Apparatus for Filling Bottles. (open access)

Apparatus for Filling Bottles.

Patent for an "apparatus for filling bottles with crude petroleum, turpentine, and other liquids; and its object is to provide an improved construction which shall possess superior advantages with respect to efficiency in operation" (lines 14-19).
Date: May 5, 1896
Creator: McKay, Felix Early
System: The Portal to Texas History
Caster Attachment for Plows. (open access)

Caster Attachment for Plows.

Patent for "a simple and practical attachment for a sulky or other plow which will enable the operator to readily turn the plow at any point where this may be desired while the plow is in service, and furthermore, to furnish a device of the above-indicated character which will be especially well adapted to facilitate the turning movement of a disk plow and dispense with the use of a tongue to guide the plow." (Lines 14-23) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 26, 1896
Creator: Waters, George W.
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.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Crank-Pin-Box Connection. (open access)

Crank-Pin-Box Connection.

Patent for "improvements in the connections of single-acting pistons of compressor-engines and other engines of like character with one common crank-pin of the main shaft where two or more cylinders and pistons are employed." (Lines 13-18) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 26, 1896
Creator: Robinson, Charles H.
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.
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.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a plow that has a new design for a "subsoil and harrow attachment to the ordinary break-plow" (lines 9-10).
Date: May 19, 1896
Creator: Bowers, Thomas M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Power-Motor. (open access)

Power-Motor.

Patent for a power-motor that a "gearing mounted on a frame, winding-drum, and horse-power, elevations and weights, with means for operating and regulating the same" (lines 12-15).
Date: May 19, 1896
Creator: Levings, Enoc
System: The Portal to Texas History
Screen for Vehicles (open access)

Screen for Vehicles

Patent for an improvement in screens meant to prevent passengers from having to look at horses' hind ends in carriages. It is a rectangle of cloth laced in a frame, which is attached to the thills.
Date: May 19, 1896
Creator: Fleming, John M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sliding Gate. (open access)

Sliding Gate.

Patent for sliding gates "which will open automatically and close in a like manner after a person, team, or the like has passed through it. A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the gate will be prevented from being accidentally opened by stock." (Lines 12-18) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 26, 1896
Creator: Moss, John O.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Speed-Recorder. (open access)

Speed-Recorder.

Patent for an improvement in speed-recorders or device meant especially for street-cars, meant to protect the streets from reckless driving. The machine punches tape, recording the time the trolly takes to travel each block and how long the trolly takes at each stop.
Date: May 5, 1896
Creator: Spence, James, Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Strainer for Coffee-Pots. (open access)

Strainer for Coffee-Pots.

Patent for a strainer "by which the steam from the fluid coffee which has passed through the percolating-cloth to the base of the coffee-pot can rise above the strainer, there condense, and then return again through the strainer, thus causing a thorough extraction of the strength of the coffee" (lines 9-15).
Date: May 5, 1896
Creator: Massey, Andrew J. & Stallings, James W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sweep. (open access)

Sweep.

Patent for sweep that is improved with the addition of a middle-break so that it "will be adapted to do its work thoroughly with the least possible draft and which will not be liable to get out of kilter." (Lines 16-19) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 12, 1896
Creator: Schoenfelder, August
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
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle-Wheel Scraper. (open access)

Vehicle-Wheel Scraper.

Patent for "a novel device for removing dirt from the peripheries of vehicle-wheels while the vehicle is in motion, and has for its objects to provide a novel, simple, and very efficient device of the indicated character which is readily attachable to the running-gear of a wagon or other wheeled vehicle, which may be readily adjusted thereon to remove dirt from its wheels, which will afford a reliable guard to prevent mud and slush from being thrown by the wheels on the body of the vehicle, and that may be conveniently removed from the vehicle when the improved scrapers are not needed for service." (Lines 7-20) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 19, 1896
Creator: Smith, William F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-and-Picket-Fence Machine. (open access)

Wire-and-Picket-Fence Machine.

Patent for a machine that secures "pickets in wire fencing, the wires having been secured to and stretched between the fence-posts and the machine applied to the wires and operated by hand to secure the pickets to the wires by an operation which places them in crossed relation to form loops within which the pickets are secured at the proper distance apart" (lines 9-16). The machine works on wires that have already been stretched.
Date: May 12, 1896
Creator: Rice, Elisha A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for a wire-stretcher that has "a body portion bifurcated at one end with the rigid integral forks of the bifurcation oppositely notched with said notches arranged in line substantially transverse of the body portion, whereby the device is adapted to operate in holding the wire for stretching" (lines 75-81).
Date: May 26, 1896
Creator: Willie, William T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher and Splicer. (open access)

Wire Stretcher and Splicer.

Patent for "a wire-patcher by which the wire rails of fences may be spliced when broken and stretched when any slack occurs." (Lines 16-18) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 26, 1896
Creator: Massey, Joseph Borygard
System: The Portal to Texas History