To promote the Progress of Science . . . by securing for limited Times to . . . Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective . . . Discoveries Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 8, Clause 8

Welcome to "Inventions! Patents at NC State University." This exhibit, which attests to the tradition of creative intellectual inquiry at NC State University, highlights some of the many patents developed by faculty at the university and selected items from NCSU Libraries' rich collection of materials relating to patents. It also explores the library's role as a patent depository library under an agreement with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). For more information on patent research at NC State go to http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/ptdl/.

Research at NC State has resulted in many interesting developments -- from Hayne Palmour III's work on olivine refractory bricks for heat storage applications to Mansour Mohamed's work on a multi-axial, three-dimensional weaving process originally used in the Mars Mission program. An important recent discovery is Anne-Marie Stomp's work with duckweed to produce therapeutic proteins such as insulin. These are but a few of the notable inventions by NC State's faculty. In fact, the 1998 Association of University Technology Managers ranked NC State fourth in the nation for the number of patents generated by faculty at universities without medical schools. The Libraries' faculty author database features many of the recent faculty patents at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/repository/search.php.

The NCSU Libraries was designated a Patent and Trademark Depository Library (PTDL) by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) in late September 1977. As a PTDL, the library provides assistance to students, faculty, and the general public in conducting patent and trademark searches and in the use of other patent and trademark research materials. In return for providing this assistance, the U.S. PTO provides the library with patent collections, electronic resources, equipment, and staff training. The NCSU Libraries is the one of two PTDL in North Carolina and provides patent and trademark assistance to inventors and entrepreneurs around the state. Contact Hyun-Duck Chung for more information about the PTDL program.

• Design Patent: protects the appearance of an article of manufacture

• Utility Patent: protects a new, useful, and not obvious process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter

• Plant Patent: protects new asexually reproduced plants

Click on images to enlarge

Samuel Hopkins: Method for Making Potash and Pearlash First Patent (unumbered) July 31, 1790

Thomas A. Edison: Phonograph or Speaking Machine Patent No. 200,521 February 19, 1878

A. Bartholdi: Statue Design Patent No. D11,023 February 18, 1879

Wright Brothers: Flying Machine Patent Patent No. 821,393 May 22, 1906

R. H. Goddard: Rocket Apparatus Patent No. 1,103,503 July 14, 1914

Robert N. Noyce: Semiconductor device-and-lead Structure Patent No. 2,981,877 April 25, 1961

L. Glicenstein: Chrysanthemum Plant Named 'Arabella' Plant Patent No. 10,375 May 5, 1998

Text by Maryjo George, Jean Porter, Hermann Trojanowski, and Caroline Weaver. Website by Meg Nystrom and Caroline Weaver.