Beer Cooler. (open access)

Beer Cooler.

Patent for a new and improved beer cooler. This design consists "in a beer-cooler, the combination of the cup-shaped rubber cap having the opening with the faucet, said cap being adapted to form an air-tight joint between the faucet and the beer-cooler" (lines 89-93).
Date: October 13, 1885
Creator: Follett, Charles Jonathan
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Flower and Meal Bin and Flour Sifter. (open access)

Combined Flower and Meal Bin and Flour Sifter.

Patent for a new and improved flour and meal bin and flour sifter. This design "has relation to that class of flour-sifters in which the sifting mechanism is secured at the lower end of a bin or receptacle containing the flour or meal; and it consists in the improved construction and combination of parts of such a device in which the bin is divided in two receptacles opening into the sifting mechanism, and having suitable cut-off slides" (lines 21-29).
Date: October 13, 1885
Creator: Williams, Robert E. & Trammell, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Brake (open access)

Car-Brake

Patent for new and useful improvement in rail-way-car brakes in which the brake mechanism of each car is in connection with device.
Date: October 27, 1885
Creator: Matthews, Cgranmer L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopper. (open access)

Cotton Chopper.

Patent for a new and improved cotton chopper. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a pair of wheels and a main frame mounted loosely thereon, of a shaft journaled therein carrying a pinion and crank-wheel, a hoe adapted to be reciprocated by the crank-wheel, and an operating-lever connected with the shaft and hoe-handle, whereby the shaft is moved laterally and the hoe elevated simultaneously therewith" (lines 41-48).
Date: October 20, 1885
Creator: McGregor, Montague M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trunk. (open access)

Trunk.

Patent for new and improved trunk that according to the inventor, "can be erected and adapted for use as a wardrobe, desk, or table, or can be adjusted as a support for a mattress or other bedding".
Date: October 6, 1885
Creator: Wulff, Henry F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vermin Poison. (open access)

Vermin Poison.

Patent for "insecticide compositions for exterminating prairie-dogs, ants, &c." (lines 6-7), including dosages and instructions for use.
Date: October 13, 1885
Creator: Womack, John David
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump for Oil Cans, &c. (open access)

Pump for Oil Cans, &c.

Patent for a new and improved pump for oil cans. This design "especially relates to means for holding a pump cylinder or barrel within the cask or can, and preventing oil from escaping through the aperture or opening through which the cylinder passes; and to these ends it consists of the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts" (lines 20-26).
Date: October 27, 1885
Creator: Nelson, John Bryon
System: The Portal to Texas History
Packing attachment for cotton presses. (open access)

Packing attachment for cotton presses.

Patent for improvement of packing attachment for cotton presses.
Date: October 6, 1885
Creator: Bradford, John B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Table. (open access)

Table.

Patent for a new and improved table. This design "is to increase the utility of tables by providing them with drawers extending from side to side, that will open from either side of the table, and also providing the drawers with additional means of support that will enable them to contain articles of great weight without injury to the structure, and thus adapt the same for use in stores" (lines 10-18).
Date: October 13, 1885
Creator: Davis, James Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Paint Brush. (open access)

Paint Brush.

Patent for a new and improved paint brush. This design "consists in an extensible and contractible frame having means for clamping a brush within the same, and provided at the end of its component members or plates with a sockets or tubes, in which are fitted adjustable stems carrying brush holders or sockets at their ends which are capable of receiving an angular adjustment in relation to said stems" (lines 15-23).
Date: October 13, 1885
Creator: Nowlin, William Abner
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire Escape. (open access)

Fire Escape.

Patent for a new and improved fire-escape. This design "is to provide means whereby lowering the car may be made more safe and easy to the operators, whereby the occupants of the car may be shielded from smoke and flames bursting from lower windows while the car descends, whereby the shield may be housed when not in use, and in means whereby the use of this fire-escape by burglars may be prevented" (lines 12-20).
Date: October 27, 1885
Creator: McKinzie, Thomas Duncan
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rocking Chair. (open access)

Rocking Chair.

Patent for a new and improved rocking chair. This design "relates to an improvement in rocking chairs; and it consists in a detachable rocker and a clamp for securing the rocker to the legs of an ordinary chair for the purpose of converting the latter into a rocking chair" (lines 9-13).
Date: October 13, 1885
Creator: Brown, Frederick H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter (open access)

Planter

Patent for a new improved planter. "It consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices, that will be more fully set forth hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claims" (p. 1; lines 10-13) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 6, 1885
Creator: Morris, John Edwin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter. (open access)

Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "[t]he combination, in a seed-planter, of a main frame having side beams, the standard secured midway between said beams at their forward ends, and provided at its lower end with a shovel and a presser located immediately in rear of said shovel, the hopper supported on said side beams, and having its planting mechanism arranged to drop the seed directly in the furrow formed by the shovel and presser, [and] wheel journaled in the side beams in rear of the planting mechanism" (lines 3-14).
Date: October 13, 1885
Creator: Gardner, Robert J.
System: The Portal to Texas History