Letter Tie. (open access)

Letter Tie.

Patent for a new and improved clasp for letters. This design calls for wire or sheet metal to be shaped into a suitable size and shape for letters, including tabs on the ends to snap together to fasten the letters. This eliminates the need for twine or string, which reduces the flammability of the packages.
Date: May 3, 1881
Creator: Price, James N.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace Carrier. (open access)

Trace Carrier.

Patent for a new and improved back-band buckle and hook. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the buckle formed with the central cross-bar having the teeth and having the side hooks and having the outwardly-projecting tongue formed with the transverse aperture at its lower end, of the hook-plate formed with the reduced upper ends and the hook at its lower end having the opposite slots, and the locking key" (lines 14-21).
Date: May 1, 1888
Creator: Crockett, Edward R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Screen. (open access)

Screen.

Patent for a new and improved insect screen. This design consists in "the combination, with the wire frame and the base to which the ends of the wires of said frame are connected, of the auxiliary strands bracing the arch-wire of said frame, and the book-holder having the upper end of its supporting-wires bent and connected to the longitudinal wire of said frame" (lines 18-24).
Date: May 17, 1887
Creator: Rice, Robert G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "has for its object to provide a device of this character which shall be cheap and simple in its construction and thoroughly effective in its operation. The invention consists in the improved construction and combinations of parts" (lines 10-15).
Date: May 13, 1884
Creator: Smoot, John Devers
System: The Portal to Texas History
Attachment for Wheel-Cultivators (open access)

Attachment for Wheel-Cultivators

Patent for a new and useful improvement in attachments for wheel cultivators, including description and illustrations.
Date: May 17, 1887
Creator: Brown, William R.
System: The Portal to Texas History