Patents and Standards - Mechanical Engineering - Graduate - McMaster LibGuides at McMaster University

Patents

Definition: a legal agreement between an inventor and the government; excludes others from making, using, or selling that invention for a limited time in a particular country country

Why search for patents?

to learn how something works (diagrams, description)
avoid duplication of research efforts
identify research trends and/or licensing opportunities

Tools

Check out a more complete list in the How to Find Patents guide

Canadian Patents

Canadian Patent Database

International/Multi-country Patents

Standards

Definition: a published document with technical specifications to be used as a rule, guideline, or definition; created for the purpose of ensuring things work safely, behave reliably, and are produced uniformly.

Why search for standards?

laws sometimes refer to standards, making compliance mandatory
can be a constraint, method, or metric in your design

Looking for another standard? See what we subscribe to: http://libguides.mcmaster.ca/standards

IEEE Explore
Scientific and technical content published by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and its publishing partners. Includes journals, conference proceedings, and standards.
McMaster Libraries online subscription includes access to full text published since 1988 and select content published since 1913.
ASTM Standards and Digital Engineering Library
Includes all Active standards from the 80+ volume Annual Book of ASTM Standards. Content is updated as standards are released. The Engineering Digital Library provides access to Standard Technical Papers and Symposia papers, e-books, manuals, 6 journals, and a terminology dictionary.
CSA Standards Group
The Canadian Standards Association is a not-for-profit membership-based association serving business, industry, government and consumers in Canada and the global marketplace. McMaster Library's subscription to the CSA Standards include those in the following areas: construction and engineering; electrical; energy; environmental; health and safety; mechanical and industrial equipment; quality and business management systems. We do not have access to the Information Technology and Telecommunication standards.

Tutorials

Mike White, a librarian at Queen's University, is an expert on searching patent information. He has produced some excellent tutorials and has generously allowed us to link to them below.

Mechanical Engineering - Graduate