Historical, Regional and Specialized Patent and Trademark Research

This page lists historical, regional and specialized and regional patent and trademark resources.

This page lists historical, regional and specialized and regional patent and trademark resources.

African American Inventors
Historical information on early African-American patentees.
Alabama Inventors Database
Database of patents created by the Birmingham Public Library
American Artifacts
Antique medical instruments, microscopes, surveying equipments and farm tools.
Antiques of a Mechanical Nature
Information from the mid 1800’s to early 1900’s. Covers sewing machines, carpentry tools, sporting goods, irons, coffee makers, etc.
Black Inventors by State or Country of Residence, 1834-2008, Index
Downloadable Excel Spreadsheet, Compiled by Margaret J. Collins, Illinois State Library (2008)
[Canada] Library and Archives Canada Historical Patents
Database of Canadian patents granted to Canadian citizens or residents from 1860 through 1919
Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights
Hathi Trust Digital Library
Cincinnati Inventors Database
Database of patents issued to Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio Inventors from 1813 through 1873.
Confederate Patent Office
List of Patents issued by the Confederate Patent Office, 1861-1864
Decisions of Commissioner of Patents and U.S. Courts in Patent and Trademark
Hathi Trust Digital Library
Design Patents to 1873*
Directory of American Tool and Machine Patents (DATAMP)
Disclaimer Patents 1837-1873*
DNA Patents Database
A collection of DNA-based patents and patent applications issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for those interested in fields like genomics, genetics and biotechnology. Documents included in the DPD are identified by a search algorithm that captures documents with a nucleic-acid specific term in its claims section and also with a relevant classification code. Terms specific to nucleic acids include “DNA,” “RNA,” “nucleotide,” “polynucleotide,” etc.
DOE Patents
A central collection of US Department of Energy patent information from the 1940’s to today.
Eco-Patent Commons
The Eco-Patent Commons was founded on the commitment that anyone who wants to bring environmental benefits to market can use these patents to protect the environment and enable collaboration between businesses that foster new innovations.
The Thomas Edison Papers
Contains the full text and indexes to the 1,093 successful U.S. patents of Mr. Edison. It also contains the full text of his notebooks. Also much information on his foreign patents is included. Made available by Rutgers University.
Electronic Orange Book
This database from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) contains patent information for drugs. May be helpful in finding patents describing the synthesis of modern drugs or for determining if patents are still in effect and/or have been extended.
Extension Patents to 1865*
Famous Inventions*
From ThoghtCo. – an alphabetical list of important inventions. Also has list of famous inventors.
HistoricIP.com
This site, run by tools historian Russ Allen, has some useful gadgets for looking up rare things that can’t be found anywhere else on the web. For example, an OCR database for searching over 620,000 dead trademarks that are not full text searchable in TESS. Also the Patentee Search is a uniquely created, though incomplete, list of pre-1920 US patent holders.
French 19th Century Patents
Search Patent No, Patent type, date, inventor, title, address – no full text
Idaho Historical Patents Database
Database of patents created by the University of Idaho Library
Improvement Patents to 1861*
Index of Trademarks Issued from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, 1927-1991 (incomplete)
Hathi Trust Digital Library
Invention Stories
Compiled by the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian Institution.
Inventors Museum
Directory of inventors and inventions in categories like Colonial Inventors, Medical Inventions, and War Tech
Iowa Inventions Database
Database of patents created by the Iowa State Library
The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
Resources for the history of invention.
[Louisiana] Index to Early Louisiana Patents, 1810-1890
Database of patents created by Miami University Libraries
Name Changes in Patents 1851-2002
This database indexes United States patents in which a personal name change is specifically identified in the document.
National Inventors Hall of Fame
Contains short biography on each inventor inducted into the Hall of Fame from 1973 to present.
Nevada Inventors Database
US patents issued to Nevada inventors from 1862 through 1938. Created by the University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, 1899-2002
Hathi Trust Digital Library
[Ohio] Miami Valley Inventors Historical Database
Bibliographic information on over 1800 patents, including biographical notes of a few inventors, cities and towns, attorneys of record, estate administrators, and assignments; covers the period 1814-1875 for an 11 county region around Dayton, OH : Butler, Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Logan, Miami, Montgomery, Preble, Shelby and Warren counties.  Contributed by Ran Raider.
Oklahoma Inventors Database, 1880 – 1907
Database of patents created by Oklahoma State University
Patent Indexes & Annual Reports from the Commissioner of Patents, 1790-1958 (incomplete)
Hathi Trust Digital Library
Patent Office History
Includes, among other things, a list of all known U.S. Patents and Patentees before the Patent Office Fire of 1836.
[Pittsburgh] From Air Brakes to Zinc Furnaces: Pittsburgh and Allegheny City Patentees 1790 – 1879
Database of patents created by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Reissue Patents 1838-1873*
South Carolina Inventors, 1793 – 1893
Database of patents created by Clemson University Libraries
Subject-matter index of patents for inventions issued by the United States Patent office from 1790 to 1873, inclusive
Lists patents by one alphabetical subject listing. It provides the inventor’s name, place of residence, date of issue, and patent number. Where there are many inventions under the same subject, it is helpful that the patents are arranged in alphabetical order by the inventor’s name. At the end of volume 3 are separate listings for reissues, design patents, extensions, disclaimers, trademarks, and additional improvements. Electronic version available at The Internet Archive, among other places.
Technology Assessment and Forecast, Seventh Report
Lists the number of patents granted in each state from 1883-1976. Also includes a table with the numbers of trademarks registered and renewed from 1870-1976 (total – not broken out by state.)
Texas Historical Patents
The Portal to Texas History includes patents from 1846 – 1911, with more being added as the project continues. Patents are indexed by inventor (creator) name and address, publication date (creation date), application date (submission date), patent number and more. Records include representative drawings and abstract.
Trademarks 1870-1873*
U.S. Alien Property Custodian Documents Database
Database of bibliographic data for WWII patent applications that were seized by the Alien Property Custodian in 1942 and published by the Patent Office in the spring of 1943
U.S. Patent Activity, 1790-present
Reports the numbers of utility (invention), design, and plant patents issued and applications received yearly. See also Issue Years and Patent Numbers List; lists the number of the first U.S. patent (utility, design, plant, and reissue) issued in each year since1836.
Utility Patents 1-65000*
Utility Patents 65000-100000*
Utility Patents 100001-146119*
WIPO INSPIRE
A collection of reports on patent databases and their features
Women Inventors A-Z
From ThoughtCo.
Women Inventors Index, 1790 – 1895
Database created by the Miami University Libraries
Women of Invention: Women Inventors and Patent Holders
Compiled by The Library of Congress Science, Technology & Business Division
Wyoming Inventors Database
Databases of patents created by the Wyoming State Library
X-Patents (names, dates, PNs only)*
X-Patents (with added fields)*

* Content courtesy of Jim Shaw, Hutchinson, Kansas