Because the reader must install a "plug-in" in order to view material at the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office's Web site, it is not possible to provide a direct link to each patent. But it is easy for the reader to install the plug-in, called "AlternaTIFF". Go to www.alternatiff.com then "install to IE", then "auto-install", then "yes", and then "Auto Register". You must register your name and e-mail address. Registration is free. If you have "Quick Time" installed on your PC you may be able to view the patent but not make a print of either the specification or the drawing. Contact me if you are having any difficulty. (If Quick Time is installed on your computer, the QT logo will appear briefly when you view the patent.)
Next, obtain the requisite patent number and simply type it into the request box that is provided at the USPTO site. Be sure to prefix the number with the letter D -- not DP or SP which are prefixes sometimes used elsewhere in this GUIDE to differentiate between patented patterns (DP or dp) and patented shapes (SP or sp) -- and be sure to search "all years". For design patents before no. 10,000 precede the patent-number with two zeros -- for example, design patent no. 8824 is entered as D008824, a total of seven characters. For patents after no. 10,000 only a single zero is needed -- for example, patent no. 12982 is entered as D012982, keeping the total number of characters seven. For utility patents, enter the six-digit number preceded with a single zero; again, the total of characters is seven. For utility patents there is no prefix.
When using the Patent Office's site, you will be able to print both the specification and the drawing. The images can then be scanned and saved with very little loss of detail. Most of the patent drawings at these Web sites were obtained in this manner. Alternately, you can save the specifications and drawings as .tif files (right click), if you can use this format.
To discover the patent number for a particular pattern (or shape) search the files for the following companies which are located in Part 2. If the company sought is not among the following, then it will be found in either the Group A or Group B file in the "Other Cutting Shops" folder. Group C contains companies that never patented a pattern or shape.
The foregoing files provide patent numbers for all of the design patents (patterns and shapes) that were issued during the brilliant period of American cut glass.
The following is a copy of Press Release #00-68 dated 6 Nov 2000:
USPTO WEB DATABASE NOW INCLUDES ALL PATENTS DATING FROM 1790 The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has expanded its 2 million patent Web database to include every United States patent ever issued, a total of more than 6.5 million patents.
The database now offers the public an additional 1.7 terabytes of full-page images for the 4,204,863 US patents issued from 1790 through 1975. Patents issued from 1790 through 1975 are searchable by patent number and current US patent classification; patents issued from 1976 to the most recent issue week are searchable by full-text fields that now include current US classification data. To facilitate database searches, USPTO's Manual of Classification has been enhanced to help users find all patents in a particular category of invention.
"USPTO's database, which is updated weekly with the latest in patented technology, represents the history of science and technology that has made the United States economy the strongest in the world", said Q. Todd Dickinson, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
USPTO has also added two additional database web servers and doubled the available Internet bandwidth to accommodate ever-increasing public use of the patent database. The agency has added two terabytes of additional disk storage to the two terabytes previously allocated for Patent Images on the Web.
. . . USPTO, a user fee-funded agency of the United States, within the Department of Commerce, administers laws relevant to granting patents and registering trademarks. The Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office advises the Secretary of Commerce and other Federal departments and agencies on intellectual property policy matters. Over 6 million patents have been issued since the first patent in 1790 and 2.3 million trademarks have been registered since the first in 1870. Last year (1999) USPTO issued 161,000 patents and registered 104,000 trademarks.
Additional references:
Peterson, A. G., 1973: GLASS PATENTS AND PATTERNS. Celery City Printing Co., Sanford, FL, 226 pp. Includes "Patent Office Information for Collectors No. 54", pp. 144-6).
Peterson, A. G., 1985: 400 TRADEMARKS ON GLASS WITH ALPHABETICAL INDEX. Revised printing. Original copyright 1968, transferred to J-D Books, Stamford, CT, 1985, 54 pp.
Updated 15 Jun 2007