equusaside's Journal

The Patent Search Continues

I have been trying to gather British – and generally non-US – patents about sidesaddles and riding habits. After poking about online and only finding a little data, my first foray into a UK library was Nov. 2006, in Bristol. What they actually hold is abstracts of patents, perhaps a paragraph or two and usually just one of the drawings. I photocopied many of these, and just wrote the number and inventor of many more. To get my hands on actual copies, I’d have to go to the British Library in London (Kings Cross) or up to Leeds, which isn’t happening anytime soon.

This Feb., I was able to go to the British Library, Kings Cross. I had a brief recon, where I learned what was needed to get a reader card, and I also went to see the Beowulf manuscript, a Magna Carta copy, and other treasures. With my documentation in hand, I showed up the next day ready for work. Getting the card was a cinch.

Unfortunately, they won't let you photocopy pre-1900 patents, which of course is most of what I need. They worry about the fragility of the paper. It takes about an hour to retreive anything from the basement, which of course is where everything I need is, and you're only allowed 10 at a time. And though the reading room is open until 8, requests must be in by 4, to be filled by 5 if you're lucky. Then they sent up a

bunch of post-1900 volumes with "do not copy" markers! I think they were just annoyed at my request coming in 15 minutes under the wire, as someone – I presume a librarian – had removed them by the next morning. I was told this morning it'd be about 25 GBP for BL to make the copies for me, plus time, and was referred to other services, which charge about 5 GBP each. Still ouch!! Fortunately, on the next day I spoke to a specialist Patents Librarian, who informed me that pre-1900 full-text patents are available from the Patent Office for about 2.5 GBP. Still, with about 80, that’s a lot of moolah.

The same librarian showed me how to pre-1855 patents, and I decided to leave off the post-1930 ones, as it is unlikely I’d find much there anyway.

The librarian in the patents stacks (not the reference librarians, they were awesome) wasn't the friendliest to me, seemed annoyed that I am clueless about BL rules and practices. The guy who covers is breaks is better, though.

You are not allowed to bring cameras or "personal scanning devices" into the reading rooms. Some don't even allow laptops, but this one does. You have to put everything in a clear plastic bag - just one - and security checks it on the way in and out. You can have a second for your laptop, you're not even allowed to bring the case in. Like being at the airport (ironically, a US airport. Heathrow doesn’t want you to take out the laptop, or take off your shoes, for that matter.). But some of these collections, theft would be a MAJOR issue. No pens, just pencils, that’s pretty standard. They have free lockers to put things in, at least. Mark said, “wow. BL - where truly successful kdergardten teachers go. Wonder why.”

Where to go from here, then? I did get some full texts. I suppose if I must, I will eventually order them from the Patent Office. I talked to the librarians about getting professional references saying I know what I'm doing, trying to shift the burden off them, and while they seemed to appreciate the idea, policy is policy. I intend to check online every so often, see if any have been added. You never know…. Sad to say, it's not even an excuse to go back!

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