U.S. Cycle Patents: Search patents by...

Search by the invention's classification (grouped with similar inventions) :

• Google Patents
  • Allows searching by topical keywords found anywhere in the patent description.  Read more about this.
     
• U.S. Patent & Trademark Office site
  • Use the USPTO Index to classifications to identify a U.S. class and subclass of interest. 
  • Enter the class and subclass and select "USPC" and "Definitions" to review classification definitions.  This will help uncover more relevant categories.
  • Bring up a list patents in any class/subclass category (select "USPC" and "schedule" on this page), then click on the red "P" next to each to view patents, as shown in the image at right.

Search by U.S. patent number
For the earliest patents, it may be necessary to add leading zeros e.g., 00222537. 

• Plug number into the PDF generator "Pat2PDF,"
• On the US PTO website: select "1790 to the present" from the drop-down box and search on patent number
• Search Google Patents, put the country code first (for example US)

Search by inventor name

• Google Patents: Try an inventor name with invention, for example, Latta Velocipede.  
• See  Inventor index on pp. 21-36 of the Digest of cycles or velocipedes with attachments, patented in the U.S. 1789-1892. 

This table will help you estimate the date of a patent simply by looking at its number.

Patent No.             Date     
1,000...................Nov 1838
5,000...................Mar 1847
10,000.................Sep 1853
20,000.................Apr 1858
30,000.................Sep 1860
60,000.................Nov 1866
100,000...............Feb 1870
200,000...............Feb 1878
300,000...............Jun 1884
400,000...............Mar 1889
500,000...............Feb 1893
600,000...............Mar 1898
700,000...............May 1902
1,000,000............Aug 1911
1,250,000............Dec 1917
1,500,000............July 1924
2,000,000............Apr 1935
2,500,000............Mar 1950
3,000,000............Sep 1961