Patent/Design Representation Research – How it was accomplished
In April 2011 I began my search for the patents for Avery style needle cases. Being a novice at this type of research, I reread Horowitz and Mann’s chapter on patents in their book “Victorian Brass Needlecases”. As a result I knew there were two different ways to register and protect the rights of an invention during the Victorian Era: mechanical patent or design registration. At the time I was only interested in finding the design registrations for a couple of needle cases I planned to highlight in my book: Shakespeare’s Birthplace and the Eiffel Tower. After discovering the UK National Archives website, I quickly learned that none of the design registration records were online. However, what I did find was a list of researchers one could hire to search through records at their facility in Kew. A few days later, after exchanging email with one of the researchers, I hired Alan Bowgens to find the documents I needed. Alan worked for The National Archives (TNA) as a records specialist for 17 years and now that he was retired, others could use his extensive knowledge and expertise with TNA’s 11 million records.
Initially, I provided Alan with design registration numbers for the two items I was seeking. I had the design registration number for Shakespeare’s Birthplace from Horowitz and Mann’s book and my Eiffel Tower Needle Case had the number Rd99201 stamped on the bottom. Since the Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World’s Fair I thought the needle case must have been designed between 1888-1889. Additionally I was looking for Avery’s patent for a “machine to stick pins in paper” which was described in two Victorian journals published in 1887 and 1889. Although Alan was quickly able to retrieve the documents related to the needle cases in question, he spend considerable time manually searching 1886-1887 page after page looking for the pin machine which he was unable to find. During the process he discovered several additional needle case designs that were either next to the ones being searched or were registered during 1886-1887.
2013 Research
Fast forward to January 2013 when I decided I wanted copies of the patents and design representations for all Avery needle cases. At first I prepared a list based on the patent and design registration numbers enumerated in Horowitz and Mann’s book, then decided to see if there was anything else I could do to further customize the list so my researcher didn’t have to do as much work. On site research at Kew by TNA staff cost 80 pounds per hour. Although Alan charged about a third as much, at 30 pounds or 45 US dollars an hour I hoped to come up with some way to reduce the cost of this research. Moreover, hiring Alan was significantly less expensive than flying to London and spending a month or two there doing the research myself. Therefore, I returned to TNA’s website and was excited to discover that some of the design registration indexes from 1842-1884 had been digitalized and one could search them, filtering by proprietor name and subject (i.e.: needle, pin, etc.). Throughout this time period design registrations were filed according to their “material classification” with most needle cases falling into two classifications: metal and earthenware. In addition, I reviewed the diamond registration marks on all of my needle cases with a magnifying glass in order to determine the date they were registered. Unfortunately some of these were impossible to read and a few did not match exactly to the dates Horowitz and Mann had in their book.
I decided it was time to familiarize myself with the original records at TNA. For each design there were two original documents: a design register and a design representation. The design register was recorded in one book and the design representation in another. The register was similar to an account book with each registration entered on a separate line with about 20-30 items per page. For each item the register included the registration number, registration date, name and address of the owner of the design, the material classification of the item and often, but not always, the design subject (e.g.: needle case, receptacle for needles, pin case, etc). In contrast, the design representation consisted of a sketch, detailed drawing or photograph of the design with a registration number which was pasted into a book with a number of designs per page, frequently arranged in a haphazard way. Sometimes the owner of the design was also listed on the representation with the designs subject. These design representations were often simple sketches with little detail of what the actual item would look like. Whereas the registers for ornamental designs from the time period 1842-1884 were digitized, registers outside that date range and all design representations and other indexes were not, meaning they would have to be searched manually.
Since the design registers were digitized for the years when brass needle cases were most popular, I didn’t feel I needed original copies of the registers unless there was some type of conflict with the design numbers or I needed to search for something by date. Therefore, I decided to have Alan focus on obtaining the design representations which I planned to match to known needle cases. However, with just my list with the Horowitz and Mann design numbers, Alan would have to translate those numbers into document books where the original records were held. Instead I decided to complete that task myself so Alan could focus his attention on things I could not do. For all of the needle cases on the list, I searched the online register to get the document numbers so the design representations could be obtained manually. In addition I searched the online register filtering by company name and subject to ensure that all potential needle or pin cases were found. During this information gathering process not only did I noticed some of the registration numbers in Horowitz and Mann’s book contained typos, but I uncovered potential designs that had not been identified in the past.
Alan suggested we divide the research into 5 hour blocks of time in order to see how much he could complete in each session. He started with the metal ornamental design representations from 1867-1882. After about 20 hours of research Alan found around 107, mostly figural design representations which he subsequently photographed and emailed to me. After matching these to the actual needle cases I noticed a handful of designs for which there were no known needle cases to match, these being newly discovered items. Until we find actual needle case examples of these we won’t know for sure whether they were ever produced. However, after all this work I was still missing around 100 designs which made me wonder where the others were.
I had registration dates for 13 additional needle cases which I knew existed since I either had them in my collection and could read the diamond registration mark or they were photographed and listed with a date in Horowitz and Mann’s book. However, since I couldn’t find them in the online index, I assumed there were some transcription errors or omissions when the online index was created. Rarely does one find digitized records that are perfectly transcribed especially since old records are often as hard to read as those darn diamond registration marks on the actual needle cases! As a result, I had Alan review some the original registers to see if there were any errors. First he searched the registers for a month before and after the dates in question looking for the company names I assumed registered these items. When that didn’t yield any results, I provided him with photographs of the needle cases in question and he searched the design representations for the same time periods to see if he could match any of the photos to the designs. After another 5 hours of research he was able to locate only 1 of these 13 designs and uncovered only 2 transcription errors. Consequently, I became quite attached to the design representation he found (Trunk with Grain and Straps) which caused me to over bid on the needle case when one appeared on eBay around the time this research was being performed. I was sure that finding the design representation and then seeing it for sale on eBay was fate, meaning it was destined to be mine! Although I was outbid by another bidder, three months later another Trunk with Grain and Straps appeared on eBay. This time I won the auction for a very reasonable amount but will have to add about $250 to the price I paid in order to assess its true value as that is what the research cost me to get the design representation for this one item! If I continued to spend $250 for each design registration, it wouldn’t be long before I wouldn’t be able to afford any new needle cases for my collection. Therefore, I knew I needed another research strategy.
Why Some Designs Were Missing
While analyzing the results of all of the research, I came to the realization that most of the flat-style needle case designs were missing. Then I remembered that some of these were pictured in Horowitz and Mann’s book with formal printed patents which described the mechanical components as well as contained a detailed drawing of the item. It didn’t take long to learn that patent documents were not kept at TNA. Additional research online indicated they were held by the British Library at their Business and Intellectual Property Centre. Several days later, while reading through the British Library website, I learned these documents were indexed by company name, however they were not in alphabetic order and none of the data was digitized. After consulting with Alan, we agreed a manual search through the indexes was needed; however, we had to limit the research to three companies (Avery, Lewis and Milward) as a manual search for the over 50 companies associated with Avery style needle cases wasn’t feasible. Alan searched through hundreds of pages going page by page looking for these three names or slight variations of their names. (Note: In January 2014, I discovered a book on Google Books entitled “Patents for Inventions - Abridgements of Specifications. Class 112, Sewing and Embroidering – Period A.D. 1867-1876” which included details on all needle case patents issued during that time period).
Following another 5-10 hours of research Alan found 11 patents: 6 for W. Avery of Redditch, 1 for W. Avery of Birmingham, 2 for William Avery and Albert Fenton of Redditch, 1 for James William Lewis of Birmingham, and 1 for Henry Milward & Son of Redditch. However, when he took the documents to the reference desk so copies could be made for me, the staff at the library informed him that they did not have sufficient staff to make the copies and their policy did not allow individuals to make copies or take photographs of them. He was instructed to contact the British Library in Sheffield, UK to see if they could make copies for him. Through this process I learned that mechanical patent specifications were formally written and published in patent books in the year in which they were registered. Original copies of these books can be found in a handful of libraries in the UK. Because the copies at the library in London were in a fragile state they couldn’t be handled without further damaging them. Several weeks later, after contacting the Sheffield Library I finally received photographic copies of all of the pages of these patents. A minor problem occurred when Sheffield informed me that they could not accept payment via PayPal. Although resolved a few days later when my bank issued an international money transfer, this payment process cost me almost as much as the copies of the records themselves! After reviewing the patents I felt they covered a large percentage of the flat-style needle case designs. Lynda Herrod of Brisbane, Australia, another Avery collector, agreed to review the patents as well to ensure the matching to patents was accurate. In the end we learned these 11 patents covered 64 actual needle case designs.
Summary
Considering all of this work there were still 47 needle cases for which the patent or design representations had not been found. Where could these designs be? I returned to TNA’s website to see what else I could find. After considerable time, I discovered a group of designs that were considered non-ornamental as well as another group listed as provisional. None of these records were digitized although a few had proprietor name and subject indexes, however again not all were in alphabetic order. In an attempt to locate all of the remaining design representations, I had Alan research every manual index at TNA include the following: Ornamental Designs - Indexes to Proprietors (Aug, 12, 1839 – Jan. 1,1870), Non-Ornamental (Useful) Designs - Index to Proprietors’ Names (Sept.1, 1843 - June 30, 1884), Non-Ornamental (Useful) Designs - Alphabetic Index to Subjects (Sept 1, 1843 – April 12, 1883), Provisional Useful Designs - Index to Proprietors’ Names (Jan. 2, 1851-Dec 31, 1883). Lastly, I found a Name Index (submitting firm or person) for all designs from 1884-1894 which Alan also searched manually. Alan confirmed that no other indexes exist, however he was unable to search the Provisional Ornamental Design Register #BT 48/1 (Jan. 3, 1851 – Dec. 27, 1883) until September 2013 because the book was unavailable to the public as it was in conservation. Wherever possible he searched the indexes by the company names known to have registered the most designs as I felt we were more likely to find additional designs for those companies and I had to limit the number of manual searches due to the cost. These findings allowed me to prepare a new list of design representations that I wanted to obtain in order to match to existing needle cases. After another 5-10 hours of research, Alan retrieved the design representations for approximately 100 additional items, but after reviewing these only 13 matched known brass needle cases. Most of these designs were for needle wrappers, crochet hooks, fishing reels and a few other items not related to needle cases.
Of the remain 34 needle case designs which were not found, 10 are being assigned to a category on my master list called “Possibilities”, because we do not have enough evidence to prove these are in fact needle cases. Of the remaining 24, I hope some day to find the patents or design representations for these. Most of this research was undertaken between March 1 and July 31, 2013. In late September/early October 2013, when I returned to TNA’s website to write this narrative about how the research was done, I noticed the registers for Non-Ornamental Useful Designs and for part of Provisional Ornamental Designs have now been digitized for the years 1843-1883/84. As a result of this new discovery I am in the process of analyzing my previous research, executing new searches online and preparing a new list of items for Alan to investigate. Since these registers are now part of TNA’s online searchable database I feel confident that within the next couple of years I will have everything there is to find regarding Avery style needle cases. Next year and beyond I’ll continue the search to see if TNA adds the registers for items registered after 1883/84. And lastly I hope someday soon to make the journey to London not only to visit TNA and the British Library myself, but also to met Alan who has done such a great job finding these records for me.
2015 Research Update
In May 2015 I spent several days at TNA and at the British Library doing additional research. After all of the research was completed only 25 Avery style needle cases are known to exist for which the registration documents have not been found. Of these 25, 11 contain the words “Patent” or “Patented”. Additionally, 10 are stamped with the W. Avery & Son name, 2 with Wm. Hall & Co, 3 with the words “Johnson’s Patent”, 5 contain other names and 5 have no company name. What this means is these items were most likely registered but either the historical documents are missing or they were recorded in a way that makes them extremely difficult to find.
Research Results
The following table shows the number of design registrations/patents by source and type.
Source |
Accordion |
Demi-Quad |
Figural |
Flat-Names |
Quad |
Totals by Source |
TNA Ornamental Designs Metal: 1867-1883 |
2 |
0 |
102 |
10 |
0 |
114 |
Mechanical Patents: 1867-1884 |
5 |
8 |
10 |
31 |
21 |
75 |
TNA Non-Ornamental Useful Designs: 1867-1883 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
TNA Design Representations: 1884-1894 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
Missing - Not Found |
0 |
0 |
14 |
11 |
0 |
25 |
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Totals by Type |
8 |
8 |
133 |
57 |
21 |
227 |
