Combined Hook and Hammer. (open access)

Combined Hook and Hammer.

Patent for a combined hook and hammer meant to "combine in its structure the ordinary hook for engaging with the article to be moved, and a handle adapted, when desired, to be used as a hammer, thus dispensing with the necessity for a separate implement of this character, and, second, to combine with the said hook and handle improved means for preventing the accidental contact of the hand of the operator with the article to be handled" (lines 17-26).
Date: July 2, 1895
Creator: Tillett, Henry Augustus; Tarpley, Thomas Dee & Moore, Robert Jones
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Weighing-Scale. (open access)

Automatic Weighing-Scale.

Patent for an automatic weighing-scale meant to be connected to a pneumatic conveyer to weigh cotton, grain, or other products. The invention weighs "any amount to which its scale may be set, and then cutting off the supply and emptying itself, when it may be reset, preferably by hand, to repeat the weighing operation" (lines 18-22).
Date: July 9, 1895
Creator: Schulze, Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Cotton-Weighing Scale. (open access)

Automatic Cotton-Weighing Scale.

Patent for an automatic cotton-weighing scale that is designed "to be used in connection with pneumatic conveyers, and it is of such construction that it will automatically weigh any amount that its scale may be set at, cut off the supply from the conveyer, empty itself, and immediately reset itself, the resetting of the machine opening the supply-valve from the conveyer, so that the weighing operation can be repeated" (lines 13-21).
Date: July 9, 1895
Creator: Schulze, Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for a car-coupling meant to "provide in an automatic car-coupling improved means for holding and guiding the link into the draw-head" (lines 9-12).
Date: July 16, 1895
Creator: Rowell, John R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination Steel Bar. (open access)

Combination Steel Bar.

Patent for a combination steel bar meant to easily remove nails and spikes from board without bending the nails or spikes and without splitting the board. It can also be used to remove siding from houses and ships.
Date: July 23, 1895
Creator: Brooks, Jesse S.
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
Wood-Preservative. (open access)

Wood-Preservative.

Patent for a compound with preservative qualities for protecting submersed wood from the destructive forces of water, whether sea or fresh, and from shipworms.
Date: July 9, 1895
Creator: Gallinowsky, Hugo
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench. (open access)

Wrench.

Patent for a pipe-wrench that has a shank with a fixed jaw, a handle for the shank, a movable jaw with two loops for the shank to pass through and a movable upper loop, a ferrule attached to the handle with a long opening, an adjustable screw with a milled collar in the movable jaw, and a pin attached to the shank.
Date: July 16, 1895
Creator: McElroy, Harry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for a simple, economical, and effictive wire-stretcher that uses "the fence-post as the fulcrum for the implement or tool in using the latter to stretch the wires longitudinally from post to post, and to provide a simple hand implement or tool by which a single person can rapidly string the fence-wires from post to post, stretch the wires, and kink or twist the same to take up slack" (lines 19-26).
Date: July 23, 1895
Creator: Cardwell, William C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Tufting Mattresses. (open access)

Machine for Tufting Mattresses.

Patent for a machine for tufting mattresses "whereby the tufts or washers are periodically fed to and affixed upon the feed-wheels between which the mattresses is intermittently advanced and compressed, said tufts being placed upon the mattress by the periodical fractional revolution of the feed-wheels and secured by stitching the entire transverse series of tufts by the automatic action of a series of needles, and a lower corresponding series of knotter-heads and devices co-operating therewith" (lines 11-21).
Date: July 9, 1895
Creator: Stephenson, Edwin N.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lubricator. (open access)

Lubricator.

Patent for an efficient lubricator apparatus that is made up of a reservoir for lubricating oil, a discharge pipe, another pipe that feeds water or condensed steam into the reservoir to displace the oil, a sediment container that has a valved discharge outlet on the bottom, a filter that cleans oil from the discharge pipe, a pipe that lets fluid into the sediment receptacle, and a steam pipe above the oil reservoir.
Date: July 16, 1895
Creator: Herold, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tube-Cutter. (open access)

Tube-Cutter.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive tube-cutter meant to cut boiler flues or tubes in order to remove or replace the tubes or flues. The tube cutter doesn't spread the tube and allows the tubes to be withdrawn through the holes after cutting them.
Date: July 2, 1895
Creator: Fitzpatrick, John James Kelsoe
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle-Axle Point. (open access)

Vehicle-Axle Point.

Patent for a vehicle-axle point that does not require repair. The "invention consists of a thimble that is to be shrunk, pressed, or fastened onto the axle by clips, bolts, or set-screws" (lines 20-22), so that the point does not need to be taken off.
Date: July 16, 1895
Creator: Ford, William Gardner
System: The Portal to Texas History
Valve. (open access)

Valve.

Patent for a valve made up of a shell with a water inlet and a water outlet, a perforation for the valve stem, a gable-shaped seat made from hard metal that is fitted into the shell, a valve stem that works up and down the shell and with a shoulder, a valve with a hollow neck, a soft contact ring between the gable-shaped seat and the face of the valve, a guide and cap that fits in the shell, a stem nut, and a stuffing-box.
Date: July 23, 1895
Creator: Speer, George F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle-Wheel. (open access)

Vehicle-Wheel.

Patent for an improvement on vehicle wheels to "provide a novel and inexpensive safety-guard for wheels of the above-referred-to class, whereby the wheel will be prevented from entering crevices and cracks" (lines 14-18) and to improve durability.
Date: July 23, 1895
Creator: Laube, Godfried
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle-Wheel. (open access)

Vehicle-Wheel.

Patent for a strong, durable, and inexpensive vehicle-wheel in children's carriages with a double-felly wheel meant to broaden "the tread thereof sufficiently to prevent the wheels falling into cracks between boards of board walks, such as are common in the suburbs or rural districts" (lines 15-19). The spokes are like that of a single-felly wheel.
Date: July 23, 1895
Creator: Laube, Godfried
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
Mechanism for Operating Railway-Switches. (open access)

Mechanism for Operating Railway-Switches.

Patent for a device "for automatically operating the switches of steam, electric, and street railways by the movement of a locomotive or car, thereby obviating the necessity of a brakeman, driver, motorman, or other person alighting from the car or train for such purpose" (lines 12-18).
Date: July 2, 1895
Creator: Moore, Albert R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nail-Holding Attachment for Hammers. (open access)

Nail-Holding Attachment for Hammers.

Patent for a durable and simple nail-holding attachment for hammers that can be used with any hammer. It holds the nail in place to drive it home.
Date: July 23, 1895
Creator: Lewis, Harry J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Girth-Rigging for Side-Saddles. (open access)

Girth-Rigging for Side-Saddles.

Patent for girth-rigging for side-saddles that secure the saddles so the saddles only move when the horse does. It has an extended "saddle-tree so as to produce shoulders, the same underlying the saddle-seat at its front and in supporting upon its shoulders and also upon the tree in rear of the cantle-girth suspension-straps that are continuous" (lines 24-29).
Date: July 9, 1895
Creator: Padgitt, Jesse D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Riding-Saddle. (open access)

Riding-Saddle.

Patent for a riding-saddle with a "short rigid tree, which constitutes the front or forked portion of the saddle, and [the inventor] construct[s] the body and cantle of pieces of thick but duly flexible leather" (lines 21-25). This makes the saddle more comfortable for both horse and rider.
Date: July 16, 1895
Creator: Padgitt, Jesse D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence-Making Machine. (open access)

Fence-Making Machine.

Patent for a simple, portable fence-making machine meant to separate crossed wires, re-utilizes old wires, and has "a wedge being employed in the twisting-head for the purpose of separating the old twists and causing them to pass through the twisting-eye" (lines 22-25). The machine allows the wires to be equally spaced apart, and the space is adjustable. A picket-gage is included in the invention, which regulates the space between pickets.
Date: July 23, 1895
Creator: Briney, Benjamin C. & Geron, Solomon C.
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