Resource Type

Adjustable Hoe (open access)

Adjustable Hoe

Patent for improvement in "the construction of hoes and to provide a simple, practical, and inexpensive hoe, of strong and durable construction." (lines 11-13) including illustrations.
Date: July 27, 1915
Creator: Armstrong, John Joshua, Sr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Anti-Friction Wagon Slide. (open access)

Anti-Friction Wagon Slide.

Patent for a new and improved anti-friction wagon slide. This design "consists of flat side pieces provided with bolt-holes near their ends, and connected to diametrically-opposite points of nearly-cylindrical end pieces, which have holes through their axes for the reception of the roller-shaft. The recess is so formed that the lower portion of the end pieces shall bear against its ends when the frame is put in place. This arrangement, together with the bolts through the corners of the frame and the coupling-tongue, prevents any tendency of the frame to displacement" (lines 42-54).
Date: July 27, 1886
Creator: Jowell, George Ratcliff.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Obtaining a Vacuum. (open access)

Apparatus for Obtaining a Vacuum.

Patent for a new and improved vacuum. This design utilizes a liquid pump, plates, tubes and valves to make "about as perfect a vacuum . . . as can be obtained by an ordinary pump" (lines 53-55).
Date: July 27, 1880
Creator: Ward, Lyman Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blind-Slat Adjustor (open access)

Blind-Slat Adjustor

Patent for a blind slat adjuster which can hold the blinds in a variety of different positions.
Date: July 27, 1909
Creator: Hermann, Ernst W. F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bucket-Jack (open access)

Bucket-Jack

Patent for a bucket jack for holding paint buckets while painting on roofs or the sides of buildings which holds the bucket horizontal.
Date: July 27, 1909
Creator: Phinny, Christpher W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Candy-Drying Machine. (open access)

Candy-Drying Machine.

Patent for a machine to dry and pack chocolate more uniformly without need for attendants, including illustrations.
Date: July 27, 1915
Creator: Greer, Jesse W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Canopy-Suspending Attachment for Bedsteads. (open access)

Canopy-Suspending Attachment for Bedsteads.

Patent for a canopy-suspending attachment for bedsteads, which is adjustable to different size beds and folds up when not in use.
Date: July 27, 1909
Creator: Skinner, Miles T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Comfort and the Like. (open access)

Comfort and the Like.

Patent for a loosely woven material that covers household furnishings so it can be easily cleaned and then reattached.
Date: July 27, 1920
Creator: McNatt, Lucie R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Chopper Attachment for Cultivators. (open access)

Cotton-Chopper Attachment for Cultivators.

Patent for improvements in cotton chopping attachments for cultivators that is relatively inexpensive that is highly useful in chopping and plowing cotton plan.
Date: July 27, 1920
Creator: Martin, William A. & Roebuck, Mathew P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Picking Machine. (open access)

Cotton-Picking Machine.

Patent for improvements to cotton picking machines "of that class in which the cotton-boll is caught on the end of a revolving picker" (lines 11-12). Improvements include a combination of a revolving drum with hollow tubular arms attached to the drum, as well as revolving pickers attached to those arms. Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 27, 1897
Creator: Haring, Peter Paul.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Planter and Cultivator. (open access)

Cotton Planter and Cultivator.

Patent for improvements in cotton planters and cultivators by “attaching one or more levers to the axle which are pivoted to a frame below the axle, in which the levers are also connected with the caster-wheel in front, whereby the frame may be raised so as to elevate the cultivators above the earth.” (Lines 14-19) Illustration is included.
Date: July 27, 1880
Creator: Walsh, James D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Crate. (open access)

Crate.

Patent for an improvement in crates that contains fruit in perfect condition without any bruising or mashing and can be stacked on top of each other.
Date: July 27, 1920
Creator: Woodruff, William Douglas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Design for Sugar Cane Hook. (open access)

Design for Sugar Cane Hook.

Patent for a sugar cane hook that provides a pair of outwardly-branching and downwardly and inwardly curved hooks.
Date: July 27, 1897
Creator: Beall, George Ashcom
System: The Portal to Texas History
Draft Appliance for Agricultural Implements. (open access)

Draft Appliance for Agricultural Implements.

Patent for a pivoted draft tongue for farm implements that allows the tongue to move from side to side and be controlled by the driver.
Date: July 27, 1909
Creator: Hartman, Albert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric-Arc-Light Reflector. (open access)

Electric-Arc-Light Reflector.

Patent for an electric arc light reflector, including an annular band to support the reflector on the arc-light cone, and a reflector with an aperture.
Date: July 27, 1897
Creator: Bolles, Charles Morris
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fountain Drafting-Pen. (open access)

Fountain Drafting-Pen.

Patent for a fountain drafting pen, which has a rubber handle that when flexed sends out the pen tip with ink, and and when flexed again takes the point back into the ink reservoir in the handle.
Date: July 27, 1909
Creator: Smith, Edward Ruthven
System: The Portal to Texas History
Funnel Attachment. (open access)

Funnel Attachment.

Patent for a new and improved funnel attachment for pouring. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the supporting frame, a shaft journaled in the frame, a crank for rotating the shaft and carried by the frame, and a screw-conveyer carried by the shaft and having the smaller blades and the larger blade arranged above the [smaller] blades, and bearing against the funnel above the conducting tube thereof when the device is adjusted in the funnel" (lines 52-60).
Date: July 27, 1886
Creator: Charlton, James & Lynch, Hubbard Calhoon
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate-Hinge. (open access)

Gate-Hinge.

Patent for a "gravity-hinge for causing a gate to automatically close, and which is susceptible of such adjustment that if the gate-post and the latch-post, either or both, become disarranged as regards their perpendicular position, or if they are not exactly coincident with relation to each other, the gate can be centered relatively to the latch-post, or rather the hinged end of the gate can be set precisely perpendicular or be shifted laterally to any required angle of inclination for the purpose of causing the gate to properly close and engage the latch on the latch-post." (Lines 11-24) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 27, 1897
Creator: Berry, John S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay-Press. (open access)

Hay-Press.

Patent for "a novel form of baling-press which will be readily transportable and owing to its peculiar construction can be manipulated by hand, a still further object being to provide such an improved baling-press that the wire ties can be wrapped around the bale after its formation easily and quickly and the bale can be readily removed from the press after it has been wired." (Lines 16-24) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 27, 1897
Creator: Hawk, Nathaniel H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Header. (open access)

Header.

Patent for a header for removing the heads of grain, which adjusts to different height grains.
Date: July 27, 1909
Creator: Gregory, George L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hydrocarbon-Burner. (open access)

Hydrocarbon-Burner.

Patent for improvements in hydrocarbon burners that is inexpensive and can take refined oil or heavy crude oil and make it useable as fuel.
Date: July 27, 1920
Creator: St. Wrba, Joseph J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Igniting Device. (open access)

Igniting Device.

Patent for improvements in electrical ignitors that can be put over a gas burner and operated by the pressure of the gas flowing from the burner, which can ignite the gas.
Date: July 27, 1920
Creator: Shuford, Carl H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Ant-Destroying Apparatus. (open access)

Improvement in Ant-Destroying Apparatus.

Patent for "a new and Improved Apparatus for Destroying Ants" (lines 4-5) including illustrations.
Date: July 27, 1875
Creator: Grafton, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Farm-Fences. (open access)

Improvement in Farm-Fences.

Patent for "a cheap and easily-constructed fence, and one which neither small nor large stock will be able to jump over or pass through." (Lines 11-14) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 27, 1875
Creator: Rush, Alonzo & Yarbrough, Fisher
System: The Portal to Texas History