Resource Type

Valve-Gear for Steam-Engines. (open access)

Valve-Gear for Steam-Engines.

Patent for improving the cut-off of steam-engines through a simple valve motion, including illustration.
Date: July 30, 1850
Creator: Milner, George B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Air-Brake Coupling (open access)

Automatic Air-Brake Coupling

Patent for "improved automatic pipe-coupling which shall overcome the difficulties found in the devices of this class heretofore in use, and which shall be cheap to manufacture, easy to repair, simple in construction, and extremely effective in use and operation" (lines 27-33).
Date: July 30, 1889
Creator: Roquemore, Peter G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ant-Trap (open access)

Ant-Trap

Patent for an ant trap,with illustrations. Purpose of the invention was to be efficient more efficient in both cost and use in comparison to other ant traps being sold at the time.
Date: July 30, 1889
Creator: Davis, Edwin E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press (open access)

Baling-Press

Patent for novel improvements concerning hay baling presses.
Date: July 30, 1889
Creator: Denman, William Marion
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bolster-Standard. (open access)

Bolster-Standard.

Patent for a durable, simple, and easily applied bolster-standard meant to be secured to the bolster and does not allow the bolster to split or crack.
Date: July 30, 1895
Creator: Bennett, Thomas H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Copy-Holder for Record-Books, &c. (open access)

Copy-Holder for Record-Books, &c.

Patent for a simple and efficient copy-holder meant for recording things. The invention feeds paper line by line, so the records are straight. The copy-holder also holds the pages of a book in place.
Date: July 30, 1895
Creator: Powell, Phanor P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Hame-Fastenings. (open access)

Improvement in Hame-Fastenings.

Patent for improvements in economical and durable hame-fastening.
Date: July 30, 1878
Creator: Flatau, Louis S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Churn-Motors (open access)

Improvement in Churn-Motors

Patent for an improvement in churn-motors, which would allow for the motor to run faster or slower as needed, with illustration.
Date: July 30, 1878
Creator: Alexander, Julius A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Thill-Coupling. (open access)

Thill-Coupling.

Patent for a thill-coupling that has a clip-eye, pivot-bolt, and an open-slotted thill-iron that has flat and extended jaws with a hole. The jaws are lined up with the thill-iron, meant to secure a railroad spike into place. The invention also has a flat bar-spring attached to the thill-iron.
Date: July 30, 1895
Creator: Dibrell, Anthony
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pressing and Drying Garments. (open access)

Pressing and Drying Garments.

Patent for pressing and drying pantaloons and garments which includes a hollow form made of sheet metal that is closed steam-tight and uses a steam pipe inside to dry the garments.
Date: October 8, 1881
Creator: Wolf, Louis
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fan for Rocking Furniture. (open access)

Fan for Rocking Furniture.

Patent for a new and improved fan for rocking furniture. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the fan-supporting frame . . . the fan adjustably journaled to the bar, and the holding forks pivoted to uprights of the fan pivoted to the ends of the horizontal arms of the frame, all arranged to form a set of fans for front and rear service" (lines 94-100).
Date: July 30, 1889
Creator: McComas, Arthur William & Fitzhugh, Henry Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fiber Unwinder and Mixer. (open access)

Fiber Unwinder and Mixer.

Patent for a fiber unwinder and mixer meant to pick apart, unroll, and mix lint-cotton or other similar material. It then presses the lint-cotton into cylindrical bales "in order to restore the cotton or similar material in such bales to the loose condition requisite for the usual process of manufacture in mills, and to mix different grades of cotton or like fibrous material, when desired" (lines 17-22).
Date: July 30, 1895
Creator: Patterson, Warren A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Pumps. (open access)

Improvement in Pumps.

Patent for improvement in the means by which cotton plants are watered, protected from pesticides and fires. It provides for a mechanism by which poison and water may be more easily distributed to the plants.
Date: July 30, 1878
Creator: Helmecke, Friederich Andreas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Heel Attachment. (open access)

Heel Attachment.

Patent for a new and improved heel attachment. This design consists in "[t]he shoe having the sole provided with the plate having the struck-up flange and U-plate, the flange and plate forming the groove, and the plate being further provided with the perforation, in combination with the heel provided at its upper end with the plate, supported slightly above the same and adapted to fit the groove and provided with a perforation aligning with the [former] perforation, and the screw inserted downwardly through the perforation and terminating in the heel" (lines 71-82).
Date: July 30, 1889
Creator: Grumbach, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow-Stock. (open access)

Plow-Stock.

Patent for a simply, durably, and efficiently constructed plow-stock that "will admit of changes being made in an expeditious and convenient manner to facilitate the grouping of the shares or plows to be carried by the stock" (lines 11-14).
Date: July 30, 1895
Creator: Abbott, Joseph W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dry-Kin Furnace. (open access)

Dry-Kin Furnace.

Patent for a dry-kiln furnace meant to improve the "heating and hot-air circulating devices for such structures, whereby all or nearly all the heat generated is utilized, thereby effecting an economy in the use of fuel and also increasing the capacity of the kiln" (lines 15-19).
Date: July 30, 1895
Creator: Ketcham, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Design for a Display-Banner. (open access)

Design for a Display-Banner.

Design patent for an advertising display banner with "an absolutely-smooth uniformly-level surface ornamented by series of horizontal and vertical lines thereon, forming rectangular spaces, whereof the larges space is at the center with a series of smaller rectangular spaces at each side thereof, and series of other rectangular spaces above and below said central rectangular space" (para. 4).
Date: July 30, 1895
Creator: Higby, Luther L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Buckle-Making Machine (open access)

Buckle-Making Machine

Patent for a buckle making machine for forming wires into tie buckles for bales of cotton, hay, etc. Illustrations included.
Date: July 30, 1912
Creator: Frantz, Ezra A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boltless Rail-Joint (open access)

Boltless Rail-Joint

Patent for a rail joint designed without bolts. Illustrations included.
Date: July 30, 1912
Creator: Crawford, William R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus For Making Mattresses (open access)

Apparatus For Making Mattresses

Patent for mattress making machine, which cleans, compresses, and stuffs cotton or other materials into a mattress, including illustrations.
Date: July 30, 1901
Creator: Woolery, John T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boltless Rail-Joint (open access)

Boltless Rail-Joint

Patent for a rail joint designed without bolts. Illustrations included.
Date: July 30, 1912
Creator: Crawford, William R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Air-Lift Pump (open access)

Air-Lift Pump

Patent for an air lift pump. Illustrations included.
Date: July 30, 1912
Creator: Holmgreen, Julius H. & Underwood, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cotton Chopper and Cultivator. (open access)

Combined Cotton Chopper and Cultivator.

Patent for "useful improvements in combined cotton choppers and cultivators" (lines 10-11) including illustrations.
Date: July 30, 1907
Creator: Arnold, Willard M. ; W. M. Arnold
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water-Tank. (open access)

Water-Tank.

Patent for improved water-tank of which will provide a construction to prevent leakage, bruising, and warping of the wood and in which water will be kept cool and clean.
Date: July 30, 1901
Creator: Evans, Edwin Fousiiee
System: The Portal to Texas History