September 2006

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Gizmophoria

With my speedy new DSL service, I had to revisit the United States Patent and Trademark Office site, first featured in Whither Zither #82. Best place to start browsing is:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/uspcindex/indextouspc.htm

...where you click on a letter and go from there (SEE NOTE, BELOW). I went to "M" and found music, with these results. More info on these can be found by searching the site for their patent numbers.

NOTE:

Some folks have asked for more hints about navigating the Patent Office site. Here's an example of how I've been doing it, though there may be a better way, of course:

Go to:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/uspcindex/indextouspc.htm

1. You will see two numbered steps.
2. In number 1, it says "Select what you want..." then gives you the option of either "index in HTML" or "index in PDF." CLICK THE FIRST OPTION ("Index in HTML").
3. In number 2, it says "Select letter..." Then there's the alphabet, each letter in a little box.
4. Click on the "M", then wait...
5. When the "M's" appear, scroll down just PAST "Music" to the next category which is "Music See Musical Instrument."
6. Click on the number "84" which is on the same line, to the right.
7. This will open a new page. I can't for the life of me figure out the order of this page, but just keep scrolling down until you see something interesting, like "banjo." It is NOT in alphabetic order.
8. When you come to "banjo", which is number 269, you see the following: A red box with a white "P" in it; then the number "269", then two dots, then the word "Banjos". CLICK ON THE RED BOX WITH THE WHITE "P".
9. This will open another new page. The items at the top of the list are usually the most recent. The interesting older stuff is down toard the bottom of the list. You'll notice that the newer stuff has a "T" in a yellow box. That means it has a searchable text. But the older patents don't have searchable text.
10. So click on one of the patent numbers. There are 50 patents per page, numbered one through 50, then 51 through 100, etc. On this first page, as an example, click on the patent number of #50, which is PATENT NUMBER 1,678,456. Click on that number.
11. Another page opens up and says, among other things, "Full text is not available for this patent." CLICK ON THE BOX CONTAINING THE WORD "Images".
12. Finally, this should bring you to a picture of Mr. Altermatt's 1925 patent application for "Resonance Ring for Stringed Musical Instruments." In the column to the left of the picture (which takes a short while to load sometimes), there are navigation arrows. Go one document to the right and you will see the text which accompanies this patent.