Andiron (open access)

Andiron

Patent for improvements to andiron or "fire-dogs".
Date: July 5, 1887
Creator: Steele, Oliver
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bag. (open access)

Bag.

Patent for a new and improved bag. This design is "compris[ed of] the body divided down its front, one edge having staples and the other edge having openings adapted to engage said staples, a covering-flap provided with an opening adapted to engage one of said staples, and a flexible fastening device secured to said bag and adapted to be passed through said staples for securing the edges and covering-flap" (lines 62-71).
Date: July 19, 1887
Creator: Franks, Lewis Wigfall
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Axle Bearing. (open access)

Car Axle Bearing.

Patent for a new and improved car-axle bearing. This design is "compris[ed of] the separable upper and lower sections having the longitudinal grooves on their respective upper and lower sides, the straps fitting in the said groove, and the bolts engaging the said straps and clamping the sections of the box together . . . in combination with the axle having its end fitting within the box, the collar shrunk onto the end of the axle within the box, said collar having the annular flanges, and the block pressing on the collar within the flanges" (lines 73-93).
Date: July 12, 1887
Creator: Hawkins, Andrew Jackson & Wilkins, John Walker
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 "to provide a novel car-coupling pin and means for operating the same to automatically couple cars through the medium of ordinary links without the use of triggers located within the draw-head . . . The invention consists, essentially, in a vertically-movable coupling-pin adapted to rotate axially in the pin-hole of the draw-head, and having a wing or lug for supporting it in its elevated position, combined with a yielding draw-head having a vertical slot to receive the wing or lug and a shoulder to support the same" (lines 8-22).
Date: July 19, 1887
Creator: Power, Kelsey L.
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 a shaft journaled at its lower end in the ordinary draw-bar and at its upper end in a bracket . . . and in the combination therewith of a brace . . . adapted to support the lower end of said shaft, a hook placed between the brace and the draw-bar, and a spring surrounding the shaft and arranged to hold the shaft and hook normally . . . It also further consists in . . . the hook, . . . a spring-actuated uncoupling-rod extending through a bracket . . . and a retaining-latch. . . adapted to hold the said rod in a retracted position" (lines 22-37).
Date: July 26, 1887
Creator: De May, Eugene A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cultivator and Corn-Planter (open access)

Combined Cultivator and Corn-Planter

Patent for improvements in the design and construction of combined cultivators and planters.
Date: July 5, 1887
Creator: Wright, Samuel Winfield
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
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopper and Scraper (open access)

Cotton Chopper and Scraper

Patent for new "construction and combination of devices" (lines 10-11) to improve cotton choppers and scrapers, with illustrations.
Date: July 5, 1887
Creator: Rouse, Samuel James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Design for a Badge. (open access)

Design for a Badge.

Design patent for a badge, "consisting of a plate or body ornamented on one side with the representation of a rising sun, an arm and hand, a serpent, and a shackle and lock" (lines 43-46). The accompanying illustration is not available.
Date: July 26, 1887
Creator: Horton, Henry A. R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Door Check. (open access)

Door Check.

Patent for a new and improved door check. This design is "formed of a single strip of sheet metal, comprising a base provided with a hole or holes for fastening the same in position, and one end bent inwardly and upwardly at an angle to said base to form a spring-catch, and the other end bent upwardly at substantially at a right angle to the base and thence downwardly and outwardly to form a fastening-flange, in line with the base, and a brace to strengthen the stop, said flange being provided with holes and the rubber buffers" (lines 70-80).
Date: July 26, 1887
Creator: Price, Harry F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Belt (open access)

Electric Belt

Patent for improvements in electric belts.
Date: July 5, 1887
Creator: Williams, Robert E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Evaporator and Furnace. (open access)

Evaporator and Furnace.

Patent for a new and improved evaporator and furnace. This design is "compris[ed of] the side walls provided on their opposing faces at one end with the horizontal grooves, and the inclined rearwardly-extending grooves communicating at their lower ends with the grooves, the front end wall having the doors . . . the rear end wall having the . . . collar for the attachment of a smoke-pipe, the bottom plate having its edges secured in the inclined grooves, and the grate-bars having their ends secured in the grooves, the side and end walls being bolted together and thereby rendered separable" (lines 7-20).
Date: July 26, 1887
Creator: Stallcup, William P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Grain Measurer and Tally (open access)

Grain Measurer and Tally

Patent for improvements in the construction and design of grain measurers and registers.
Date: July 19, 1887
Creator: King, Benjamin Cicero & Boon, George Hamilton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay-Press (open access)

Hay-Press

Patent for improvements in the construction and design of baling presses for compressing hay for baling.
Date: July 12, 1887
Creator: McNeill, Charles DeWitt
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hearth for Fire Places. (open access)

Hearth for Fire Places.

Patent for a new and improved hearth for fireplaces. This design "ha[s] a depression in its upper side, and a lid hinged to the hearth at the rear end of the depression, so as to fill the same when not in use" (lines 93-96).
Date: July 26, 1887
Creator: Moore, John Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Implement for Extracting Axle Boxes from Wheel Hubs. (open access)

Implement for Extracting Axle Boxes from Wheel Hubs.

Patent for a new and improved extractor of axle-boxes from wheel hubs. This design is "compris[ed of] screw-threaded rigid portion, elastic bifurcated expansible portion having ledges, abutting frame . . . consisting of bar having central hollow boss and adjustable sliding legs, in combination with the . . . operating nut" (lines 82-91).
Date: July 5, 1887
Creator: Geyer, Hermann R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mosquito Net Frame. (open access)

Mosquito Net Frame.

Patent for a new and improved mosquito-net frame. This design consists in "the combination, with the standards provided with detachable heads, horizontal bars, and a detachable bracket, and downwardly-inclined pins secured to the standards, adapted to enter a diagonal aperture at the upper ends of the bedstead, and an angular bar pivoted to the lower ends of the standards to be passed under the edge of the head-board" (lines 1-10).
Date: July 26, 1887
Creator: Lottman, Albert C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Motive Power. (open access)

Motive Power.

Patent for a new and improved motor. With this design, "[i]t is to be observed that the beam is provided with a series of holes near one end, and the frame is also provided with a corresponding series of apertures, so that by taking out the pin which supports the beam and changing its position the throw of the beam may be regulated at pleasure" (lines 57-63).
Date: July 26, 1887
Creator: Louthian, Lafayette D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Motor (open access)

Motor

Patent for "a device which may be used for pumping, sawing, drilling, and other analogous purposes, which will be effective in its operation, and which will not be liable to get out of order, and the parts of which will not be liable to get out of alignment with each other" (lines 24-31).
Date: July 19, 1887
Creator: Holmgreen, Julius H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design "may be detached and used independent of the frame or carriage; also, that the tongue or pole may be detached and removed from the axle, and such axle, together with the bolster and hounds, may be applied to and used with the farm or other wagon. Thus by means of the attachments described a farmer can, by providing himself [or herself] with the pole and the attachments thereto . . . readily convert his [or her] ordinary walking plow into a wheel-plow by the aid of the hind wheels, axle, and hounds of his [or her] ordinary farm-wagon" (lines 72-84).
Date: July 5, 1887
Creator: Green, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Roller Cotton-Press (open access)

Roller Cotton-Press

Patent for a new improved Roller Cotton-Press. The "invention relates to machines for compressing cotton and other similar material into the form of cylindrical bales." (lines 15-18). Includes description and illustrations.
Date: July 19, 1887
Creator: Evans, Henry A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Cultivator. (open access)

Rotary Cultivator.

Patent for a new and improved rotary cultivator. This design is "to lessen the weight on tongue and the down draft while the power is applied more directly to the plows. By this means [the design is] enabled to make the whole frame very light; also, to provide convenient means of adjusting the altitude of the wheels with respect to the plows, so as to regulate the depth of the latter, and also to hold them out of the ground; also, to obtain suitable means for adjusting the plows at any desirable angle to the line of travel, and to throw greater or less soil to or from the plants" (lines 15-26).
Date: July 19, 1887
Creator: Coleman, Benjamin T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Self-Feeding Cotton-Press (open access)

Self-Feeding Cotton-Press

Patent for a self feeding cotton press.
Date: July 5, 1887
Creator: Davis, Micajah R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk-Cutting Machine. (open access)

Stalk-Cutting Machine.

Patent for a machine to cut corn and other stalk vegetables and plants.
Date: July 5, 1887
Creator: Killingsworth, Thomas H.
System: The Portal to Texas History