Bellows Attachment for Barrels. (open access)

Bellows Attachment for Barrels.

Patent for a new and improved bellows attachment for barrels. This design "provide[s] means for securely attaching the bellows to the barrels, so as to exclude the admission of air, except such as is forced in by the bellows; and a further object of the same provides for the shutting off the flow of liquid, as desired" (lines 13-18).
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Park, Hardy B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Balanced Pump. (open access)

Balanced Pump.

Patent for a new and improved balanced pump. This design "relates to improvements in balanced pumps having a horizontal cylinder provided with a horizontally-reciprocating plunger, and a curved cylinder placed directly under it, provided with a curved plunger, both having suitable valves operating automatically in conjunction therewith" (lines 8-14).
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Ramsey, Haley S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design is of "an automatic car-coupling pin that can be adjusted and used for coupling cars having the ordinary draw-bars and coupling pins" (lines 10-13).
Date: July 8, 1884
Creator: Schofield, James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design is "composed of the draw-heads having bars and forward cross-bar, and beveled on its outer end, and provided with slot above [the] bar, the coupling-bar pivoted at its rear end between [the] bars, and enlarged . . . immediately in advance of said pivot, and provided near its outer end with an opening, and the hook pivoted to and depending from the coupling-bar" (lines 78-86).
Date: July 8, 1884
Creator: Bywaters, Joseph K.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bottle Stopper. (open access)

Bottle Stopper.

Patent for a new and improved bottle stopper. This design "consists in the combination of the tubular body, having its lower end closed by means of a cork, and having its upper end formed into a measuring-chamber, which is adapted to be closed by means of a cork, so as to protect the measuring chamber from dust and dirt" (lines 13-19).
Date: July 15, 1884
Creator: Cotten, Jefferson Davis
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
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cartridge Loading Apparatus. (open access)

Cartridge Loading Apparatus.

Patent for a new and improved cartridge loader. This design "consists of a filling attachment to cartridge-loading blocks, which is composed of a hopper part having discharge-tubes in the bottom and a perforated and spring-actuated slide-piece having perforations registering with said tubes, and of a lower part having upwardly-extending tubes sliding on the bottom tubes of the hopper and downwardly-extending tubes of conical shape . . . and are opened or closed by a second spring-actuated slide-piece" (lines 16-26).
Date: July 15, 1884
Creator: Lockett, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination Tool. (open access)

Combination Tool.

Patent for a new and improved multi-tool. This design "consists in a combination-tool embodying in a single implement a nail and staple-puller, pinchers, nail-straightener, and wire-cutters, the device being more particularly designed for use in constructing, taking down, and resetting wire fencing" (lines 7-12).
Date: July 22, 1884
Creator: Beazley, James Harvey
System: The Portal to Texas History
Adjustable Bench Hook. (open access)

Adjustable Bench Hook.

Patent for a new and improved bench hook. This design "consists in a bench-hook constructed with a plate carrying a sliding bar, to which is adjustably secured a hook. The sliding bar and hook are locked in place by a clamp and cam attached to the plate, and the plate and its attachments are locked to the bench-front by a stationary lug attached to the plate, and a moveable lug attached to a lever pivoted to the said plate and locked in place by a cam, so that the said hook can be readily adjusted upward, downward, forward, and backward" (lines 20-30).
Date: July 22, 1884
Creator: Cooper, Harry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Anti Friction Journal. (open access)

Anti Friction Journal.

Patent for a new and improved anti-friction journal. This design "relates to anti-friction devices adapted especially for hoisting pulleys; and it has for its object to provide a device in which the shaft or axis of the main hoisting-pulley shall be supported or mounted upon the peripheries of wheels of a considerable diameter as compared with that of the hoisting-pulley, whereby the friction may be lessened to the greatest possible extent" (lines 24-32).
Date: July 22, 1884
Creator: Taylor, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boot and Shoe Box. (open access)

Boot and Shoe Box.

Patent for a new and improved shoe box. This design "has relation to store-boxes for boots and shoes, designed to open automatically when drawn forward, and to close automatically when pushed back into place on the shelf or on the floor; and the invention consists in the construction and novel arrangement of a swinging hanger pivoted to a bearing above the box, and a slideway secured to the cover, which is hinged to the back of the box" (lines 18-27).
Date: July 22, 1884
Creator: Cook, Emmanuel T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Baling Press. (open access)

Cotton-Baling Press.

Patent for "an improved construction of hydraulic baling-presses, whereby it is designed to provide simple and more durable and reliable presses of this kind than any now in use" (lines 8-12).
Date: July 29, 1884
Creator: Baumgarten, Christian
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Plow (open access)

Rotary Plow

Patent for a rotary plow. "It pertains to improvements in rotary plows" (p. 4). There is a detailed illustration of the rotary plow. Each component is labeled and it is described thoroughly in the text.
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Willis, W. Beale
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lifting Jack. (open access)

Lifting Jack.

Patent for a new and improved jack. This design consists in "the combination, with a standard provided with an elongated open slot and a moveable section adapted to slide within the slot, of an operating-lever pivoted to the standard at the side of the slot, and a link pivotally secured to the sliding section and lever, whereby the lever is thrown past the center and the sliding section thereby locked in an elevated position" (lines 67-75).
Date: July 15, 1884
Creator: Thorp, James L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Weather Board Gage. (open access)

Weather Board Gage.

Patent for a new and improved weather-board gauge. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the flat bar having its upper end bent at a right angle, and having the outer end of the said bent end bent upward, and provided with a screw-threaded perforation in its lower portion, the sliding block having a slot near one end, an upwardly-projecting tapering plate at its other end, and having a set-screw entering the slot, and the screw turning in the perforation in the lower portion of the bar, and having its inner end reduced and pointed" (lines 67-77).
Date: July 29, 1884
Creator: Stacey, Edward D. & Vance, William K.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wood Pavement. (open access)

Wood Pavement.

Patent for a new and improved wood pavement. This design "consists in a pavement consisting of wooden blocks stripped of bark, cylindrical in shape, and sawed at right angles to the axis of the blocks. Said blocks of live bois d'arc or other hard timber, about six inches long, and placed on ends on a road-bed of bank sand and gravel after the same has been well and compactly rolled, and the spaces between the blocks filled with screened gravel and rammed until solid, and then coated with tar and pitch" (lines 12-22).
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Johnson, William M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ventilating and Adjustable Rain Proof. (open access)

Ventilating and Adjustable Rain Proof.

Patent for a new and improved rain-proof cap for chimneys. This design "is to provide a . . . rain-proof or chimney tube for receiving that part of a stove-pipe that projects above the roof, which rain-proof is so constructed that pipes can be held in the same at different inclinations. The invention consists in a rain-proof formed of a conical tube held on the roof, in the upper end of which conical tube the upper end of the stove-pipe is held. A hood is held on the upper end of the stove-pipe" (lines 8-18).
Date: July 22, 1884
Creator: Atkin, Samuel T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mold and Mold Hoisting Apparatus for Building Concrete Walls. (open access)

Mold and Mold Hoisting Apparatus for Building Concrete Walls.

Patent for a new and improved concrete-raising apparatus. This design "consists in a mold in which a course of a wall can be formed, and in devices for raising the mold in the formation of another course. The invention also consists in details of construction and combination of parts" (lines 12-17).
Date: July 8, 1884
Creator: Carrico, Thomas Willson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spiral Ring. (open access)

Spiral Ring.

Patent for a new and improved lap-ring. This design consists in a "lap-ring for connecting the tree-irons of double-trees and single-trees, consisting of the S-shaped lap-ring having the end curves spread laterally from the stem of the S, and carried round on spiral curves to points ninety degrees beyond a line that would evenly divide the figure thus formed longitudinally" (lines 41-48).
Date: July 8, 1884
Creator: Brooks, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock. (open access)

Nut Lock.

Patent for a new and improved nut lock. This design "consists of a volute spring-washer which is formed of a stiff or steel strong plate that is coiled or set up in . . . an edgewise manner, and is provided with one or more projections or spurs on its top and bottom surfaces, adapted to engage with the under side of the nut and the fish-plate or other object, said spurs or projections being formed on the top and the bottom edges of the inner and outer coils of the spring-washer" (lines 20-29).
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Campbell, Eli F.; Noble, Laroy C. & Howe, Milton G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oil Press Mat. (open access)

Oil Press Mat.

Patent for a new and improved oil press mat. This design "has for its objects to provide an improved oil-press mat which can be pressed and shaped into a compact body of the required configuration, and such shape be retained when subjected to pressure to compress heated envelops containing the meal from which the oil is to be extracted, and to provide a mat the face of which is elastic and tough, and liable to become heated, like like metal face-plates, while the main body of the mat is prevented from being softened and peeling or becoming detached from the facing" (lines 8-19).
Date: July 8, 1884
Creator: Osborn, Adelbert E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed Planter (open access)

Seed Planter

Patent for...a seed planting machine which improves upon an earlier cotton seed planting machine. The improved apparatus can be substituted for corn and other seeds. It may also be utilized for ground cultivation.
Date: July 15, 1884
Creator: Pietzsch, Louis; Armstrong, John J. & Lowrey, Joseph R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing Machine. (open access)

Washing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved washing machine. This design consists "[i]n a washing-machine, the combination of the suds-box with an open-bottomed perforated inner casing, smaller in dimensions than the suds-box, and having supports to raise it above the bottom of the suds-box, and a perforated rubber, the upper wash-board or rubber provided with flanges fitting over the inner casing, the intermediate frame and operating lever" (lines 12-20).
Date: July 29, 1884
Creator: Lee, Joseph Green
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ruffling Attachment for Sewing Machines. (open access)

Ruffling Attachment for Sewing Machines.

Patent for a new and improved ruffling attachment for sewing machines. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the flat main plate having the loop, of the ruffling-plate having its side at one end turned over parallel with its main portion, and provided with a spring tongue or plate that is inserted in the loop" (lines 59-63).
Date: July 8, 1884
Creator: Lauraine, Eugene G.
System: The Portal to Texas History