Aids to Progress in Research - ACS Publications

Aids to Progress in Research JANE F. C L A R K

Downloaded by CALIFORNIA INST OF TECHNOLOGY on January 20, 2018 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: January 1, 1956 | doi: 10.1021/ba-1956-0016.ch023

Patent Department, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Ill.

A questionnaire survey by a particular company indicates the need for up-to-date methods of abstracting and distributing patents and patent literature. A valuable procedure is presented for setting up a patent abstract file to aid the research chemist and to keep abreast with current United States and foreign patents.

T h e future of patent research presents itself as an important factor i n the growth of every technical corporation, and as such, i t has been the topic of several excellent literature articles i n recent years. B a k a l a r (1) states: " T h e corporate or house patent department is a service u n i t . . . . The patent department is obligated to perform the following tasks : to stimulate research and accelerate development programs as by predigested patent surveys and by the segregation of usable know-how i n patents ; to post management, i n timely fashion, on competitive efforts and trends based on subject information." F r a n k l (3) indicates that " i t should, therefore, be one of the functions of a company's patent department to develop for the research department a quick but thorough orientation i n the rapidly changing patent situation by acting, so to speak, as a commentator on the daily news as offered by the Patent Office." K r a s e (k) related i n a recent article that " r e g u l a r reading of new patents is a n other important factor i n stimulating the flow of new ideas i n research groups. . . . Appropriate classes of these patents should be ordered and made available by the organization, and research chemists should be encouraged to read these w i t h the same diligence that is devoted to current chemical periodicals. B y faithful attention to this branch of chemical literature a practical knowledge of developments by competing companies can be acquired." Timeliness

Clearly, the stress is on timely commentaries. Previous experience of predecessors and supervisors of this author has shown that w i t h i n a research, development, and production group, while located w i t h i n several city blocks of each other and a l l served by the same house distribution system, patents reached the last name on their circulation lists sometimes six months to a year after leaving the corporate patent office. The percentage of loss was proportionally increased by the length of time required to complete the circulation, and the need of recalling the patent for special demands was fraught w i t h delay and troubles, often necessitating the purchase of additional copies or costly photostats. N e w personnel added to circulation lists increased the circulation time required, and i t was difficult to bring new personnel up to date i n any field. In addition to problems thus faced by the corporate patent department, the problems arising for the chemist were further multiplying. The importance of followi n g patent material for its news value was lost, for, faced w i t h the need of keeping up w i t h their own and other interests, many research personnel subscribed to patents cataloged by the former system w i t h i n this department under 20 or more categories. A system can i n no way compensate for the valuable time spent by the chemist and management i n reading or even attempting to read the volume of material routed to them. 221

A Key to PHARMACEUTICAL AND MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY LITERATURE Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1956.

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Reading Tests or Survey

Results of adult reading tests given personnel, i n connection w i t h reading i m provement courses being conducted under company sponsorship, showed that the over-all reading speed average (before training) was less than 300 words per min ute, more like 275 words per minute. A random check of ten patents recently ab stracted by this service showed the patent to average 2236 words while the corre sponding abstract contained 108 words. A l l o w i n g approximately 10 to 15 minutes maximum time for preparing the original abstract, and 5 to 10 minutes for the copy work by clerical help, the chemist's expensive time is left open for creative research and the less valuable time of clerical help carried the burden which was multiplied 100 times as each single abstract served its purpose. Thus, the "reluctance which many chemists show to study patents" as described by F r a n k l (3) i n his article grew, and the need for a new system was given emphasis. Company Dissemination of Patent Material

To put a new system into effect, letters were sent to several pharmaceutical and allied firms i n q u i r i n g about their experiences i n dissemination of patent material. The response was most gratifying. Almost every concern seemed to be interested i n this problem. Of the dozen companies whose responses have been completely studied, and who agreed to allow this author to use their opinions and cite their procedures at w i l l i n this presenta tion, only two subscribe to extramural patent abstracting services, and i n each case the material thus obtained is carried to some extent by their own l i b r a r y information bulletins. The publication of an information or abstract bulletin, however, seemed to be unanimous. I n several cases, particularly where the technical l i b r a r y staff handles both the literature and patent material, the regular bulletin may contain data cover i n g new accessions by the l i b r a r y i n both bound and periodical form, as well as cur rent literature references and new patents, and may not differentiate between the listings of literature and patent references under broad subjects of interest to per sonnel concerned. The publication dates of the majority seemed to be weekly, w i t h special supplementary lists issued monthly i n some cases. I n one case where no bulletin is published, weekly memos concerning eight to ten patents keep the president and key technical personnel abreast of happenings i n fields important to the growth of their interests. I n one case, the abstracts for the U n i t e d States patents are circulated as copied from the Gazette weekly as the patents are ordered, and telephone requests are taken to be filled when the desired patent is received. Because the literature emphasized the value of patents i n relation to reflections of competitive efforts, it was surprising to find that two firms either definitely stated that they did not cover patents other than United States, or failed to mention or show any reference to foreign issuance. Contrary to this, this organization sub scribes to ten foreign periodicals or services covering foreign listings, w i t h special attention to specifications even though not yet available i n A u s t r a l i a and South A f r i c a . A s such items appear they have a special listing, by country, at the end of the weekly Patent Abstracts under the heading Foreign Applications Pending. A s hoped, several suggestions were received for the improvement of this com pany's publication as a result of the correspondence. Several sources suggested the use of perforated paper, card stock, or individual slips which could be sent for sep aration by the chemist himself, or separated by l i b r a r y or patent department clerical help and only items of specific interest distributed to interested personnel. This suggestion as yet has not been followed by this group, but another one, that of clearer divisions of the subject groupings and the setting forth of the patent numbers, has improved the appearance and usefulness of this publication. Questionnaire

In the company's original letter a question was included w i t h regard to the value of such a project from a cost standpoint and i n personnel satisfaction. I n almost every case, special comment was made by those directing this type of work as to the value, not so much resulting from an extensive time-cost analysis, but from the enthusiastic response, the development of interest w i t h education on patent use, and



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the cheap source of information, especially d u r i n g the interim between the publica^ tion of the corporate Patent Abstracts and such standard sources as Chemical Ab stracts. Coupled w i t h these comments came such remarks as "files used a l l of the t i m e " and "feel that publication is regularly studied," which further encouraged the setting up of the present system. Encouraged b y the fact that only one company replying felt that such a program was inadvisable f o r i t , and that even this company found some type of a system specifically suited to each and every branch o r division widely scattered throughout the U n i t e d States, the following program was established. W i t h reference to some of the responses received, Mathys (5) can be quoted i n support of this system : " I t is seldom necessary or even desirable for anyone looking for technical information to read the claims at a l l , " while, "the title ; this is not very instructive and although sometimes used i n libraries for classification purposes, i t i s wholly unsuitable for that purpose." Suggested Program

E a c h periodical is entered i n receipt by the order clerk and is quickly checked for possible items of interest which are called to the attention of the chief patent at torney or one of his legal assistants. Items on this list are marked as order, P A , A , or C. The periodical is then returned to the order clerk, who proceeds w i t h the order from her source. Items marked P A are f o r Patent Abstracts, without order. Pink number cards are made f o r these f o r the number file, and the white subject cards are used to prepare the next Patent Abstracts issue using the title w i t h inventor, assignee, etc. I f others feel the necessity of seeing such items, they may be ordered at their request, and standard white number (order) cards are prepared. Items bearing an A designation are given white subject cards only, and as such go directly into the 3 χ 5 subject card file to be used i n the future i n event of a search. These are usually foreign items of which the United States, B r i t i s h , and Canadian patents are already on file, or subjects which at present are not being fol lowed i n a definite program w i t h i n the laboratories, but are under extensive work b y competing manufacturers or may come into use at a later date i n the opinion of attorneys. The C cards are reserved only for foreign pending applications not yet avail able, and are kept i n a separate file on the desk of the order clerk, who watches f o r these numbers i n subsequent "Open to Public Inspection" listings. Such card a r rangement, once prepared, is infinite. Often i t is of advantage to cull out a l l cards on a subject which is of interest only to a few. B y the use of a bibliographic type of arrangement, three to six carbon copies may be made by a n unskilled typist and a selected subject list is given to specific personnel for their laboratory files. This particularly pertains to material such as covered b y the A cards. This system pro vides an opportunity to reach a l l pertinent subject matter and at the same time to publish effectively a l l items of general interest, w i t h essentially the same techniques, enabling the staff to publish specific lists for definite purposes w i t h a minimum amount of effort. Ordered Items

A s the ordered items are received, they are first sent to the abstractor, where they receive the subject headings and the abstract card is typed. Based on previous experience w i t h subject headings, and faced w i t h the possibility of employing per sonnel without technical background f o r such a position, the company's pharma ceutical interest is emphasized and the " p r i m a r y " subject headings are i n the utility category whenever possible. A t this point the idea followed is that expressed b y Bennett (2) : " I t is not unusual f o r any specification to be classified under five or more headings." The primary headings are typed i n red, five spaces from the upper left-hand corner of the first line of the 3 χ 5 subject card, and also on the upper right-hand corner of the patent itself. The first l i s t i n g is the subject under which the 3 χ 5 subject card w i t h the full abstract is found, and also the subject of the vertical file wherein the patent remains whenever not i n use. Also, on the first line at the upper right-hand corner of the subject card is the country of issuance and the patent number. A Key to PHARMACEUTICAL AND MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY LITERATURE Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1956.


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Classification

The second line, at the outer left-hand margin of the card, bears the secondary subject heading. This point has been of greatest value i n this work for present and future search efforts. This secondary subject is i n almost a l l instances chemi cal, adapted from the company's very simplified Beilstein system. W i t h i n this system this organization does not follow the proper Beilstein idea of last possible place, but tries to establish the most important place. Also*, no differentiation is made between aliphatic and aromatic as i n the ketones, since from the pharma ceutical point of view they are received i n the same manner. Large groups—such as the amines—are broken down into primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary, but the halides are grouped as such. On the t h i r d line of the card, five spaces i n , the title of the patent appears i n capital letters. This title is followed directly by the abstract i n parentheses. To obtain this abstract, attention is called to the section of the patent known as the specifications. Frequently, key sentences are copied verbatim. Often the chemical formula is depicted and the R substituents listed. Where possible, synthesis meth ods are suggested and any relationship between trade-marked compounds or com monly used compounds is pointed out. The existence of charts or tables is men tioned and i n the case of patents dealing w i t h apparatus the number of pages con taining drawings is cited. A t the end of each abstract, two lines down and even w i t h the left-hand margin, appear the country of issuance and the patent number. Directly below this is (are) the inventor(s). I n the center of the card, on the same line as the patent number, appears the assignee, and below that the date of granting. Cross references are brought out to the left-hand margin under the inventor (s). Cross reference cards follow the same form, omitting the f u l l abstract and putting in its place i n parentheses (See also, p r i m a r y heading). Completed cards are attached to the patent and are sent to the chief patent attorney, who regards this as an opportunity to see a l l incoming patents and to l i m i t the scope of abstracts selected for publication. Those cards set aside at this point are filed directly i n the subject card file, and do not appear i n the Patent Abstracts publication. This procedure allows the chief patent attorney to tailor the publication to suit the needs of the research staff and their most current i n terests, without interference w i t h the scope of the card index and serves as a means for preventing the publication from becoming needlessly voluminous. The cards are then returned to the general clerical worker who makes the important crossreference cards and puts a l l subject cards into the box marked " f o r P A . " Patent Bulletins

Weekly Patent Abstracts bulletins are prepared from the cards w i t h i n this box. The cards are arranged alphabetically i n large subject groupings: anti biotics., enzymes, etc. F r o m this arrangement, the stencil for a current circulation of 175 to 180 subscribers is prepared. When the stencil has been proofread, the cards are placed i n the box to be filed. The subject files into which these cards are p u t form the backbone of this system. Other authors often have cited the value of such files, and as Bennett (2) states, "the hardest and possibly most common type of investigation that a searcher makes is a subject-matter search." Schaler (6) indicates that such "search procedure i n a specialized industry can be simplified and shortened immeasurably by use of a highly flexible subject index system . . . and accumulated cards . . . form a series of continuous searches on the class subjects," while "routine abstracting and index i n g keeps these collections constantly up to date." Filing Rules

A g a i n accepting the fact that for nontechnical personnel a strictly chemical filing system would be hopeless, the cards are filed according to the following rules : 1. Alphabetically according to primary subject. 2. Alphabetically w i t h i n the p r i m a r y heading b y secondary heading, leaving cards w i t h no secondary head i n g to come first. 3. Alphabetically by country of issuance under these headings, w i t h the exception that the U n i t e d States patents come first. 4. Numerically under the country, w i t h application numbers preceding patent numbers, and the highest numbers being at the end. A Key to PHARMACEUTICAL AND MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY LITERATURE Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1956.

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Operation of System

The value of the system, at present about one year old, i s becoming clearer every day. A recent request for a Belgian patent was checked subjeetwise and the corresponding B r i t i s h equivalent was found already to be i n the company's pos session, thus satisfying the reader as to a point of interest. Another day, a reader wished to know i f there were any patents of a particular corporation available on compounds related to a certain well-known pharmaceutical compound. A knowl edge of the chemical formula of the pharmaceutical compound was a l l that was necessary to locate a South A f r i c a n patent available i n the files under hypnotics, cross-referenced under anesthetics and anticonvulsants., a l l bearing the secondary subject "alcohols" and entitled "unsaturated tertiary carbinols a n d their esters and lower a l k y l ethers, etc." by the specific corporation, together w i t h the date of issue of the patent. Owing to the demand, two lists are now issued by this method. Irregularly, the weekly abstract bears the bold face heading A p p a r a t u s and Special Techniques Issue. A s befitting a pharmaceutical house i n general, and Abbott Laboratories i n particular, this list contains nothing but items pertaining to transfusion apparatus, containers for medicinals, the preparation of capsules, ampoules, etc. This list does not circulate as widely, having only 65 to 70 subscribers on its distribution list, but i t has also received enthusiastic response and effectively separates the two largest fields of interest—the preparation of medicinals and their marketable as pects. Statistics

The regular list has a circulation of 175 to 180, and the apparatus list has a following of 65 to 70. Of the 24 issues published during 1953, the average number of pages was 13.5; the average number of patents cited was 45.5; f r o m 6 to 25 different people responded to a single list indicating the desire and need to see f r o m 9 to 71 specific items. M a n y subscribers say that they often find the answer to their immediate needs w i t h i n the abstract itself, and that they save specific ab stracts i n personal files for future requests or reference. Future Prospects

F u t u r e evaluation of this problem of the dissemination of patent information w i l l doubtless lead to new approaches as the establishment of this program and the correspondence leading thereto has already proved f o r this organization. Specific problems arise i n each and every field of endeavor. I n the fast developing field of scientific literature, to say nothing of the increasing volume of patents i s sued, a panacea is unlikely to be developed very quickly and certainly not without the efforts of many and the failures of a few. These efforts have improved the immediate position and have alleviated to some extent a pressing need, felt by valuable scientific personnel, to c a r r y the burden of increased demands upon their time. Present and future uses of such a versatile system, capable i n many ways of being carried on by semiskilled personnel, while serving the needs of a variety of technical personnel, can scarcely be f a t h omed, but efforts made toward improvement w i l l doubtless prove their worth. Acknowledgment

The author wishes to acknowledge the help given by M . A . Spielman, G. D . Stamm, and G. C. Boyce, without whose cooperation this paper could not have been prepared. Acknowledgment also goes to J . H . Schneider for his guiding inspiration i n the establishment and progress of this project. Literature Cited

(1) B a k a l a r , A. B., Chem. Eng. News, 29, 4583-6, 4647 (1951). Corporate Patent Department. (2) Bennett, Ε. H . , Aslib. Proc. 4, 75-86 ( M a y 1952). Searching Classified Patent Specifications. (3) F r a n k l , R., Ind. Eng. Chem., News Ed., 19, 1399-401 (1941). Chemists Should Read Patents. A Key to PHARMACEUTICAL AND MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY LITERATURE Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1956.

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(4) Krase, H. J., Ind. Eng. Chem., 43, 2488-90 (1951). T r a n s f o r m i n g Ideas into Patent Property. (5) Mathys, H. R., Aslib. Proc., 4, 69-74 ( M a y 1952). Patents as a Source of I n formation. (6) Schaler, C., Ind. Eng. Chem., News Ed., 19, 1112-13 (1941). Meeting Informa tion Needs of a Patent Department. N o v e m b e r 5,

1954.


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Aids to Progress in Research - ACS Publications

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