With Halloween just around the corner, it seems like an excellent time to highlight some of the creepier Utility Patent Drawings lurking in the holdings of the National Archives. These come from Record Group 241. Enjoy! For more creepy patents, check out Corbin Apkin's Halloween Patent post from last year!
Summertime seems to have been created to be three months of time to play, rest, relax, and, in general, do the things that make us happy. In the years between 1898 and 1908, inventors were very creative in their efforts to make summertime spectacular, interesting, and somewhat bizarre! So, whether you prefer to spend your … Continue reading Ah, Summertime! You Have the Best Utility Patents!
To celebrate Halloween, we took a look in our cartographic records at the National Archives to see if we could find any spooky records. We came across the following Utility Patent Drawings (NAID 305888) which certainly help to set the mood for the Halloween season. A number of jack-o'-lantern designs came up in the patent drawings. … Continue reading The Haunted Archives
One fascinating way to look at our history is by studying the tools we have invented and used throughout the years. There is no better way to do this than by looking at the patent drawings we hold in the Cartographic Branch at the National Archives. The majority of the patent drawings we have are … Continue reading Utility Patent Drawings
Co-authored by Beth Fortson, with assistance from Audrey Amidon and Corbin Apkin. Happy Holidays from the Unwritten Record blog team! For this holiday season we've put together some of our best Christmas tree themed special media. From RG-95 we bring you a 1968 film, The Cultured Christmas Tree. From RG-16 we bring you a series of images of … Continue reading Spotlight: Tinseled Trivia
Need a last-minute gift idea for Dear Old Dad? Whatever Dad's hobby or interest, patent files are full of quirky gems. The largest selection is in the series Utility Patent Drawings, 1837 - 1911 NAID 305888 among the Records of the Patent and Trademark Office, Record Group 241, but there are patent drawings in other series, including court … Continue reading Father’s Day Gift Suggestions from the Patent Files
In honor of the Major League Baseball playoffs, the Cartographic and Architectural Branch has pulled together a few records featuring the national past-time.
