Improvement in Combination Locks. (open access)

Improvement in Combination Locks.

Patent for combination latch-locks, "in such manner as that the knob-latch, while performing its special function, will also serve as the lock upon any combination to which it may be adjusted, and the said latch can be operated from either the outside or inside of the door as a latch simply, or as a combination lock, which latter is further secured from the inside by the employment of a safety pin, rendering the bolt in its locked position perfectly secure, while by its partial withdrawal it prevents the possible change of the combination from the outside, and admits of the free use of the latch independent of such combination." (Lines 29-42) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 1, 1873
Creator: Hall, Phidello W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton Feeders and Cleaners for Cotton-Gins. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton Feeders and Cleaners for Cotton-Gins.

Patent for "devices for feeding seed-cotton to cotton-gins, and also, for cleaning the same preparatory to ginning; and it consists of a hopper having wires extending from side to side over a revolving toothed cylinder and a concave thrasher, and being made to reciprocate on a track by pinions on the ends of the thrasher-cylinder, working in double rack-bars, one in each side of the hopper, so contrived that the pinions run them over one way and under the other, making a simple and cheap mode of obtaining the motion." (Lines 6-18) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 25, 1876
Creator: Colquitt, George F.
System: The Portal to Texas History