MicroPatent provides a database for searching and displaying the full text /images in PDF of US (1964+), US applications (2001+), EP (European Patents, 1980+), EP-A (European Patent Applications 1978+), and PCT (World Patents, 1978+). Searching and displaying full-text (no drawings) is available for US (1836-1963), Great Britain (1979+), and DE (German, 1989+) patent records as well as the front page of JP (Japanese, 1976+) documents. US, EP, and DE are covered at first publication as applications and when granted.

For patent searching from 1836 to 1970 see MicroPatent's instructions for patent archive searching. In sum, restricting search terms to specific fields does not work as expected due to OCR scanning that was used for that time period. Search inventors as "John near Smith" instead of "John Smith."

MicroPatent is restricted to current Cornell users.

After you find a list of patents, click on the button with the patent number. (You can also select multiple patents by clicking in the small square boxes to select them). It will bring you to a screen where you can see an initial drawing and the complete text of the patent.

1. To see the rest of the images, click on the grey button marked Order this Patent.
2. Click on Patent Copies.
3. Click on Submit Order (there is no charge to you) - if you just click on the PDF link, you will see only the first page.
4. The order will take anywhere from 5 seconds to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the order and the system load. For one patent it is pretty instantaneous.
5. You may get this message - if not, skip to step 6. Click on Click here for current status of order (again, there is no fee to you).
6. The next page will direct you to Retrieve Patent with a link to the patent number. Click on this link to get the full PDF copy of the patent.

Worksheets - If you wish to export your list of references to a worksheet, select patents by clicking in the boxes and click on Worksheet. Click Export. Specify the fields you wish to Export. Use CSV for Excel format. When looking for a saved worksheet, do a search, scroll to bottom and  click on PatentWeb, then  worksheets.

If you have questions, please contact the Engineering Library reference desk at engrref@cornell.edu or 255-8701.