished side-plates that have flanged and riveted rims, hub-nuts, a lock-plate, hollow screw-threaded ends, hexagonal offsets, tubular journals, a tubular journal, and a radial lubricating feed-tube with a cross-head and a collar.
Date: May 14, 1895
Creator: Flatau, Louis Spencer
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Elevator and Gin-Feeder. (open access)

Cotton-Elevator and Gin-Feeder.

Patent for an inexpensive cotton-elevator and gin-feeder that is easy to assemble and have removable screens and suspended chutes and feeders. Suction draws the cotton through the distributing trunk, and gravity drops the cotton into a gin. These concepts are also outlined in the inventor's previous patents, Nos 472,607 and 488,446.
Date: May 26, 1896
Creator: Murray, Stephen A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench. (open access)

Wrench.

Patent for an improved wrench that has two movable jaws and can separate about the length of the handle. The wrench's "head or nut for operating the upper jaw is swiveled and forms a part of the handle" (lines 14-15). The wrench can be converted into a pipe-wrench.
Date: May 9, 1893
Creator: King, Will Henry Thomas
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon Brake. (open access)

Wagon Brake.

Patent for a new and improved wagon-brake. This goal of this design "is to provide an automatic brake for wagons and other wheeled vehicles running on dirt roads" (lines 11-13).
Date: May 23, 1882
Creator: Le Roy, Charles Jerome & Henson, John Wesley
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Kitchen Cabinet. (open access)

Kitchen Cabinet.

Patent for a new and improved cabinet. This design consists in "the combination, with a hinged door or lid, of [a] . . . separate bail" (lines 99-100). Further, said bail is "pivotally secured at its upper ends to the cabinet, and adapted to support on its middle portion the free end of the said door when the latter is in its horizontal position . . . [and it consists in] a suitable frame, the drawers having compartments on either side thereof, in combination with the hinged pie-board having the opening . . . which when raised closes said compartments" (lines 1-10).
Date: May 24, 1887
Creator: Dollens, Wood C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Separating Decorticated Cotton-Seed. (open access)

Machine for Separating Decorticated Cotton-Seed.

Patent for a machine dedicated to "increase the capacity of machines for separating decorticated cotton-seed" (lines 9-10) and to "separate the meal from the husks of the decorticated cotton-seed, whereby perfectly clean meal is collected" (lines 12-15)
Date: May 11, 1897
Creator: Bell, Thomas
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trunk. (open access)

Trunk.

Patent for a trunk that is usual except for its multiple trays, "a series of levers connecting the trays, and a second series of levers connecting the first-mentioned series of levers with the trunk-lid" (lines 56-59). The levers raise the trays and move them outward, and they can lock in place.
Date: May 12, 1896
Creator: Giraud, Paul
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Fences. (open access)

Improvement in Fences.

Patent for improvement in fences using wire rails, including illustrations.
Date: May 6, 1879
Creator: Temby, Joseph W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mechanical Attachment for Pianos and Organs (open access)

Mechanical Attachment for Pianos and Organs

Patent for a "mechanical attachment for pianos and organs whereby and musical composition executed upon the instrument shall be automatically recorded upon a travelling strip or band or, if preferred, on the cylindrical surface of a revolving drum" (lines 10-15).
Date: May 31, 1892
Creator: Harriman, John Emery, Jr.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spark Arrester. (open access)

Spark Arrester.

Patent for a new and improved spark-arrester. This design consists in "[t]he combination of an inverted-U-shaped pipe joined to the smoke-stack of an engine, a suitable damper located at the junction, a water receptacle suspended from the free end of said pipe, and a water-pipe leading into said end from the boiler of the engine" (lines 85-90).
Date: May 4, 1886
Creator: Ledbetter, William Hughes
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pneumatic Apparatus for Handling Seed-Cotton. (open access)

Pneumatic Apparatus for Handling Seed-Cotton.

Patent for a machine that removes cotton from a "wagon or other vehicle" (line 11), and moving it to a storage facility. It also moves the cotton from the storage facility and into the cotton gin. The cotton is elevated during movement via suction.
Date: May 11, 1897
Creator: Murray, Stephen D.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Primary Battery. (open access)

Primary Battery.

Patent for a simplified primary battery "whereby the parts thereof may be readily removed and replaced without special tools by unprofessional persons, while at the same time providing a construction of primary battery involving new and useful connections for the positive and negative elements thereof." (Lines 10-16) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 25, 1897
Creator: Sutton, Henry M. & Steele, Walter L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History