Animal Shears. (open access)

Animal Shears.

Patent for new and improved animal shears. This design is "of a platinum or other wire or conductor heated to a high temperature, sufficient to burn through the fibers of the wool or hair, and [is] passed over the surface of the body as close as may be deemed desirable to the roots. No injurious effects are produced upon the animal or upon the wool or hair removed, while at the same time the same may be removed with great uniformity and expedition" (lines 28-36).
Date: June 8, 1886
Creator: Harrell, Joseph J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bee-Hive. (open access)

Bee-Hive.

Patent for a "new and useful improvement in bee-hives" (lines 5-6), with instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 15, 1886
Creator: McCullar, John Jackson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for "a new and useful improvement in car-couplings" (lines 5-6), with instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 15, 1886
Creator: Ferguson, George Jones
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 relation to that class of car-couplings in which the open ends of a coupling bar or link are engaged by hooks in the draw-heads; and it consists in the improved construction and combination of parts of such a coupling, in which the hooks are projecting from the under sides of arms pivoted upon the draw-heads and dropping down by their gravity, and in which the said hooks project into registering recesses in the upper side of the draw-head" (lines 23-33).
Date: June 29, 1886
Creator: Boyers, Robert L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Child's Carriage. (open access)

Child's Carriage.

Patent for a new and improved stroller. This design consists in "[a] running-gear, of the vertical hoop secured thereto, the brackets extending outward and upward from the hoop, and notched in their upper ends, the body, the brackets at opposite sides of the body, and the knife edge projections resting on the upper notched ends of the brackets . . . a vertical encircling hoop carrying buffers, standards, and brackets formed with edges, which rest upon the standards . . . an axle, wheels fitted to the axle, a forwardly extending bracket carrying a fixed wheel . . . and a sunshade" (lines 81-98).
Date: June 22, 1886
Creator: England, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the body, or receptacle and its cover, of the dasher having a frame provided with inner apertured or perforated corner blocks and journaled in the body or receptacle, and a second apertured or perforated cross-shaped dasher journaled within the other dasher, the tripod-frame comprising the arched meeting side bars, and a third connecting-bar having an aperture, through which the upper end of the inner dasher-staff passes, the three-armed brace having a gudgeon or shaft" (lines 41-52).
Date: June 15, 1886
Creator: Lines, Daniel & Long, Charles T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churning Device. (open access)

Churning Device.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the base having uprights forming guides for the vertically-movable rod, of the rod movable in said guides and adapted to be connected with a rod or dasher, the treadle, a link connecting the treadle with said rod, the shaft having a platform adapted to support the churn-body and provided with a crank, and a pitman connecting said crank with the treadle" (lines 72-80).
Date: June 1, 1886
Creator: Dickey, John S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Bag and Twine Holder (open access)

Combined Bag and Twine Holder

Patent for a device which holds both string and bags, with description of construction, parts, and use, and with illustrations.
Date: June 29, 1886
Creator: Cushing, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Gin Feeder. (open access)

Cotton Gin Feeder.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-gin feeder. This design consists in "a rectangular inclined box, endless feeding belts having spiked slats, the revolving fan at the upper end of the inclined box, and screen at the opposite end and lower side of the box, through which the sand and dirt from the cotton may escape, the current of air from the revolving fan assisting in expelling the sand and dirt, the latter falling between the slats and down the inclined bottom of the box and out through the screen" (lines 73-83).
Date: June 22, 1886
Creator: Wiley, Jesse G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Coupling for Wagon Tires. (open access)

Coupling for Wagon Tires.

Patent for a new and improved tire tightener. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the wheel-fellies, one of which has a longitudinal socket, of the overlapping sections secured to the contiguous ends of the tire, and having projecting lugs, an adjusting-bolt carried by one of the lugs and bearing against the other lug, and a protecting-plate having a threaded opening for the passage of the bolt and interposed between the end of the felly in which [a] socket is formed, and the lug adjacent thereto" (lines 80-90).
Date: June 15, 1886
Creator: Simon, Henry Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator. (open access)

Cultivator.

Patent for a new and improved cultivator. This design consists "[i]n a garden cultivator, the frame having slotted arm [that is] journaled, clevis, standard with plow, slotted arm, and wheels . . . [and] handles, adjusted . . . to lower and raise said handles" (lines 59-67).
Date: June 22, 1886
Creator: Miltenberger, Emile Rudolph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Curry Comb. (open access)

Curry Comb.

Patent for a new and improved curry-comb. This design "has relation to that class of curry-combs provided with detachable and reversible handles, and has for its object to provide simple and effective means whereby the handle can be readily detached from the comb and replaced in a reverse position, or removed for the purpose of economizing for space in packing for transportation" (lines 17-24).
Date: June 8, 1886
Creator: Johnson, Thomas Jefferson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Motor. (open access)

Electric Motor.

Patent for a new and improved electric motor. This design "consists, essentially, in such combination of an automatic circuit-breaker with a bar of soft iron secured centrally on a shaft journaled in bearings secured to the motor frame and rotating within a coil or helix that the rotation of said bar will continuously make and break the circuit, and that the action of the circuit-breaker will cause the continuous rotation of the bar" (lines 17-26).
Date: June 22, 1886
Creator: Emley, James E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harrow. (open access)

Harrow.

Patent for a new and improved harrow. This design "has relation to that class of rotary harrows having arms provided with and extending radially from a common center, a track-ring connected to the upper side of the harrow-arms, upon which work friction-rollers connected to the seat-support. It is the object of the invention to improve the construction of the harrow-arms which carry the teeth, and the manner of connecting them to a common center, whereby the above class of harrows are materially increased in efficiency, much stronger, and more durable" (lines 12-24).
Date: June 29, 1886
Creator: McCann, William E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse Collar. (open access)

Horse Collar.

Patent for a new and improved horse collar. This design "is to supply a cheap, durable, easy fitting and self adjusting or flexible horse-collar for farm and other use, and which shall readily adapt itself to the form of the animal, and thereby obviate those abrasions which are so common with the use of a rigid and unyielding collar. To these and other ends [the] collar is made for the most part of what is known as "moss-yarn," with its strands or fibers arranged and the body of the collar subjected to pressure in a mold or press" (lines 9-20).
Date: June 15, 1886
Creator: Bailey, William Luther; Knight, Leonard Thaddeus & Knight, Lenis Douglas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Measuring Wheel. (open access)

Measuring Wheel.

Patent for a new and improved measuring-wheel. This design "relates to the construction of an instrument whereby lineal measurements may be taken and automatically registered where the distance is greater than the circumference of the measuring-wheel. The invention consists of a graduated wheel in the slot of a bifurcated handle, and of an automatic registering attachment" (lines 7-14).
Date: June 29, 1886
Creator: McCaleb, John L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock. (open access)

Nut Lock.

Patent for a new and improved nut lock. This design consists in "[a] lock . . . for a nut having a non-circular recess in its rear face, consisting of a washer having a non-circular opening whereby it may be keyed upon a bolt and fitted to enter the non-circular recess of a nut, and a securing-plate having an opening fitted to receive the locking-washer" (lines 81-87).
Date: June 15, 1886
Creator: Unger, Louis
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railroad Gate. (open access)

Railroad Gate.

Patent for a new and improved railroad gate. This design "has relation to railroad-gates of the class that is designed to be erected at the lines of fences for the purpose of preventing cattle and stock from passing from one field to another, and further designed to be opened by the wheels of a passing train, and automatically closed after the train has passed; and the invention consists in the construction and novel combination of parts" (lines 20-28).
Date: June 1, 1886
Creator: Jacobs, William Ramsey & Houston, Samuel Callahan
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rein Holder. (open access)

Rein Holder.

Patent for a new and improved rein holder. This design consists in "the combination of the plate or part secured upon the dash-board, the T-head thereon extending a proper distance above the dash-board, and the spring-actuated arm pivoted to the side of [the plate] at a suitable distance down its length and having the clamping-head to act in conjunction with [the] head in holding the rein, said arm having a bearing upon the dash-board in its forward movement, and a stop . . . to limit its backward movement" (lines 12-22).
Date: June 1, 1886
Creator: Zevely, Van Neiman
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spark-Arrester. (open access)

Spark-Arrester.

Patent for an improvement to spark-arresters, which deflect sparks and cinders released by locomotive engines. Includes illustrations.
Date: June 29, 1886
Creator: McCormick, John Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire-stretcher. This design "has relation to that class of wire-stretchers in which a drum is journaled in a frame and is provided with a ratchet-wheel at one end, and in which a lever is pivoted in the frame, which engages the ratchet-wheel, serving to revolve it, and a pawl engages the ratchet-wheel, so as to prevent it from revolving backward, the frame being provided with a wire-clamp, and a rope or chain upon the drum being also provided with a wire-clamp, so that by revolving the drum one end of the wire may be drawn toward the end of another wire" (lines 25-37).
Date: June 29, 1886
Creator: Menefee, Stephen Austin & Mullinax, Eli Stephens
System: The Portal to Texas History