Animal-Trap. (open access)

Animal-Trap.

Patent for improvements in animal-traps that would be capable of catching two animals; to set the trap, bait is placed upon the hooked ends of the bait-hooks, the jaws are elevated and retained in a position by the link-catches, which have the lower hooked ends engaging the trigger, which has its free end engaging the eye at the inner end of the bait hooks, thus setting the trap, (lines 66-73) ready to catch animals. Illustration is included.
Date: May 5, 1891
Creator: Anderson, Henry Clay
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machinery For Pressing Cotton. (open access)

Machinery For Pressing Cotton.

Patent for improvements in machinery for facilitating the pressing of cotton; and it relates particularly to mechanism in which cylinders and pistons are used, under the influence of fluid or liquid, such as steam, air, water, or gas under pressure to operate the follower-block of a bailing-press. (Lines 12-18) Illustration is included.
Date: May 5, 1891
Creator: Bachman, Joseph A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Chopper. (open access)

Cotton-Chopper.

Patent for improvements in cotton-choppers by using a crown-wheel attached to one of the ground-wheels of the chopper. When the ground wheels impart motion to the crown wheel, which in turn communicates motion to the pinions of the shaft. This shaft drives the two sprocket-wheels; the sprocket wheel that located in the rear portions of the crank-shaft imparts motion to the crank-shaft, which drives the vertical choppers. Illustration is included.
Date: May 12, 1891
Creator: Baggett, Neil Jefferson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hoe. (open access)

Hoe.

Patent for improvements in hoes, the inventor designed the handle of the hoe to carry two shanks; the shanks diverging form the handle and bent to be parallel with each other. A connecting-rod at the end of two shanks is being threaded and provided with locking-nuts, which used to secure the hoe blades. The hoe blades can be adjusted laterally. Illustration is included.
Date: May 19, 1891
Creator: Brown, Henry M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for improvement in plows by using a “combination of mold-board, land-bar, and share, which will effectually shed the land and prevent the latter from adhere to it.” (Lines 15-18) Illustration is included.
Date: May 26, 1891
Creator: Brown, William Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sash-Balance. (open access)

Sash-Balance.

Patent for improvements in window-sash balances, in which the two sashes are connected, “so that they will not only balance but also either may be raised or lowered without affecting the other.” (Lines 17-20) Illustration is included.
Date: May 26, 1891
Creator: Christian, James F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Balance-Staff for Watches. (open access)

Balance-Staff for Watches.

Patent for improvements in balance-staffs for watches by “strengthen and increase the durability of the pivots or journals of the staff while reducing the friction to a minimum” (lines 16-19), included illustration.
Date: May 5, 1891
Creator: Cooper, Jonathan H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device for Handling and Cleaning Seed-Cotton by Atmospheric Suction. (open access)

Device for Handling and Cleaning Seed-Cotton by Atmospheric Suction.

Patent for a new device for handling and cleaning seeding cotton by atmospheric suction in which the cotton may be conveyed and cleaned without passing through the exhaust-fans, thereby avoiding danger of the machine being choked while in operation. (Lines 14-17) Illustration is included.
Date: May 19, 1891
Creator: Eberhardt, Theophilus Charles
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.
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
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay-Press. (open access)

Hay-Press.

Patent for improvements in hay-presses by using the combination of a ram having a connecting rod, a rack engaged with a rotatable cog-wheel, a bed-plate, a weighted lever, a buffer and other minor parts to create the pressing operation. Illustration is included.
Date: May 19, 1891
Creator: Grant, Richard A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Chopping Machine. (open access)

Cotton-Chopping Machine.

Patent for improvement in stalk-choppers particularly adapted for chopping cotton. When the chopper is started the sprocket upon one of the traveling wheels will impart motion to the sprocket through the medium of the sprocket-chain, which will rotate the gear-wheel and in turn the pinion and the crank will impart a reciprocatory motion to the pitman and the horizontal bar, this will give the cutter-blade a reciprocatory motion. The speed of the reciprocatory chopping blade can be regulated. (Lines 45-55) Illustration is included.
Date: May 26, 1891
Creator: Guyton, James W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for an improved plow which is attached in the usual manner to the standard of a suitable beam, when the device is used for cultivating young crops, the fender is place in position and will serve to prevent the loose, dirt from tumbling over upon the growing plants. When the plants grew larger, the fender can be removed and a portion of the loose soil will thus be permitted to cover. (Lines 65-73) Illustration is included.
Date: May 5, 1891
Creator: Haynes, Leonard Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Journal-Lubricator. (open access)

Journal-Lubricator.

Patent for improvements in lubricators by mounting a box, with a pair holes near its ends, on a bearing; with partitions across the box adjacent each holes, a pair of cord shape wicks and a depending flange, depressing the wicks to the bottom of the box. “When the box filled with liquid lubricant and the cover closed, the lower edge of the flange depresses the wicks, submerging them at the center of the box, and the wicks absorb oil at this point, the oil is lead thence by capillary attraction along the wicks down through the holes in the bottom of the box and into the groove, whence it is delivered by direct contact upon the upper side of the rotating shaft which it is desired to lubricate.” (Lines 52-63) Illustration is included.
Date: May 19, 1891
Creator: Hubbard, Benjamin V.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Account-Book. (open access)

Account-Book.

Patent for improvement in account-books by “dispensing a multiplicity of books in keeping accounts and to devise means for combining in one book and upon a single page thereof the features of the ledger, day-book, bill-book and bills-receivable book, said page to be so provided with perforation as to admit of the detachment of certain parts, leaving intake theat part of the page that is intended for permanent record.” (Lines 13-22) Illustration is included.
Date: May 26, 1891
Creator: Huck, Henry J., Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine. (open access)

Washing-Machine.

Patent for a useful washing machine by providing “a device which will thoroughly cleanse the clothes with a minimum of labor and in which the heavier particles of dirt from the pieces washed will be separated from the main washing-chamber and thus kept out of contact with the clothes.” (Lines 10-15) Illustration is included.
Date: May 26, 1891
Creator: Hutcheson, Casey E. & Hutcheson, Franklin L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn-Power. (open access)

Churn-Power.

Patent for improvements in churn-motors by using the combination of an upright supporting frame, “a shaft journaled in the frame, means for rotating the shaft,…..corresponding with the size of the joint between the dasher-staff and pitman, substantially as specified.” (Line 5-15, p.2) Illustration is included.
Date: May 26, 1891
Creator: MaGee, William Joseph
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
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Bedder and Planter. (open access)

Cotton Bedder and Planter.

Patent for improvements in cotton bedders and planters in which when the machine “is used for planting, the seeding mechanism will be in place and the plow-beams are placed near together. The plow upon beam A will open a drill to receive the seed from the spout which extends downwardly in rear of the plow.” (Lines 114-121) “When the machine is used for bedding, the plow-beams are opened, and the seed-planting mechanism may be removed or simply thrown out of gear.” (Lines 109-113) Illustration is included.
Date: May 26, 1891
Creator: Parris, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bale-Box Attachment. (open access)

Bale-Box Attachment.

Patent for improvements in cotton-presses, in which “it comprises two presser-rollers between which the cotton as it comes from the gin, is compressed, yielding bearings for one of the said presser-rollers, two guard-bars, one for each presser-roller, to prevent the cotton being carried out by the rollers, the ends of the guard–bars being threaded to receive nuts by means of which the attachment is clamped to the baling-box, and a conveyer to transfer the cotton from the gin to the said rollers.” (Lines 22-32) Illustration is included.
Date: May 12, 1891
Creator: Sanders, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wheel. (open access)

Wheel.

Patent for "improvements in wheels particularly designed for use on harvesters in heavy or muddy ground." (Lines 8-10) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: March 19, 1891
Creator: Stroud, Wiley N.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railroad-Gate. (open access)

Railroad-Gate.

Patent for improvements in automatic railway and farm gates by using a combination and arrangement of two supporting-frames, two sliding gates, a diagonal rod to secure the gates; with three levers each having its own functions, and two friction rollers. Illustration is included.
Date: May 12, 1891
Creator: Wood, Horace Overall & Smith, Sanford Sanders
System: The Portal to Texas History
Adding-Machine. (open access)

Adding-Machine.

Patent for am adding machine by using two disks, one a units-disk with pins in multiples of ten, one a tens-disk, is an annular disk with pin surrounding the units disk, an outwardly spring-pressed holder having a beveled outer end frictionally engaging the pins of the tens-disk and a carrier having oppositely-beveled ends engaged a supplemental pin and one pin on the tens-disks, teeth in the adjacent faces of the holder and carrier, and an idle-gear between them to enable the adding operation. (Lines 50-62) Illustration is included.
Date: May 12, 1891
Creator: Wright, Joseph W.
System: The Portal to Texas History