Blind Stops. (open access)

Blind Stops.

Patent for a new and improved stop for blinds. This design "is to provide a convenient means by which blind-slats may be swung on their pivots, so as to open or close to the extent desired" (lines 8-11).
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: Vandervoort, Charles Frederick
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bridle Attachment. (open access)

Bridle Attachment.

Patent for a new and improved bridle attachment. This design "consists of a contrivance of nose-clamping strap having end rings through which pass the ends of a chin-strap connected by reign-straps passing through rings of a head-strap of the attachment . . . the invention comprising also a connection of the martingale-straps with the rings of the nose-clamping straps . . . to powerfully check up the horse when required, and also to prevent rearing and plunging" (lines 9-20).
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: Massey, John T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Burglar Alarm. (open access)

Burglar Alarm.

Patent for a new and improved burglar alarm. This design "consists in the combination of the lock-frame with a pivoted plate which is connected to it at one end, and which plate carries the nipple to receive the catch, and is provided with sharp points to catch in the jamb of the door, with a sidewise-moving trigger, which is operated by the door, and a set-screw for securing the lock-plate in position upon the door" (lines 13-21).
Date: June 26, 1883
Creator: Wright, William Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "relates to car-couplers, the object being to provide a coupler of simple and durable construction which may be coupled automatically, thus avoiding the inconvenience and danger incident to the use of the usual coupling-link or pin" (lines 9-14).
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: Freeman, Walter F.
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-head, of an L-shaped lever pivoted in the same and provided at its angle with a lug, which L-shaped lever has a coupling-pin suspended from the end of the long arm, and has its short arm passed into an aperture in the inner end of a bar sliding in the bottom of the draw-head, whereby when the lug is depressed the coupling-pin will be raised and the bar in the draw-head will push the link out from the end of the draw-head" (lines 7-17).
Date: June 12, 1883
Creator: Appell, Charles E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "relates to car-couplers, the object being to provide a coupler with a coupling-pin of improved construction, and to combine said pin with effective and durable devices for raising and lowering it. The invention consists in the combinations of parts" (lines 9-15).
Date: June 12, 1883
Creator: Cage, George A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clamp. (open access)

Clamp.

Patent for a new and improved clamp. This design "is for an improvement upon that class of inventions known as 'flooring jacks' or 'clamps,' and has for its object the lessening of labor for the attainment of the object or result which this is intended to perform, and the readiness and ease with which it can be manipulated" (lines 15-21).
Date: June 19, 1883
Creator: Sage, Eugene
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination Level. (open access)

Combination Level.

Patent for a new and improved combination level. This design "is broadly to provide a combined carpenter's and surveyor's level of a cheap, simple, light, and durable form, and adapted for use as a carpenter's plumb and level or a surveyor's level interchangeably without the removal or change of any of its parts; and to this end in consists in the conformation and arrangement of parts" (lines 19-26).
Date: June 12, 1883
Creator: Sands, James Harley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cultivator and Cotton and Corn Planter. (open access)

Combined Cultivator and Cotton and Corn Planter.

Patent for a new implement "for planting cotton-seed, cultivating the soil, and covering the soil" (lines 14-15) and corn (line 61) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: McCall, Duncan Jefferson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Tent and Bed. (open access)

Combined Tent and Bed.

Patent for improvements in the construction of a combined folding bed and tent.
Date: June 19, 1883
Creator: Perez, Mitchel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Gin. (open access)

Cotton Gin.

Patent for a new and improved cotton gin. This design "is to provide certain means whereby the breast and guard can be readily and quickly moved and held out of their normal position for the purpose of clearing or freeing the cotton-roll from the saws, and preventing injury to the operator by said saws" (lines 7-13).
Date: June 26, 1883
Creator: Rogan, David Smith
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Planter (open access)

Cotton Planter

Patent for a machine used to plant cotton. Contains mechanisms for both plowing a furrow, planting seeds, and covering the seeds.
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: Carter, Edwards D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device for Attaching Pumps to Oil and Other Cans. (open access)

Device for Attaching Pumps to Oil and Other Cans.

Patent for a device for attaching pumps to oil and other cans.
Date: June 12, 1883
Creator: Holden, William G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device for Packing Cotton (open access)

Device for Packing Cotton

Patent for device used to compress and pack cotton into a press box.
Date: June 26, 1883
Creator: Summers, Dewitt C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Door Check. (open access)

Door Check.

Patent for a new and improved door check. This design "consists in a sliding spring-bolt held in the upper edge of the door, combined with a curved notched frame, projecting from the door-frame, into the notches of which frame the end of the bolt can pass to hold the door in the desired potion. The sliding bolt is connected . . . [to] a crank-arm formed on one end of a spindle, provided on the opposite end with a handle-knob, the crank arm of which spindle can be adjusted to lock the spring-bolt" (lines 11-21).
Date: June 26, 1883
Creator: McCurdy, Thomas B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Feed Governor for Cotton Gins. (open access)

Feed Governor for Cotton Gins.

Patent for a new and improved feed governor for cotton gins. This design "provide[s] means whereby the rate of feeding will be automatically decreased when the cotton is fed into the roll-box faster than it is being ginned, and whereby the feed will be finally stopped when the roll increases to a certain limit, and will be again started when the roll is reduced to a size previously fixed upon, and will be actuated to feed faster as the roll decreases in size" (lines 17-25).
Date: June 12, 1883
Creator: Flannagan, John D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire Place. (open access)

Fire Place.

Patent for a new and improved fire place. This design "simplif[ies] the construction of . . . that class of fire-places provided with an air-space around its back, sides, and under its hearth, whereby the air in said space is heated and used for ventilating a room . . . thus enabling them to be manufactured at a greatly reduced cost and set up for use without the necessity of building an arch in the wall of a room to receive the fire-place" (lines 17-26).
Date: June 12, 1883
Creator: Rembert, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fruit Squeezer. (open access)

Fruit Squeezer.

Patent for a new and improved fruit juicer. This design consists "[i]n a fruit-squeezer having flat or nearly flat pressing-surfaces, the combination of jaws having lever-handles integral therewith, and face-plates held in transverse dovetail seats in the faces of the respective jaws by means of clamping-screws, and supported therein by central set-screws" (lines 89-95).
Date: June 26, 1883
Creator: Stein, Philip H. & Tams, James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay and Cotton Press (open access)

Hay and Cotton Press

Patent for "hay and cotton press that can be easily and cheaply constructed and that can be operated by hand or horse power" (Lines 20-22).
Date: June 19, 1883
Creator: Donaldson, Sven
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hoop-Fastening for Buckets, &c. (open access)

Hoop-Fastening for Buckets, &c.

Reissued patent for a a hoop fastening "to hold the hoops on buckets, barrels, kegs, and other like vessels in an effective manner, and to prevent them from dropping off when the vessel dries and shrinks" (lines 8-12).
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: Phillips, Hiram B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect Trap. (open access)

Insect Trap.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design "consists in forming the trough of a quadrangular form, and V-shaped in cross-section, with the plates of the opposite sections of the trough forming wedges adapted to be forced into the ground around the mouth of the ant-hill and securely anchor the trap in the ground" (lines 41-46).
Date: June 26, 1883
Creator: Bunnell, James F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Kitchen Scale. (open access)

Kitchen Scale.

Patent for a new and improved kitchen scale. This design "introduces a pivoted stirrup into the yoke on the tray-rod, said stirrup being pivoted to and suspended from the beam. By this means, the stirrup and beam can vibrate in the yoke without disturbing the perpendicularity of the tray-rod" (lines 62-67).
Date: June 26, 1883
Creator: Solomon, Thomas Durham
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a plow with a convex moldboard and a landside, or shoe, which in combination acts as a turning plow and subsoiler.
Date: June 12, 1883
Creator: Kennedy, George Finlay
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sewing Machine (open access)

Sewing Machine

Patent for a sewing machine "wherein the shuttle rotates...whereby the shuttle-thread at a certain time in each revolution of the shuttle is rewound upon the bobbin, which prevents the thread from twisting or untwisting" (Lines10-17).
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: McAllister, Lewis C.
System: The Portal to Texas History