u. s. CHEMICAL PATENTS-USER EVALUATION Uniterm Index to U. S. Chemical
UNITERM I N D E X TO
Patents-User Evaluation* ALAN R. McGARVEY Armstrong Cork Co., Research a n d Development Center, Lancaster, Pa. Received October 23, 1967 Information for Industry’s Uniterm lndex fo U . S . Chemical Potents is based on a coordinate concept system. It is considered a valuable research tool in our Research and Development Center and its use is now standard practice for formal literature searches and initial state of the art searches by our Technical Information Services Department. An educational program was necessary to instruct our research personnel in i t s contents and use. M a n u a l searching by chemists has established its browsability. A short patent search is included to demonstrate its use.
The [Tnzterrn I n d e x to U . S . Chemical Patents has been mentioned in the literature merely by name ( I N ) , as well as amply described for computer search of the patent literature ( 3 - 6). This paper describes the system and our use of it with manual search techniques. THE SYSTEM
The Cniterrn I n d e x is based on the familiar coordinate concept system of indexing using from a low of about 5 to as high as 170 descriptors per patent ( 6 ) , depending upon the complexity of the individual patent. I n 1964 we subscribed to the Uniterrn I n d e x in book form and the microfilm, which are updated bimonthly. This index includes U.S.Patents from 1950, while the patents on microfilm start with 1959. As of July 26. 1966, there was a total of about 169.000 chemical or chemically related patents in the system. This compares with the approximately 127,000 patents listed in the Chemical Patents Group of the L.S. Patent Ofice for the same period. The C‘niterrn Index is published in two volumes for each year. One volume is a dual dictionary of index terms and the other contains reprints of patent references from the Oficial (;azette o f t h e C. 5’. Patent Ofice. The “Reference Aid” is a thesaurus of the 9600 Major Terms and ”See” references. A major term is one that has been indexed in a t least ten patents in one year. A search is made by using the dual dictionary of index terms with listings of the accession numbers referring to all of the patents which have been keyworded under each particular term. The first two-thirds of this dual dictionary is devoted to the major terms listed in the thesaurus. T h e remainder contains Minor Terms, Patentees, Assignees, and Patent Xumbers-all with listings of appropriate accession numbers. Probably the best method to demonstrate this system is to illustrate a search, such as “luminescent vinyl floors for 1968.” This is a rather brief search, but as it is carried o u t step by step, you will find that one of the terms in the subject is not a term in the system but a synonym, and you will also see how false drops or “noise” can occur. l’rewited hefore the U~viiion
hemical Literature. S\mposlumo n I!ser I.l\aiuariim
o f secrindari Sorircei oi Chemical intormatmn. 1 3 n d hleetmp. ACS. S e w ’l’ork. A ,
S e p r e m i m liJfi6
VOL.8,No. 1, FEBRUARY 1968
Y,
Figure 1 is a close-up of two of the terms being coordinated--cin>’l and floor-with the familiar ten columns of accession numbers. By coordinating these two concepts, the accession numbers circled are obtained. These seven numbers are then transcribed to a sheet for coordinating with the next concept, luminescent. By reference to the thesaurus, we find luminescence see light, indicating that luminescence is not a term, but a synonym. Under light, we find light, luminescence, iilurnznation. and lurninosif3,. Immediately. it is realized that the coordination of this concept with the previous findings may produce false drops on light stability of vinyl floors, illumination or luminosity of vinyl floors. and possibly some others. By coordinating the above seven accession numbers with light, only two accession numbers are found (8125 and 9233) which are common to all three terms. The next step is to check the second volume, containing reprints from the Oficial Gazette of the 0’.S . Patent Ofice, to determine whether either of these two patents is relevant. Under 9233, the claim refers to “A polyvinyl halide composition stabilized against deterioration by light.” This is obviously a false drop. However, the title for 8125 is “Luminous Floor or Wall Covering . . . ,” a patent which is relevant to our search. The next step is to put the reel of microfilm containing the patent with accession number 8125 for the year 1962 into a reader-printer. After reading the patent, if the chemist wants a copy for future study, he merely presses a button and receives a print. Now t h a t the mechanics of this system have been illustrated, the basic question is, “Do the chemists use it?” They do.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM
After receipt of the Uniterm Index and microfilm, an announcement was made in our Technical Information Bulletin that the Uniterm Index to U . S . Chemical Patents was ready for use and t h a t trained professionals in our group were available to aid anyone in its use. After several weeks with no customers, an inquiry revealed t h a t the announcement had not done the necessary job. T h e system
23
ALANR. MCGARVEY 303
777 VINYLI
260 b 70 870
890 1430 1530 2170 2450 2470 ibb0 4780 5956 7100 7180
:: $,
VlhYL R E S i N 131 201 ibl 321 1021 1331 1711 1921 2701 3131 3b91 4751 5681
1202
1982 2432 2702 3632 4552 5662 5912 6542 7712
373 12b3 1423 1923
# 3263 3b93 3703 4643
6413 7073 7153
144 924 1184 1294 2074 34C4 4264 44b4 5304 b224 7344 7364 8174 8494
9724
235 285 385 525 635 e05 925 1015 1025 2705 3335 3705 4205 4355 4545
6
216
1176 1156 1895 2C6b 2956 391b 4466 b16b 7096 7366 7726 91)b 9726
477 527 b17 887 977 1447 2447 2487 2947 2967 3-57 4107 4537 5027 5307
2CR 89 558 ,09 1 C ~ 5 799 1338 1619 .~ 1488 I649 lei8 ibt9 183P 1719 2958 1979 3588 zCe9 3678 Lib9 3098 '~. 419 5358 '759 5178 29bV b228 3?'9 5271 3439
5877
:lid SZrP
F LLGb : h G i45C 4401 6001 1217:
3C3 304 bb03 12214 7913 1Cl23 11273
6b05
22Cb 4246 b446
1457 3307 9467
2208 5879 8158 13289 9466
6476
915b 9845 1328b
F
F I ?kA
',8RG
8b40 9410 9430 9b50 9970
11150 11960
12910
13380
6371 a801
6881 7611 79b1 8841 9741 9841 10231 10731 114Sl 11581 12021 12011 12211 12831 131b1 13221
86b2 9812 10172 10252 12752 13302
12C93 12534 12543 12783 12973
5 7 8 5 1:4Cb bo55 i24bb 6375 12756 1282b
eOE7 D427
5946
7957
Fis?
177
4564
531Y 560'1 5e7F
Fi0
2370
btl
:GIG
156: IOCI
' 5 d i
10245 1C505 ICb35 10795 10825 11125 11135 11325 13155 13165
1 2 1 7 7 IC9YS 6319 13157 I l l 4 8 10159 11156 11349 11229 1153s
1290i295e 13C56
iBil ;9?1 4821
4i5: 7c5: a7t1 9tc:
9831 $35. iC*71 lG9e:
1120: 12691
5472 7292 6272 :1362 I3362
943 5084 3C53 I C 6 5 4 3833 13074 4043
547! 5893 6183 b453 7573 e133 '773 8R73
992 3 10393 11103 11593
125 415 2445 4125 5955 1425 7815 IC495 IO655 11385 11665 11755 12155 12695 12725 13075
226 252b 4125 4 ~ 0 5656 1526 P15b 108Cb 10836 11576 11756 12356
4127 5047 a057 5 ,3157 9557 10421 I 1 5 8. 1 ~~
12?67 13431 13157
228 248 529 4128 4b78 4918 49b8 b2bB 6498 1 1 38P 12716 12938
2849 4539 5789 8779 9849 10429 10809 11139 11 7 0 9 12209
Figure 1. Coordination of the terms "vinyl" and "flooring"
was then demonstrated t o our General Managers who recommended that it be presented t o our entire supervisory staff. This was done in about ten sessions with small groups. Our Supervisors felt t h a t everyone at the Research Center should be instructed, so a presentation was made to the entire group. These presentations included indoctrination in the coordinate concept system of indexing. Each presentation, except the first, took about 2 hours. it is now paying Admittedly, this was a big job-but dividends. USE OF THE SYSTEM
Since the adoption of this system, our Patent Department has delegated t o our Technical Information Services Department the responsibility of carrying out initial "state of the art" searches. whenever possible. Instead of receiving a stack of patents 4 to 6 inches thick, the person making the request receives an edited report including a search of the published literature and in-house documents. I t has been found that the manually-operated system has "browsability," so we encourage the chemists to do their own searching. They invariably find patents which the Technical Information Services Staff might have considered false drops. whereas they may be of interest for some other assignment. One of our men, working in a rather broad field, went t o the extreme of going through the entire thesaurus and listing all of the terms which he thought might be useful t o him. Kow, when he has a problem, he knows whether or not there is anything in the Cniterm Index, and if there is, he knows what specific terms t o use for his search. I n many of our Technical Reports, and other in-house documents, individuals have used the Cniterm Index as a source for some of their references. Our own 24
department uses the Cniterm Index routinely in carrying out formal literature searches for members of our Research Center. We have found it a valuable addition to Chemical Abstracts, the Engineering, Index, and other commonly used secondary reference sources. Prior to the availability of this service in our Research Center, all requests for U.S. Patents were sent automatically to our Patent Department located in our main office building about 6 miles away. After delays of 4 to 6 weeks, their order was finally processed through the Patent Office in iyashington and we received a copy. Today, requests for copies of U.S.Patents are checked in the Cniterm Index and. in most cases, we have the patents on microfilm. This process involves a few minutes rather than weeks. ECONOMICS
Before subscribing t o the Cniterm Index, our Patent Department estimated the savings they would expect from this service as a search tool-and it was substantial. The doubling of the cost of patents to 50 cents each, put into effect in the last quarter of 1965, made the economic argument even stronger. Since the average length of patents is between 4 and 5 pages, our copy cost per patent (about 7 cents per page) is considerably less than its purchase cost. Furthermore, the intangible but real cost of merely processing an order is eliminated. In a large company, this can run into several dollars per order. Also, the elimination of the weeks of waiting for a patent ordered from Washington is another important plus factor. T o illustrate the value of this service, I shall cite one instance. Shortly after the Cniterm Index was obtained. I received a copy of a Research Assignment outlining a proposed study to synthesize a certain polymer. A search was made, and in about 20 minutes a patent was found JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL DOCUMENTATION
UNITERMINDEXTO U. S.CHEMICAL PATENTS--USER EVALUATION on the synthesis of this identical polymer. The individual was notified and another “reinvention of the wheel” prevented. At the same time, a savings of about 1000 hours (the amount included in the Research Assignment) was made. Fr(,rrl our viewpoint, we had already paid for the I,-niterrn Index for several years. What this service can save in dollars and the time of the research chemist is significant. But of even greater importance, the chemist will not he wasting his time doing what has already been done. As Skolnik (7) has stated so well, “The index service for United States chemical patents provided by Information for Industry is comprehensive, economical, and timely. . . The effect of this abstract service on many company patent indexing operations illustrates the statement. . . t h a t information groups should not undertake or continue an operation which is handled better, faster, and more economically by someone else.”
PROBLEMS
Lnfortunately, no system is perfect; no system is without problems. During the past year and a half the microfilmed patents were changed from 35- to 16-mm. film. This of course, meant that a t least two different lenses were required for our reader-printer. We now use a 1 2 . 0 5 ~lens for 35-mm. film; and an 1 8 . 2 5 ~ and a 2 0 . 7 8 ~ lens for 16-mm. film. In a search where many patents are found they may be on several reels, both 35- and 16-mm. T h e process involved in searching and changing reels, in addition to that required t o change lenses and adjust the light source in the reader-printer, is time consuming. This operation could he accelerated considerably if the patents were on microfiche. The economics of supplying the patents on microfiche should he investigated. A change to microfiche, of course, would not help the present problem and would in fact mean that patents would then he on 35-mm. reels. 16-mm. reels, and microfiche. However, microfiche has been standardized, and its use is more versatile than reel microfilm.
VOL. 8, No. 1, FEBRUARY 1968
I n the example used to demonstrate the mechanics of searching, one false drop occurred and one relevant patent was found. Experience with larger searches indicates t h a t relevancy may be much lower, a t times approaching only about lorc. This would he expected in an uncontrolled vocabulary system which averages 40 terms per patent, contains many synonyms, and has no hierarchy (the keyworders merely underline terms in the patent). However, high term usage per document has the advantage t h a t it tends to reduce the chance of not finding a relevant document. I n research, we feel it is more important to find all of the relevant patents even though the number of false drops may be high and time-consuming. SUMMARY
The use of the Uniterm Index to U . S . Chemical Patents has become a very helpful research tool in our Research and Development Center. We have saved both time and money and have provided a needed extra service for both our technical and patent personnel. LITERATURE CITED
Weinstein, S. J., M. Daukantas, R. J. Drozda, and F. K. Broome, “Abstract Bulletin of Foreign Patents and Index Preparation: A Combined Procedure,” J. CHEM.Doc. 1, No. 3, 28-32 (1961). Heindel, R. L., “Opportunities for Chemists as Patent Solicitors?” ibid.,2, 153 (1962). Wilkinson, W. A,, and W. H. Waldo, “New Information Services-a Practical Approach,” ibid.,2, 175 (1962). Howerton, P. W.. “The Patent Literature as an Information Source for Pesticide Chemists,” ibid.,4 , 232-234 (1964). O’Leary, P. T., J. M. Cattley, J. E. Moore, and D. G. Banks, “Computer Searching of Chemical Patents,” h i d . , 5 , 233-238 (1965). Cattley, J. M., -J. E. Moore, D. G. Banks, and P. T. O’Leary, “Inter-Index Patent Searching by Computer.” ibid.,6 , 15-26 (1966). Skolnik, H., “Chemical Indexing: Management’s Point of View,” ibid.,1, S o . 1, 58-59 (1961).
25
