Air Motor. (open access)

Air Motor.

Patent for a new and improved air-motor. This design is of an "air-motor, consisting of an engine, single-acting air-pump, air-receiver, and the double-acting exhaust-pump, with the valves and connections . . . [and] the levers and segments" (lines 81-87).
Date: July 21, 1885
Creator: Koniakowsky, Alois M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal Power. (open access)

Animal Power.

Patent for a new and improved engine. This design has a "tread-wheel on which the animal is placed, and which is provided with a cog-wheel on its under side to mesh with a pinion placed on one end of the crank-shaft, a connecting-rod which is attached at one end to the crank and at the other to a pivoted lever . . . a second connecting-rod which is fastened to the upper end of the pivoted lever . . . a balance-wheel, and the main driving-shaft provided with a number of arms, each one of which carries a planet-wheel for the purpose of moving around a fixed wheel" (lines 15-29).
Date: July 7, 1885
Creator: Yarbrough, Ezekel James & Kyker, John Marshal
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Producing Ammoniacal Gas. (open access)

Apparatus for Producing Ammoniacal Gas.

Patent for a new and improved refrigerator and ice machine. This design "consists in an improved construction, whereby the gas is relieved of its moisture before entering the condenser, a better apparatus is obtained, and repairs are facilitated and cheapened" (lines 12-16).
Date: July 21, 1885
Creator: Lee, Charles B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bustle. (open access)

Bustle.

Patent for a new and improved bustle. This design consists in "[a] bustle consisting of a single piece of wire bent in spiral form, and bent at its ends to form loops to which are secured straps . . . having a buckle, and the elastic strap secured to the strap and engaging a buckle on the strap" (lines 85-90).
Date: July 7, 1885
Creator: Davis, Charles Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Can Opener. (open access)

Can Opener.

Patent for a new and improved can opener. This design consists "[i]n a can-opener, the combination, with a radius-bar having a handle at one end and a vertical fulcrum or pivot-pin, of an adjustable sleeve mounted on the bar and carrying two cutters, one being adapted to act as a guide and the other as a cutter" (lines 27-32).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Misener, Richard Oliver
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Brake. (open access)

Car-Brake.

Patent for improvement to train brakes by using a car brake apparatus.
Date: July 21, 1885
Creator: Sledge, Clarence Linden
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Brake. (open access)

Car Brake.

Patent for a new and improved brake for railroad cars. This design "consists in the combination, with the brake, of an angle-lever on the end part of the car, a draw-head on the car, a lever pivoted on the same, a rod connecting the said lever with the angle-lever, a toothed locking-bar on the standard, and a pin on the lever on the standard" (lines 10-16).
Date: July 21, 1885
Creator: Daudelin, Joseph M.T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopper (open access)

Cotton Chopper

Patent for a new and improved stalk chopper. This design "consists in the combination of a suitable carrying-frame, which is to be attached to the plow, a shaft on which the chopping-wheel is placed, and which is operated by the revolving axle, and the chopping-wheel having adjustable cutting blades" (lines 13-18).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Miller, Julian Tolbert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Stalk Chopper. (open access)

Cotton Stalk Chopper.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design consists in "[t]he frame mounted upon sled-runners and provided with braces, draft pole, and knives, in combination with the rake having check-bar, the sliding bar, connecting bar, and lever, all co-operating" (lines 89-92).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Woodard, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device For Illustrating the Transposition of Musical Scales (open access)

Device For Illustrating the Transposition of Musical Scales

Patent for an improvement in machines for transposing musical scales in which a marked and perforated original scale is run over the machine and automatically transported, with levers and rods to mark the sharps, flats, and other information.
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Neill, John, Frances
System: The Portal to Texas History
Drawers and Pantaloons. (open access)

Drawers and Pantaloons.

Patent for new and improved pants. This design consists in "[a] pair of pantaloons, each leg of which is composed of a single piece, having the two edges and extended from the crotch to the foot of the leg, said extended portions being lapped one upon the other and united by the double lines of stitching, one in front and the other in rear of the usual line of the inside seam, whereby the leg is given a double thickness on the inside, and a smooth unbroken surface, adapting them to be worn in the saddle with comfort" (lines 16-26).
Date: July 7, 1885
Creator: Blake, Samuel Diggs
System: The Portal to Texas History
Farm Gate. (open access)

Farm Gate.

Patent for a new and improved farm gate. This design consists "[i]n a swinging-gate, the combination of a plate provided with notches upon its upper outer end and connected to the upper end of the inner gate-post, a lever pivoted to the plate and connected with the upper pintle of the gate, a latch pivoted to the lever and extending down through a slot therein to engage with the notches in the plate, and suitable cords and pulleys for operating the latch and lever" (lines 17-26).
Date: July 7, 1885
Creator: Akin, Leonidas T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence. (open access)

Fence.

Patent for a new and improved fence. This design "is to provide a simple and improved fence which can be built with superior facility and economy, and utilize trees in range with the fence, and which will furthermore possess advantages in point of inexpensiveness, durability, and general efficiency" (lines 12-17).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Ferguson, John Stephenson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Harrow (open access)

Harrow

Patent for related rotary harrows that consists of improve hereinafter scribed.
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Bettreton, Elijah Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay or Cotton Press. (open access)

Hay or Cotton Press.

Patent for a new and improved baling press. This design consists "[i]n a hay-press, the combination of the box or casing having suitable doors in its top, bottom, and side, and supported on longitudinal base-strips, a main lever having a short toggle-arm, a semi-rotating fulcrum thereof, auxiliary arms pivotally connected with the main lever, reciprocating followers, and a drum and cord" (lines 26-33).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Bragg, Thomas P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Building and Rerolling Wire Fences. (open access)

Machine for Building and Rerolling Wire Fences.

Patent for "new and useful Improvements in Machines for Building and Rerolling Wire Fences"(lines 5-7), including instructions and illustration.
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Edge, John S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Manufacture of Hydralic Cement (open access)

Manufacture of Hydralic Cement

Patent for invention is to utilize in rejected hydraulic matter such as decomposed limestone.
Date: July 7, 1885
Creator: Dimelow, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mechanical Movement (open access)

Mechanical Movement

Patent for invention has relation to mechanical movement and object is to provide a mechanical means for operating trip lever or other devices, and to this end the novelty consists in the system of lever cranks.
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Pickle, Obadiah A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mole Trap. (open access)

Mole Trap.

Patent for a new and improved mole trap. This design "relates to mole-traps, and to that class of the same which are placed above the mole-hill and communicate with the hole therein, so that the passage of the mole through the latter will actuate the trap to impale the mole in the usual manner" (lines 9-14).
Date: July 7, 1885
Creator: Payne, David, Hinsley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pulverizer and cultivator. (open access)

Pulverizer and cultivator.

Patent for improvement of pulverizer and cultivator, which according to the inventors, "pulverizes the soil in an improved manner, and with less expenditure in power in draft, and so that the land can be plowed close up to plants growing in rows, but which are not regularly in line with one another".
Date: July 21, 1885
Creator: Chambers, John R.; Chambers, Silas; Chambers, Asa & Davis, William Jefferson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ribbon and Braid Holder. (open access)

Ribbon and Braid Holder.

Patent for a new and improved ribbon and braid holder. This design "consist[s] of [a] V-shaped wire having the cross-piece and the pin, having eyes at its ends, through which eyes the shanks of the V-shaped wire pass freely . . . [and] [t]he combination, with the roll, having the central aperture" (lines 55-61).
Date: July 14, 1885
Creator: Stone, Charles M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rock Drilling and Well Boring Machine. (open access)

Rock Drilling and Well Boring Machine.

Patent for improved rock drilling and well boring machine.
Date: July 7, 1885
Creator: Embry, Leonard B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Saw Gummer. (open access)

Saw Gummer.

Patent for a new and improved saw gummer. This design "is to improve the action and prolong the usefulness of the bit and dies, and to prevent the clippings from interfering with the operation of the machine" (lines 26-29).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Clopton, John Benjamin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seeding Machine. (open access)

Seeding Machine.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists "[i]n a seed-planter, the hopper having the open bottom, in combination with a shaft journaled in the hopper above the bottom, stirrers located on the shaft and working through the said bottom, a packer working vertically within the hopper above the stirrers, and a connecting-rod attached to the packer and secured to the hub of the stirrer" (lines 27-34).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Miller, Tedor T.
System: The Portal to Texas History