Source Information

Ancestry.com. U.S., Patent and Trademark Office Patents, 1790-1909 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
Original data: United States Patent and Trademark Office. USPTO Patent Full-Text and Image Database. < http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html > accessed January 2008.

About U.S., Patent and Trademark Office Patents, 1790-1909

This database contains invention patents granted from 1790-1909 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The patent system is very much a part of American history. Patents were granted in some form in many of the Thirteen Colonies. In 1790 the government created the federal patent system, laying the foundation for the patent system we use today. The existence of the patent system lends support to invention, research, and science. Studying patents from the past and present can provide an interesting historical perspective of the world our ancestors lived in.

The database contains:

  • Patent number

  • Current U.S. Classification

  • Name of patentee

  • Patent date

  • Patent place

In addition there are images of the patent documentation when available.