Patent Searching Guide

Viewing Patents

Once you’ve performed a Word Search with results containing several relevant results, it’s time to begin looking at individual Patents. NOTE: as you’re looking at the results, some Patent Numbers begin with a D. These are Design Patents. Design Patents apply only to the appearance of the article and not structural or utilitarian features.

When you have found a patent which looks relevant, click on the Title to view it. This page will contain general information about the patent: Abstract (or summary), Inventor’s Name, Date of Application, References to similar patents [References are linked and can be a helpful tool to quickly view Patents in the same vein as the one you are viewing], Claims, Description, and current Patent Classification Number. Note that at the top and bottom of the page, you will see a link for Images.

This is how you can access a scanned-in, PDF version of the entire Patent Document, including the Drawings, and easily print or save the document. Note that for Patents pre-1976, Images is the only method to view the Patent information.