Lost patents

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RAM
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Lost patents

Post by RAM »

Interesting article in Oct. 2022 Smithsonian Magazine re: the fire of Dec 15, 1836 that destroyed all U.S. patents to that time (about 10,000) Question: Is it possible some reel patents were lost in that fire? Do any ORCAns have info about any reel patents that old? Patent Office archivists would love to have the info. So far, only 2,245 of the lost patents have been replicated to date. Good chance to be a hero here!

Bad Bob
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Steve
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Re: Lost patents

Post by Steve »

Is it possible some reel patents were lost in that fire?
Sure, but it's unlikely, IMHO. Two "fish-catching devices" were patented in 1795 and 1824. The third such device was Arunah Tiffany's "reel" of 1838, but that was just a line roller. If you need a list of the pre-fire patents, I can send one, or you can compile your own using this book.

In the meantime, you can see neat stuff like this:

Steve Vernon
ORCA Honorary member

Book: ANTIQUE FISHING REELS, 2nd Ed.
Websites:
Antique Fishing Reels
Kopf reels
Hendrick reels

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
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Jason
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Re: Lost patents

Post by Jason »

Neat resource. I scanned through names and saw one I recognized, Silas Terry.
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kyreels
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Re: Lost patents

Post by kyreels »

That was unknown to me. I downloaded and searched the reference. There is no reference to fish or fishing. There is one reference to a reel (Reel for chalk lines, Gerald Sickles, Dec 1839). Good to know.
Matt Wickham
Collector of Casting Weights, KY Reels and KY Tackle
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Steve
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Re: Lost patents

Post by Steve »

reference to fish or fishing
Using the search function in Foxit pdf reader, lots of fish and fishing occurrences show, mostly nets, seines, hooks, baskets, people named Fish and Fisher, and Fishkill, N.Y. But best of all are on page 357:

Steve Vernon
ORCA Honorary member

Book: ANTIQUE FISHING REELS, 2nd Ed.
Websites:
Antique Fishing Reels
Kopf reels
Hendrick reels

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
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Steve
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Re: Lost patents

Post by Steve »

USPTO has a completely new search page that replaces their nice, simple patent-number search. This one verges on incomprehensible. With a lot of effort and successful guessing, you can manage to find things like this:

And here are a couple of interesting inventions:
1. A line-twisting gadget. We've all seen gadgets like this meant for making fishing lines.

2. A level wind on a rope-making machine.

Steve Vernon
ORCA Honorary member

Book: ANTIQUE FISHING REELS, 2nd Ed.
Websites:
Antique Fishing Reels
Kopf reels
Hendrick reels

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
colby sorrells
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Re: Lost patents

Post by colby sorrells »

Glad to hear someone else has problems with the "New" USPTO pages. Bad idea. The old system worked so well and was so easy. Why?

Trying to Keep it Fun!

Colby
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Steve
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Re: Lost patents

Post by Steve »

Why?
In USPTO's own words, "Legacy systems Pub EAST and Pub WEST are old technology. Patent Public Search was created to replace these systems with a single, more robust online platform that provides the public access to search tools used by patent examiners."

Gone are the horse-and-buggy days of easy searches; welcome to the age of robustness complexity, as defined by some software developer that lobbied the most. :evil: IMHO, the search system is not designed for the kind of historical research we do here. It's designed for inventors and lawyers who need to see if their applications have some novelty, or if they have grounds for infringement lawsuits, or what the prior art might be like, and those sorts of things.

Steve Vernon
ORCA Honorary member

Book: ANTIQUE FISHING REELS, 2nd Ed.
Websites:
Antique Fishing Reels
Kopf reels
Hendrick reels

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."
Alan Baracco
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Re: Lost patents

Post by Alan Baracco »

Steve, Colby and others,

Aloha from Kauai. I tried Patent Public Search for a patent requested by Colby and it fried my brain. Not even an extra Mai Tai helped. I did bookmark the Sacramento "Patent and Trademark Resource Center" at the State Library and will pursue some sanity when I return home.

TSDR, fortunately wasn't messed with (yet) so Trademark searches are the same as they have always been.

Alan
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