Barrel Truck. (open access)

Barrel Truck.

Patent for a new and improved barrel cart. This design "is to provide an improved barrel rack or truck which can be conveniently and easily loaded and transported from place to place; to provide means for assisting in loading the barrel or receptacle on the truck and for retaining the same on the truck against danger of accidental displacement while the truck and its contents are being moved or transported, and to provide an improved truck which shall be very simple, strong, and durable in construction, thoroughly effective in operation, and cheap and inexpensive of manufacture" (lines 14-26).
Date: July 13, 1886
Creator: Williams, William Preston
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 "an ordinary draw-head provided with the usual pin-and-link coupling [that] can be readily and cheaply adapted for use as an automatic coupling. The invention consists in the combination, with a slotted draw-head and a coupling-pin swinging therein and provided with pivotal supports or trunnions, of a vertically-projecting and axially-rotatable guide loop or staple arranged on each side of the pin-slot and adapted to hold the pin from being jolted out of the draw-head, and to permit its withdrawal" (lines 9-20).
Date: July 13, 1886
Creator: Garrett, Jackson B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Treasure Box. (open access)

Treasure Box.

Patent for a new and improved lock-box. This design "is provided with means for giving an alarm when an attempt is made to enter the same; and it also has a device for clamping it to the berth or other part of the apartment in which the traveler lodges, so that when the alarm sounds he [or she] is awakened, and thus notified at an attempt at robbery. The device is especially adapted to be clamped to the inner-face of a bed-rail, adjacent to the mattress thereof, so that it cannot be reached without awakening the traveler" (lines 21-31).
Date: July 13, 1886
Creator: Hayes, Elbert Newton & Sauer, Venant August
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stock Car. (open access)

Stock Car.

Patent for a new and improved boxcar. This design "is an improvement in movable transverse partitions for stock-cars, which are employed for separating the animals by individuals or groups. It is more particularly an improvement on such partitions as are suspended by sliding loop-hinges from a horizontal rod, and provided at the bottom with feet that enter sockets in the floor of the car, whereby the partitions are adapted to be fastened or released by a vertical movement" (lines 9-19).
Date: July 13, 1886
Creator: Pierce, Jonathan E. & Pryor, David C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn and Cotton Planter. (open access)

Corn and Cotton Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists "[i]n a corn and cotton planter, a hinged hopper provided with a removable partition and an agitator connected at one end to a longitudinal brace on said hopper, in combination with a platform rabbeted, as shown, and formed with slots, disks working in the slots, one of which is provided with pins to operate the agitator and the other disk having pockets" (lines 4-12).
Date: July 13, 1886
Creator: McNorton, John T.
System: The Portal to Texas History