Delphion/USPTO (was Re:Special tuning pins)

[Clark]

Hi, Ron;

Look up US nr.270322!

> So where can I get lists of patent numbers for Mehlin, Julius Bauer,
> Rippin, etc, etc, etc, so I can go looking?

Regional depositories
<http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/ptdl/index.html>. 
They'll have CASSIS and the annual books. These are indexed to varying
degrees depending on age, so also it's possible by brute force to to
look up "piano" or classification for modern (1875? earlier?) piano
related inventions.

You also might also check the network of European sites, for instance
this one at <http://gb.espacenet.com/>. In many cases these have better
indexing of records to 1920 than the US office (regional depositories at
least may have older UK patents on file - though in Boston I don't think
there's an index).

For more specific databases, Harding has a decent appendix of European
and American patents before 1851 including numbers. Barrie Heaton has an
index of pre-1900 piano patents with dates and descriptions at
<http://www.uk-piano.org/history/patents.html> with some articles, too
(for a quick but limited start, I have a short list of actions cobbled
from Harding's US entries, obvious patents between 1881-1885 and a few
referenced by recent designs). Ed Swenson has compiled a more general
and monstrous bibliography at <http://www.mozartpiano.com/biblio.html>



Here's an excerpt from an invention I like a lot (hi, Jack): "The object
of my improvement is to obtain a more certain and perfect repetition of
any note, to obtain a repetition by a slighter, and lighter touch of the
key, and a more ready, easy and prompt action, and to prevent, what is
termed the blocking of the hammer." (US nr.2934)


Clark