Original_To:  JNET%"roots-l@ndsuvm1.bitnet"
Original_cc:  WRP5404
Newsgroups: soc.roots
Date:         Sun, 3 Jan 1993 15:46:00 CST
Reply-To:     Bill Page <WRP5404@TAMRIGEL.BITNET>
From:         Bill Page <WRP5404@TAMRIGEL.BITNET>
Subject:      Patents

Looking up patents is fairly easy if you have access to a large
library.  Writing this from memory (so titles may not be exactly
right (I apologize):

During the 19th century, the U.S. Commissioner published an
annual report which listed the patents granted each year; this
includes an alphabetical index.  I believe there's a cumulative
index which covers the very earliest years (say, 1789-1820 ? or
so ?).

Some, but not all, of the annual reports also include abstracts,
or brief summaries of the patents.  These annual reports may be
held (located) in two places in U.S. documents collections.  They
can be filed under their own call numbers.  Or, they are also
included in the set of Congressional Documents called the Serial
Set.  (The Documents librarian should understand all of this).

Beginning in about 1871, the government began publishing a series
called the Official Gazette of the U.S. Patent Office.  It's a
series of (weekly ? monthly ?) publications listing patents in
the order in which they were issued.  This includes brief
abstracts and often includes sketches of the invention.  Again,
you have to use separate annual indexes.


You can also obtain complete copies of most patents (except for
the very earliest ones, which may have been destroyed in a fire).
The patents themselves don't give any purely genealogical data,
but do include the inventor's name and place of residence --
which may obviously be of some value.

For patents granted since about 1969, there is a computer index
on CD-Rom.  I don't think you can access this via the Net.

But, wait ... There's more ...

Patent searching can be quite complex.  For some specialized
areas, there are commercially published cumulative indexes
(chemistry is the most notable field).

And, some files exist for inventions which were not patented.
The Franklin Institute, during the 19th century, ran sort of a
clearinghouse, where would-be inventors could send their
information to have it evaluated.  This sometimes includes copies
of letters, drawings, sales catalogs, etc.  These files have been
microfilmed, covering about the period 1824-1900.  My impression
is that relatively few people took this route, but there are
hundreds of references, even so.

And, several magazines routinely published abstracts of newly
patented devices.

It gets even more complicated.  The Confederate States also
issued patents.  All I've seen are the annual reports of the
Confederate Commissioner of Patents, which have been microfilmed
as part of the Confederate Imprints microfilm collection.

And, in the 20th century, we're dealing with several different
kinds of patents -- "utility", "design," "plant", etc.

I'm *not* a patents expert, but I do help provide basic access to
patents here at Texas A&M.

Oh, I should add ... there isn't any geographic access to older
patents (with a handful of exceptions).  In other words, you
can't check to see what was patented in a particular state or
county.

Anyway, I hope this answers at least some of the questions.  Most
libraries have books on how to patent inventions, which usually
provide chapters on accessing the information.

Bill Page
(409) 845-1952 Microtext Dept., Texas A&M Univ., College Station,
               Texas 77840