Have you ever been curious, in this country of innovation, what creative ideas are sprouting? Google has made it simple for you to explore this with Google Patents.
The Wonderful World of Google Patents
Haven’t heard of Google Patents? You’re not alone. This offering by the Internet search giant Google is an interesting one. It lets you peek into the future – or at least a possible future – by viewing the many patents issued by the United States. As you might imagine, the patents range from the serious – new methods of delivering vaccinations – to the absurd – an electronic pickle jar game. Simply by plugging random words in the Google Patents search engine, you can sift through these useful and arguably useless futuristic marvels.
Organizing the World’s Information
According to Google, Google Patents is one more part of the company’s mission to organize the world’s information. Google Patents gets its data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). When a patent is issued in the U.S. it becomes part of the public domain so Google can publish this information. One of the awesome things about Google Patents is the quantity of Patents it includes. The service displays patents issued within the United States from 1790 to the present. That is a lot of data that users can explore.
A Patent History Lesson
Because of the amount of time the site covers you can get a view of advancements in technology over a long time period. You can see the patent given to Alexander Graham Bell in 1880 for an automatic short-circuiter for telephones or the patent granted to Thomas Edison in 1889 for the incandescent electric lamp. If you want to get a peek at where we came from and where we are going, take a little time studying Google Patents.
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