Grain Measure and Tally. (open access)

Grain Measure and Tally.

Patent for improving the measurement of grain.
Date: August 7, 1888
Creator: Holland, John Newton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Water Trap for Cisterns and Other Receptacles. (open access)

Automatic Water Trap for Cisterns and Other Receptacles.

Patent for a new and improved water-trap. This design consists in "the combination, with a bent main pipe, of a vessel secured on the said main pipe and connected at its top with the interior of the said main pipe, a pin held on the bottom of the said vessel, a fixed sleeve provided with a spiral groove and engaged by said pin, a grooved pin held in the said fixed sleeve and resting at its top end on the bottom of the said pin, a roped connected with the said grooved pin, and a weight held on the said rope to counterbalance the said main pipe and vessel" (lines 103-114).
Date: August 7, 1888
Creator: Pickering, Charles H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling Press. (open access)

Baling Press.

Patent for a new and improved baling-press. This design has for its object "to provide a press in which the material to be baled can be compressed into bales of the desired sizes, and then emptied from the baling-box by tilting up the tail-board, which is provided with angle irons to catch under the bale" (lines 15-20).
Date: August 7, 1888
Creator: Hoop, Friedrich W. J. & Isaac, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bale Tie. (open access)

Bale Tie.

Patent for a new and improved bale tie. This design consists in "[t]he buckle, having the side re-entering angles, the bars, and the slot the edges at the apices of the re-entering angles being expanded . . . with strengthening-fins formed therein" (lines 65-70). This novel construction and combination of parts allows for "the provision of a tie-buckle that can readily be applied without extraneous fastening devices either with the tie or the buckle itself, and one which can be repeatedly used, and one which can be manufactured at a minimum expense and with the least possible waste of material" (lines 10-16).
Date: June 7, 1887
Creator: Copeland, Eliza A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Car Uncoupler. (open access)

Automatic Car Uncoupler.

Patent for a new and improved car uncoupler. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a coupling adapted to hold two cars together, of an uncoupler comprising a lever pivotally connected to the car, a weight supported on the car and connected to said lever, and a connection between the weight-operated lever and the coupling for operating it, to separate the cars upon the dropping of the weight" (lines 4-11).
Date: June 7, 1887
Creator: Flett, John Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Buckle. (open access)

Buckle.

Patent for a new and improved buckle. This design consists "[i]n a harness-buckle, the combination, with the frame, provided with a tongue-bar having two tongues thereon and a tongue-bar having a single tongue thereon, of a clasp-rest and a hinged clasp near opposite ends of the buckle-frame" (lines 77-82).
Date: October 7, 1884
Creator: Daniel, Ellison Armistead
System: The Portal to Texas History
Axle Lubricator. (open access)

Axle Lubricator.

Patent for a new and improved axle lubricator. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the barrel or reservoir, its piston, and screw of the passage leading up from the top of the barrel-chamber, and the tube passing through the axle-collar and into a cavity of the axle arm" (lines 92-97).
Date: October 7, 1884
Creator: Keller, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bedstead Fastening. (open access)

Bedstead Fastening.

Patent for a new and improved bedstead fastening. This design "consist[s] in the locking-pin, the sections which are . . . provided with the laterally projecting alternating studs . . . having aligned vertical perforations to receive the said locking-pin, and their faces provided with the outer beveled flanges at the base of the studs, extending the entire length of the sections, so that when the sections are connected together they will meet each other in angular form, whereby the strain on the locking pin and the lateral studs is equalized" (lines 59-70).
Date: October 7, 1884
Creator: Stewart, John Adkerson
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 of "a yielding draw-head having a horizontally-moveable coupling-pin and a pivoted lever connected to said pin, of a rotatable latching-plate connected with said lever by a rod or chain, a spring for acting on the pin-lever, and a spring-catch for engaging the latch-plate, said catch and latch-plate being disengaged by the pressure of the draw-head in the act of coupling, thereby releasing the retracted coupling-pin and allowing it to automatically engage the opposite draw-head" (lines 14-24).
Date: December 7, 1886
Creator: Sessions, Egbert G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing Machine. (open access)

Washing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved washing machine. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the supporting stand and the suds-box, of the cleats at the upper end of said box and formed with openings, the blocks pivotally secured to said stand and provided at one end with the thumb-screw, and the springs secured at their lower ends in said blocks and their upper ends working loosely in the openings in the cleats" (lines 24-31).
Date: August 7, 1888
Creator: Neal, Stephen N.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon Brake. (open access)

Wagon Brake.

Patent for a new and improved wagon-brake. This design consists "of a suitable support which is attached to the rear axle-tree, the brake which is pivoted to this support, the connecting-rod pivoted to the brake, and the operating lever pivoted upon a supporting bar which extends from one standard to the other . . . The object of [the] invention is to produce a wagon-brake which is simple in construction, effective in operation, and by means of which the driver can instantly apply the brake with great power" (lines 14-25).
Date: May 7, 1889
Creator: Griffin, William Sidney
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
Washing Machine. (open access)

Washing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved washing machine. This design "relates to improvements in the class of washing-machines commonly known as 'cylinder washing-machines,' and has for its object the production of a machine which will operate thoroughly and expeditiously, and without injury to the fabric, while at the same time it is light and inexpensive in construction and simple in operation; and with these ends in view the invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts" (lines 10-20).
Date: July 7, 1885
Creator: Ekman, Axel F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon Standard. (open access)

Wagon Standard.

Patent for a new and improved wagon standard. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a hollow standard and an extension having vertical movement in said standard, of a gravity-catch adapted to bite against teeth or serrations on said extension in order to maintain the same in an extended position" (lines 60-65).
Date: December 7, 1886
Creator: Welsh, Lee L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Locomotive. (open access)

Locomotive.

Patent for a new and improved locomotive. This design "relates to a locomotive running-gear and motive-power connection; and the novelty consists in the construction, arrangement, and adaptation of parts" (lines 15-18).
Date: February 7, 1882
Creator: Hudson, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Weight Motor. (open access)

Weight Motor.

Patent for a new and improved weight-motor. This design consists in "the drum having the ratchet-wheel, the gear-wheel having the pawl engaging the ratchet-wheel, the lever extending from the track and adapted to be operated by the wheels of a passing train, the push-rod attached to the said lever and adapted to engage the ratchet-wheel to rotate the latter, the rope attached to the drum and having the weights, the trip-lever to move the push-rod out of engagement with the ratchet-wheel, and the rod attached to the said trip-lever and having an arm extending in the path of the weight" (lines 48-59).
Date: December 7, 1886
Creator: Spencer, Hiram A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Well Cleaner. (open access)

Well Cleaner.

Patent for a new and improved well cleaner. This design "is to provide a simple instrument by which wells can be cleaned out without descending into them. It is well known that much danger exists in descending into foul wells on account of the poisonous gases often collected near the bottom of the same" (lines 20-26).
Date: October 7, 1884
Creator: Neitsche, Frederick Theodor
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wheel-Planter (open access)

Wheel-Planter

Patent for an improvement on a patent granted on the 4th of October 1870, numbered 108,032.
Date: August 7, 1888
Creator: Kling, Peter
System: The Portal to Texas History
T-Square. (open access)

T-Square.

Patent for a new and improved t-square. This design calls for a triangular prism of a tongue, which enables more scales to be available to the work-person. The head, with its brackets and rabbet, will fasten the tongue in place while the work-person uses it.
Date: November 7, 1882
Creator: Rowe, Joseph William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hub (open access)

Hub

Patent for improvements for Hubs which consists the addition of a wheel with spokes that can be tighten. Included
Date: September 7, 1886
Creator: Nolen, Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam Boiler Feeder (open access)

Steam Boiler Feeder

Patent for improvments in automatic steam-boiler feeders
Date: April 7, 1887
Creator: Kelly, George A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Press Mat. (open access)

Press Mat.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-seed-oil press mat. This design calls for three separate plates to be bound together, which allows for two pressings simultaneously. The materials (sheet metal, leather, press cloth) make for a press that is stronger, cheaper, more durable, and more effective than previous presses.
Date: June 7, 1881
Creator: Mistrot, Jean Jacques
System: The Portal to Texas History
Printer's Galley. (open access)

Printer's Galley.

Patent for a new and improved printer's galley. This design consists of a novel arrangement of the galley parts that "dispenses with the time, labor, and expense incurred in manipulating quoins and side-sticks, mallet, shooting-stick, &c." (lines 60-62).
Date: March 7, 1882
Creator: Rudolph, Elijah K. & Wolfe, Joseph A. L.
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