Patent Technology Classifications for Early Aeronautics

Peter Meyer, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

We examine the classifications used for patents from several countries up to 1918, focusing on patents in aeronautics. The classifications are intended mainly to make it feasible for patent examiners or potential applicants to find the set of patents relevant to a particular technology. National systems before 1900 were different from one another and were fairly simple, with fewer than 100 categories for all patents. Now, hundreds of current-day classifications apply just to aeronautics. We discuss a tagging/classificatory approach that includes both old and new category systems. We show how aeronautics and aviation patents changed substantively, expanding toward the dominant design of a fixed-wing aircraft with propellers, while older categories for balloons and dirigibles continued as before.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 236. Patent Data and Institutions