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Patents by Connecticut Inventors 1800-1890
Connecticut Patents 1800-1890
This list was compiled by Museum of Connecticut History staff in the 1990s, and lists all patents by Connecticut inventors between the years of 1800-1890. This period spans a time of incredible industrial growth and inventiveness in Connecticut, and the Yankee ingenuity on display in these patents helped make the state one of the premier industrial centers of the nation and the world.
Many of the pre-1836 patents listed here are only known because of annual lists of patents or patent digests that were published by the Patent Office. The actual records were destroyed in a fire in 1836, and many were never reconstructed. All of the pre-1836 patents are known as the “X-Patents,” and those that have been recovered were given patent numbers beginning with the letter X.
Patents up to this time had not actually had numbers of any kind, they were simply known by date and title. About five months before the fire, the Patent Office began numbering their patents; this system, now up to seven digits, is still in use today.
Patents found in this dataset can be found using the <a href=”https://www.uspto.gov/patents/search/patent-public-search”>Patent Public Search tool</A> on the U.S. Patent Office’s website. The easiest way to locate a patent is to enter the seven-digit serial number into the basic search.
The Connecticut Patents 1800-1890 dataset contains names of inventors, assignees if relevant (inventors could “assign” ownership of patents to another person or entity), descriptions of the invention, patent numbers (if available), and date of issue. It also contains a two-digit class code that corresponds to a general subject area. The subjects are:
01 Firearms, guns, cannons, etc.
02 Metallurgy, metalworking, etc.
03 Woodworking, sawmills, etc.
04 Weaving, sewing, looms, etc.
05 Steam boilers, engines
06 Railroads
07 Ships, boats, canals
08 Clothing
09 Agriculture
10 Hardware, tools, etc.
11 Tanning
12 Rubber
13 Musical instruments
14 Medical
15 Foods and cooking
16 Business and labor
17 Clocks
18 Fireplaces, stoves, furnaces, etc.
19 Lanterns, lamps, and lighting
20 Furniture
21 Household items
22 Doors, windows, drawers, trunks, etc.
23 Grinding mills
24 Stonemasonry, mining, etc.
25 Vehicles, non-motorized
26 Chemical processes? Explosives, distilling, paintmaking, etc.
27 Plumbing, pipes, hoses, etc. and water-powered devices
28 Printing, bookmaking, and paper
29 Engines, coolers, elevators, pneumatics, etc.
30 Ivory
31 Military equipment (non-weapons)
32 Sewing machines
33 Toys, games, and leisure (includes bicycles)
34 Equipment for horses
35 Photography
36 Glassware
37 [doesn't exist]
38 Electricity and electronics
39 Telephones
40 Fire safety
41 Construction
42 School equipment
43 Art
Complete Metadata
| identifier | https://data.ct.gov/api/views/2yhr-esw9 |
|---|---|
| issued | 2024-08-16 |
| landingPage | https://data.ct.gov/d/2yhr-esw9 |
| theme |
[ "History" ] |