Search help

The following is a brief explanation of the fields in which you can search for patents on this database. You may enter terms in one or more fields at the same time. The more information you enter, the fewer hits you will get.

The database is not case sensitive or font sensitive.

Title: - Put any words in this field which you would expect to find in the title of the patent you are looking for. Bear in mind that some patent titles can be very brief. It is best to break them down into individual terms (rather than using phrases) eg if you are looking for a patent entitled “Actuating and regulating the throttle valves of steam engines” you might try throttle valves steam engines

Creator / Inventor: - If you are looking for patents by a particular inventor or company put the names in here. If you only want a patent that was filed by more than one person eg Smith and Jones put both of the surnames in.

Keywords: - Enter any words which you would expect to find in the patent you are looking for (and as in the Title field, avoid using phrases) eg if you are looking for a patent relating to fire in steam ships, fire, steam and ships are likely keywords.

Patent / Application Number: - If you know the patent number or the application number, enter it here. You may well find that the same number was used for different patents in different years. If you want to narrow down the number of results enter an additional term in a different field eg 1537 in the Patent Number field and 1858 in the Year field or put some terms into the Keyword field.

Location: - The place where the inventor was based when the patent was filed. This may be the town – Sheffield, Leeds etc – or it may be the street eg Pond Street.

Year: - If you know the year of the patent you are looking for, enter it in the first box. If you want to search a range of years enter the first and last years.

Diagram Available: - Not all patents have diagrams. If you wish you can limit your search results to patents which do have diagrams. Select ‘Yes’ if you only want patents with diagrams, select ‘no’ if you don’t want any patents with diagrams to be found. Leave the selection on ‘don’t mind’ if this is not an important search criteria for you.

Results: - When you get the results of your search, click on the image of the patent to enlarge it.