Axle Skein. (open access)

Axle Skein.

Patent for a new and improved axle skein. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the axle-spindle having a collar at its inner end and provided with a longitudinal groove at its outer end, and the bushing having a rib which engages the groove and a projection which engages the notch in the collar" (lines 29-35).
Date: September 20, 1887
Creator: Nott, Henry William
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bird-Cage (open access)

Bird-Cage

Patent for "bird-cages of the circular kind, wherein the main-frame wires have a band at their lower ends and a single tie-wire arranged diametrically across the band. . .to utilize the single diametrical tie-wire as a support for an inverted interiorly screw-threaded connecting-cap, and to combine with such a device a pan" (lines 10-12 and 17-23).
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Coffield, Charles Hunter
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the body, or receptacle and its cover, of the dasher having a frame provided with inner apertured or perforated corner blocks and journaled in the body or receptacle, and a second apertured or perforated cross-shaped dasher journaled within the other dasher, the tripod-frame comprising the arched meeting side bars, and a third connecting-bar having an aperture, through which the upper end of the inner dasher-staff passes, the three-armed brace having a gudgeon or shaft" (lines 41-52).
Date: June 15, 1886
Creator: Lines, Daniel & Long, Charles T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clasp. (open access)

Clasp.

Patent for a new and improved clasp. This design "is to make a fastener for pieces of leather by which bridles and other parts of harness may be made with less stitching and riveting, thereby lessening the labor and cost of manufacture" (lines 15-20). To this end, it consists in "two plates, [one] having key-hole slots with beveled side walls, and the [other] carrying studs undercut . . . and provided with top pin, in combination with the spring-plate perforated . . . to receive [the] pin to form the leather clasp or fastening described" (lines 77-83).
Date: December 3, 1889
Creator: Waters, Richard H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cultivator and Cotton and Corn Planter. (open access)

Combined Cultivator and Cotton and Corn Planter.

Patent for a new implement "for planting cotton-seed, cultivating the soil, and covering the soil" (lines 14-15) and corn (line 61) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 5, 1883
Creator: McCall, Duncan Jefferson
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Shaft Holder and Wrench. (open access)

Combined Shaft Holder and Wrench.

Patent for a new and improved shaft-holder and wrench. This design "consist[s] of the arms having their lower ends tapered to form screw-drivers of different sizes, the heads on the upper ends of the arms, the jaws on the heads, and the threaded shaft attached to one of the arms and engaging a tapped aperture in the other arm" (lines 92-98).
Date: January 8, 1889
Creator: Nott, Henry W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn and Cotton Planter. (open access)

Corn and Cotton Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the main frame . . . provided with the hopper, covers, and transporting-wheel, of the vibrating-lever pivoted at its lower end to the side of the frame, and pivoted at its middle to the lateral arm, secured to the feed-slide and operated by means of the pitman, which is connected at its lower end to the crank-axle, the upper end thereof being pivoted to the upper end of the lever" (lines 17-26).
Date: September 8, 1885
Creator: Williams, George W. & Hook, Joseph
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopper (open access)

Cotton Chopper

Patent for a new and improved stalk chopper. This design "consists in the combination of a suitable carrying-frame, which is to be attached to the plow, a shaft on which the chopping-wheel is placed, and which is operated by the revolving axle, and the chopping-wheel having adjustable cutting blades" (lines 13-18).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Miller, Julian Tolbert
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Planter. (open access)

Cotton Planter.

Patent for a new and improved cotton planter. This design is for "a cotton-planter, the vibrating agitator having radial flanges and lateral flanges upon its bow, and clamped to the under side of [a] rocking shaft by means of cuffs and [a] clamp-screw, in combination with [a] hopper having [a] removable adjustable bottom" (lines 62-67).
Date: May 10, 1881
Creator: Walton, Jacob Gipson
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Stalk Puller. (open access)

Cotton Stalk Puller.

Patent for a new and improved cotton stalk puller. This design utilizes "[a] pulling-wheel having radial jaws that are opened and closed by cam devices" when "[i]t is driven astride the [cotton] row, and will be found to operate rapidly and with absolute certainty. It is simple, durable, and may be constructed at a very small expense" (lines 79-84).
Date: March 15, 1881
Creator: Wilson, John C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Deep Well Pump. (open access)

Deep Well Pump.

Patent for a new and improved well pump. This design consists in "the timber bed arranged on the bottom of the well, in combination with two superposed metallic cylinders connected by a stock, said stock being provided at the bottom with inwardly-turned flanges made fast to said bed" (lines 55-60).
Date: March 22, 1887
Creator: Clark, Alexander Evans
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Earth Auger. (open access)

Earth Auger.

Patent for a new and improved auger. This design "relates to a new and improved earth-auger made funnel shaped, with side cutting-edges, and adapted to be inverted for emptying the auger; and the invention consists of the construction and arrangement of parts" (lines 7-12).
Date: May 26, 1885
Creator: Porter, Thomas A.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Engineer's Level-Rod (open access)

Engineer's Level-Rod

Patent for an engineer's level-rod which introduces a peculiar manner of marking the scale upon the face of the rod.
Date: November 30, 1880
Creator: Lynch, Michael L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Engineer's Level-Rod. (open access)

Engineer's Level-Rod.

Reissued patent for an improvement in engineer's level which introduces a novel manner of marking the scale upon the face of the rod.
Date: April 5, 1881
Creator: Lynch, Michael L.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Farm and Garden Implement. (open access)

Farm and Garden Implement.

Patent for a new and improved tool rack. This design "consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, whereby the device may hold implements of various kinds—such as the hoe, rake, a fork, shovel-blade, a trowel, and similar hand-tools—by simply detaching one tool from the holder and inserting another" (lines 12-18).
Date: April 19, 1887
Creator: Hewitt, Ditus Pinson
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insecticide Composition. (open access)

Insecticide Composition.

Patent for an insecticide to kill red ants and "other noxious insects" (line 9).
Date: March 24, 1885
Creator: Howard, Frank M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mechanical Power. (open access)

Mechanical Power.

Patent for a new and improved engine. This design "relates to a combined room-ventilator and fly-hand; and it has for its object to provide a device of this character which shall be simple in its construction and thoroughly efficient and effective in its operation. With these ends in view the invention consists in the improved construction and combination of parts" (lines 9-17).
Date: May 20, 1884
Creator: Ellis, James W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Milk-Cooler (open access)

Milk-Cooler

Patent for a milk cooler in which the design of traditional milk coolers is improved upon.
Date: December 3, 1889
Creator: Porter, Louis H.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Post-Hole Auger (open access)

Post-Hole Auger

New and useful improvement in Post-Hole Augers. With this construction the auger will its way easily and rapidly into any kind of soil.
Date: November 2, 1880
Creator: Hubby, Mead M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Post Hole Auger. (open access)

Post Hole Auger.

Patent for a new and improved post-hole auger. This design consists in "the shank forked and continued in the arms, the latter having elbows at their lower ends, in combination with the ring-shaped band having a sharp lower edge and bolts passing through said bands and arms and through said elbows and arms" (lines 91-97).
Date: October 15, 1889
Creator: McCall, Dugald Bell
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump. (open access)

Pump.

Patent for a new and improved pump. This design "consists in the combination, with a suitable base or support which rests upon the bottom of the well and is provided with cogs upon its upper surface, of a rotating cylinder and delivery-pipe, a crank-shaft journaled in the cylinder and provided with a pinion upon its outer end, a connecting-rod at its inner one, and a vertically-moving piston" (lines 13-20).
Date: October 30, 1888
Creator: Clark, Alexander Evans
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam Engine. (open access)

Steam Engine.

Patent for a new and improved steam engine. This design "consists in the construction and novel arrangement, in connection with a cylinder having bearings for the piston-shaft at each end and steam and exhaust ports at opposite ends, of an axially-elongated piston having opposite spiral threads or ribs of gradually-decreasing pitch from the end at which the steam enters to the end at which it escapes" (lines 19-26).
Date: July 3, 1883
Creator: Wilson, John C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stock Car. (open access)

Stock Car.

Patent for improvement to stock cars, "so constructed that the hay-racks swing up automatically and the troughs can be lowered to be out of the way when not in use and can easily be swung up when the animals are to be watered" (lines 8-13).
Date: September 22, 1885
Creator: Lines, Daniel
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Syringe. (open access)

Syringe.

Patent for a new and improved syringe. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with inlet and outlet tubes provided with end fittings . . . of the two concavo-convex disks arranged on the tubes with their concavities opposite to each other, [one] disk being made of soft rubber and adapted to be inserted within the vagina and the [other] disk adapted to be pressed against the vulva during the operation of syringing" (lines 73-81).
Date: April 17, 1888
Creator: Streetman, Willard
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History