Improved Machine for Breaking and Scouring Hides (open access)

Improved Machine for Breaking and Scouring Hides

Patent for machinery for tanning animal hides.
Date: July 20, 1869
Creator: Bean, W. O.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Masks for Horses and Cattle. (open access)

Improvement in Masks for Horses and Cattle.

Patent for a slitted leather mask for animals to be used for horses, cattle, etc. to deter the jumping of fences. Patent for "mask, covering the eyes of the animal, leaves him with a sufficiently free vision, and being thoroughly ventilated, will not injure his eyes".
Date: July 10, 1877
Creator: Trueblood, Albert H
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in cane-strippers. (open access)

Improvement in cane-strippers.

Patent for an improvement in sugar-cane stripping machines, using an arrangement of rollers and a movable spring blade. Includes illustrations.
Date: July 22, 1879
Creator: James, Robert C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cradle. (open access)

Cradle.

Patent for a new and improved cradle. This design "has for its object to provide a hanging cradle suspended from its [frame] . . . being arranged in such a manner whereby the cradle is capable of being moved . . . in an easy, uniform, and steady motion without the danger of tilting over" (lines 8-16). It consists in "[a] swinging cradle comprising the folding end bars, the cross-bar having a depressed portion and end projections forming the pivotal axes for the bars, the catches pivoted to the end bars and adapted to engage the depressed part of the bar . . . and the spring-suspensions" (lines 12-18).
Date: July 5, 1892
Creator: Meek, James H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Compressed-Air and Steam Apparatus for Sinking Wells (open access)

Compressed-Air and Steam Apparatus for Sinking Wells

Patent for "a simple and inexpensive apparatus for drilling the rock and earth until sufficient loose material has accumulated in the shaft, and then remove such material by the pressure of an aeriform fluid - such as steam or compressed air" (lines 23-29).
Date: July 16, 1889
Creator: Goodrich, Hervey K.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Handle and Toilet Case. (open access)

Combined Handle and Toilet Case.

Patent for a new and improved toiletry case. This design consists in "[a] combined hollow parasol or umbrella handle and toilet-case, consisting of an ornamental hollow case having an end opening for the reception of a parasol or umbrella stick, its opposite end provided with a rigid extension-ring, a hinged cover provided with a mirror on its inner face and working against the tension of a coiled spring, and an end lip to said cover to contact with end spring secured to said case, the internal portion of said case divided to receive visiting-cards, face-powder, pads, a curved spring, and cloth-lining" (lines 20-31).
Date: July 26, 1887
Creator: Myers, Ida Louise
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Seed Planter. (open access)

Cotton Seed Planter.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design "consist[s] of the hopper, the tapering feed-tube, the distributing-chamber provided with inwardly-projecting radial pins, the discharge-spout, and the shaft provided at its upper end with stirrer pins, at its middle part with a tapering feed-screw, and at its lower part with distributing pins" (lines 9-15).
Date: July 15, 1884
Creator: Hopper, Thomas Pinkney
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretching and Staple-Pulling Device. (open access)

Wire-Stretching and Staple-Pulling Device.

Patent for a tool "which is adapted for stretching wire for fencing purposed and which may also be used for drawing the staples from the posts and splicing between posts when such action is necessary." (Lines 9-13) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 20, 1897
Creator: McElroy, Jesse Roberts
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Steam-Engines. (open access)

Improvement in Steam-Engines.

Patent related to "improvements in steam-engines. The object...is to devise means whereby the valves may be actuated automatically without the employment of exterior mechanisms by the use of exhaust-steam" (lines 17-22). Includes instructions and illustration.
Date: July 1, 1879
Creator: Garlock, William H. & Cooke, Richard
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Machines for Cutting Shingles. (open access)

Improvement in Machines for Cutting Shingles.

Patent relating to "that class of shingle-machines which form the shingles by means of a knife working sidewise with the grain" (lines 10-13). Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 8, 1879
Creator: Davis, Henry T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lamp. (open access)

Lamp.

Patent for a new and improved oil lamp. This design "relates to improvements in lamps in which the reservoir is beveled, adapting it for use in conjunction with a conical corrugated reflector; and the object of [the] improvement is to produce a lamp that will afford more and better light with a given amount of oil" (lines 7-13).
Date: July 24, 1883
Creator: Newman, William
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sweeping Machine. (open access)

Sweeping Machine.

Patent for a new and improved sweeping machine. This design consists, "with the frame mounted upon supporting-wheels at its front and rear ends and having the rotating rear axle, of the vertically-adjustable revolving brush receiving motion from the said axle, and a dust pan or receptacle having laterally extending pins or plugs, whereby it is supported detachably upon the frame of the machine in front of the revolving brush" (lines 13-21).
Date: July 1, 1890
Creator: Le Tellier, John H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Releasing Device For Brakes Of Drive-Wheels. (open access)

Releasing Device For Brakes Of Drive-Wheels.

Patent for "releasing devices for the brakes of drive-wheels of locomotives, whereby the brakes are instantaneously released at the time the train is in motion and before the braked drive-wheels are on the point of sliding on the rails, also before the triple valve acts to release the brakes." (Lines 15-21) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 13, 1897
Creator: Pelham, Walter O.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Extension for Bedsteads (open access)

Extension for Bedsteads

Patent for "an adjustable, folding, and removable attachment that can be adjusted to various heights, one that can be easily attached to and detached from the bedstead, and one that when so detached can be neatly folded into a compact mass,which will occupy very little space" with an adjustable guard (lines 11-19).
Date: July 22, 1890
Creator: Belsher, Julia A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Railway-Tracks. (open access)

Improvement in Railway-Tracks.

Patent for improvements in the adjoining of railway tracks.
Date: July 23, 1878
Creator: Cottingham, Gideon W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Pumps. (open access)

Improvement in Pumps.

Patent relating to "improvements in double-acting pumps. The object is to devise a pump...[so] as to allow the admission of water at one end of and its discharge at the other" (lines 16-24). Includes instructions and illustration.
Date: July 1, 1879
Creator: Garlock, William H. & Cooke, Richard
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Quilting-Frames. (open access)

Improvement in Quilting-Frames.

Patent relating to improvement "of quilting-frames made with folding ends and adjustable in width" (lines 10-12). Includes instructions and illustration.
Date: July 8, 1879
Creator: Davis, Henry T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: WW-1382 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: WW-1382

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Will Wilson, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Whether Grayson County may disburse funds from the four constitutional county funds to acquire lands, easements, and rights-of-way needed for construction of water control and soil conservation structures, and related questions.
Date: July 16, 1962
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Texas Attorney General Opinion: JM-181 (open access)

Texas Attorney General Opinion: JM-181

Document issued by the Office of the Attorney General of Texas in Austin, Texas, providing an interpretation of Texas law. It provides the opinion of the Texas Attorney General, Jim Mattox, regarding a legal question submitted for clarification: Validity of agreement between the city of Denison and the Greater Texoma Utility Authority
Date: July 25, 1984
Creator: Texas. Attorney-General's Office.
Object Type: Text
System: The Portal to Texas History
Closet-Seat. (open access)

Closet-Seat.

Patent for a toilet seat that helps support users with rectal diseases.
Date: July 18, 1911
Creator: Ellis, Joseph G.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Can (open access)

Can

Patent for a can. Illustration included.
Date: July 4, 1905
Creator: Hanna, Richard
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench (open access)

Wrench

Patent for a wrench. Illustrations included.
Date: July 25, 1911
Creator: Hunter, Arthur G.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench. (open access)

Wrench.

Patent for a wrench whose jaws can be adjusted quickly by pressing a handle on the wrench with the thumb.
Date: July 27, 1909
Creator: Ferguson, Rufus Andrew
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill (open access)

Windmill

Patent for a windmill that changes directions with the wind automatically and provides more power to the pump.
Date: July 23, 1912
Creator: Romans, John W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History