Automatic Relief Valve for Pneumatic Seed Cotton Distributers. (open access)

Automatic Relief Valve for Pneumatic Seed Cotton Distributers.

Patent for a valve that attaches to a flue upon a pneumatic-seed cotton distributor. Includes illustrations.
Date: January 6, 1903
Creator: Wade, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boiler (open access)

Boiler

Patent for a steam boiler "to provide simple and effective means for quickly generating steam by exposing the water fully to the caloric influence of the furnace or fire in the latter through the medium of radial tubular attachments" (lines 9-14), including illustrations.
Date: September 3, 1901
Creator: Hensley, Frank Alfred
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cotton Chopping, Planting, and Cultivating Machine (open access)

Combined Cotton Chopping, Planting, and Cultivating Machine

Patent for "an improvement in combined cotton chopping, planting, and cultivating machines," (lines 9-11) including illustrations.
Date: May 22, 1888
Creator: Pilond, David Winfield
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ant Trap. (open access)

Ant Trap.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design consists in "[a]n ant-trap, comprising the body and the inward-projecting tubes having the protecting-caps on their inner ends, the outer faces of the caps being convex and provided with apertures of greater diameter than the bore of the inner end of the tube" (lines 90-95).
Date: February 22, 1887
Creator: McCallum, Walter Randolph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Balance Staff and Wheel for Watches (open access)

Balance Staff and Wheel for Watches

Patent for an improved design of a balance staff and wheel used for watch repair. The new design allows for an easier repair when replacing a broken staff and decreases the chance that the wheel would be damaged when replacing the staff. Included are instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 18, 1880
Creator: Bugbee, George G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
BUCKLE (open access)

BUCKLE

Patent for "a new and improved buckle" (lines4-5)
Date: July 20, 1880
Creator: Bardwell, Henery G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Air Brake Attachment. (open access)

Air Brake Attachment.

Patent for "mechanism for use in connection with railway cars for automatically controlling the air brakes," including instructions and illustrations.
Date: April 17, 1917
Creator: Flowers, Malon Inghram & Sale, Archie Pierce
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Knife. (open access)

Cotton-Knife.

Patent for a new cotton knife to provide more versatility in its use. It is "for sampling bales of cotton, and [...] cutting the bagging of the cotton, and a hook whereby a sample of cotton may be plucked out" (lines 10-14), including illustrations.
Date: May 9, 1916
Creator: Bowers, Jacob R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bed Bottom. (open access)

Bed Bottom.

Patent for an improved bed bottom consisting of a series of hooks and eyes and wires with instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 28, 1886
Creator: Peacock, John Calvin; Graves, James Beard & Huffor, George Allin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher (open access)

Wire Stretcher

Patent for a wire stretcher. Illustration included.
Date: December 1, 1903
Creator: Preston, Leonidas A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Internal-Combustion Engine. (open access)

Internal-Combustion Engine.

Patent for a new and improved device within internal combustion engines "whereby water is converted into steam, and then delivered into the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine" (lines 13-16). Includes illustrations.
Date: November 16, 1915
Creator: Harwood, William W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trunk. (open access)

Trunk.

Patent for traveling trunk "in which all the conveniences of home are embodied. The trunk is especially adapted to the use of tourists remaining abroad for a great length of time" (lines 13-17) and includes spaces for books, clothes, hats, a writing desk, special locking mechanisms, and other features.
Date: August 8, 1916
Creator: Traweek, Katie L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect-Power Distributer. (open access)

Insect-Power Distributer.

Patent for a new insecticide distributer using a bellows, a rotary fan, and a tube connecting the bellows to an insecticide reservoir; when pressure is applied to the bellows, the insecticide would pass through the reservoir to a flexible pipe that would distribute the insecticide to any direction without the operator breathing it.
Date: February 17, 1891
Creator: Preston, Leonidas A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insecticide Distributor. (open access)

Insecticide Distributor.

Patent for a new and improved bug sprayer. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a base, a bellows mounted thereon, a receptacle arranged in advance of the bellows and adapted to contain poison to be distributed, a forwardly-projecting discharge-tube, laterally-extending discharge-tubes comprising inner rigid sections, outer rigid sections having series of discharge-nozzles, and flexible couplings connecting the rigid sections, and the braces having their inner ends pivoted to the base and their outer ends pivoted to the outer sections and supporting the same" (lines 75-86).
Date: September 27, 1892
Creator: Talley, Reuben J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Wheel-Plows (open access)

Improvement in Wheel-Plows

Patent for a wheel plow designed to be simple, durable, easily controlled, and of light draft.
Date: June 19, 1877
Creator: Amonett, Ammon A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvements In Buckles. (open access)

Improvements In Buckles.

Patent for a new kind of buckle along with specifications for construction and illustrations of the buckle.
Date: August 12, 1879
Creator: Carnes, William J., Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle Axle Lubricator. (open access)

Vehicle Axle Lubricator.

Patent for a new and improved axle lubricator. This design utilizes threads to allow for removal and reattachment, as well as easy cleaning.
Date: January 25, 1881
Creator: Rochelle, John Rugeley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Indicator for Merchandise. (open access)

Indicator for Merchandise.

Patent for a new and improved advertising sign. This design "relates to apparatus or devices for marking or indicating upon the outside of boxes or drawers the names and prices of the merchandise or other articles contained therein; and it consists in the improved construction and combination of parts of a device of the above-mentioned class" (lines 23-29).
Date: April 7, 1885
Creator: Brown, Sampson Harvey
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill. (open access)

Windmill.

Patent for a windmill for "connecting or mounting a pump rod and a pitman for transmitting movement from the crank shaft carrying the wheel" (lines 14-16) in a balanced way that will reduce wear and tear. Additionally, other elements attached to the supporting structure will "compensate for the the uneven action due to the variable pull on the pitman and pump rod." (lines 31-33).
Date: December 6, 1921
Creator: Winslett, William Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect-Destroyer. (open access)

Insect-Destroyer.

Patent for boll-weevil insect destroyer to that can be attached to cotton cultivator device and used to remove and destroy boll weevils simultaneously to plowing the cotton with the cultivator.
Date: September 5, 1916
Creator: McCracken, Ninian S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in the Manufacture of Black Bottle-Glass. (open access)

Improvement in the Manufacture of Black Bottle-Glass.

Patent for manufacturing black bottle-glass by using "combination with other ingredients, an earthy slate of a peculiar character, called "clay-slate," for the purpose of furnishing the coloring-matter of the glass,as well as forming one of the bases of the glass itself."(line 10-15) Instruction only, no illustration.
Date: September 2, 1856
Creator: McCully, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window-Curtain Holder. (open access)

Window-Curtain Holder.

Patent for improvements in window-curtain holders,in which the curtain holder has a upper and a lower socket, “with the lower socket having a central opening and mounted on a base-plate, of the upper socket having a side opening and mounted on a base-plate, and the U-shaped clasp pivoted at its lower end in the lower socket and having its upper end laterally bent and designed for insertion in the side opening of the upper socket” (lines 84-92). The curtains would be retained and giving them the proper draping and prevent them from flapping and tearing, includes illustration.
Date: March 17, 1891
Creator: West, Eugene B. & Finney, William D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle-Brake. (open access)

Vehicle-Brake.

Patent for a new and useful vehicle brake, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 20, 1898
Creator: Ramage, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvements in Joints for Railway Rails (open access)

Improvements in Joints for Railway Rails

Patent for improvements in box or "fish" joints for railroad rails.
Date: May 28, 1872
Creator: Wells, Jephthah
System: The Portal to Texas History