Currently it is not possible to search for patents issued from 1790 to 1975 by inventor name or invention title. The United States Patent and Trademark Office is revising the rules of practice in patent cases to implement certain provisions of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 . This begins with applications received from November 29, 2000. After a few more years US practices will be similar to other countries, making it easier to track innovation, and acquire competitive intelligence. Currently, it is necessary to search foreign patents and patent applications to try and find hidden US patent applications in the pipeline.
Applicants are able to monitor the status of applications online as well.
There are many reasons to look for and use patents. Use patents to find descriptions of ideas that can be built upon or find methods that will help in solving a research problem. They can be a source of information about earlier findings reported in patents, books, and papers as described in the prior art section of the patent. Patents in chemistry and pharmaceuticals are particularly useful for finding methods. In contrast, engineering patent specifications often relate to products rather than processes.