Information from patents -- the U.K. approach 1331-1986

The article relates the history of the development in the U.K. of patent protection to encourage growth of industry, starting with a royal grant in 1331 of protection to foreign textile workers. The early patents contained little information about the inventions, and the first patent to have a specification containing a detailed description of the invention was in 1711, the principle of disclosure being a condition of grant being confirmed in a legal judgement in 1778. The Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852 simplified the procedure for obtaining patents, and resulted in the establishment of the Patent Office. Mr Bennet Woodcroft, appointed in 1852 as Superintendent of Specifications, made enormous contributions to the classification and indexing of patent specifications, and instituted the production of abridgments, which greatly facilitated searching, and in 1854 the publication of the OfficialJournal. The Patent Office Library, begun by him, remained as part of the Office until in 1966 it became part of a National Reference Library of Science and Invention, and in 1973 incorporated in the British Library. The development of the present functions of the library, particularly in regard to services to assist innovation and small firms, are described.