Vested patents during WWII

Hello Mr. Streifer,

To answer your questions:

1. Where can I find a complete list of 45,000+ vested patents, listed by patent number or inventor?

While we do not have a complete listing of the vested patents, the records are available to view in Record Group 131 Office of Alien Property. We do not know how many of the vested patents we have.

Patent case files can be found in multiple series (see below). The records would include those patents for which claims were filed after vesting. If some were vested but no claim was filed, then we would not have that claim.

• RG 131 Entry P 67 Patent Claims Case Files, 1942 – 1963 ("A" Patent Claim Case Files) (NAID 7489302)
• RG 131 P 127 Vested Property Case Files, 1946- ca. 1966 (NAID 12006510)
• RG 131 P 33 Vesting Order Case Files, 1942-1966 (NAID 7329938)

The latter two series include patent files but are not limited to the vesting of patents. For each above series there are several indexes which may contain information about the underlying case that researchers can consult.  Information about the indexes can be found in the above series’ Catalog descriptions (under the field “Finding Aid Type”).

A summary description of property vested from select case files found within RG 131 P 33 Vesting Order Case Files, 1942-1966 (NAID 7329938) can be found here: http://www.archives.gov/iwg/declassified-records/rg-131-alien-property/case-files.html

You may also be interested in the following series:

• RG 131 A1 1036 Correspondence and Other Records Relating to Patents and the Office of Alien Property Custodian, 1942 – 1951.

2. Where can I find a list of those 300-odd patent classes?

A list of patent classes can be found here: CLASSES WITHIN THE U.S. CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

You may also want to look in the Administrative and Operations records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (RG 241 - please see below).

3. Which four patent classes weren't vested, and why?

A good place to look for the answer this question would be in the annual reports of the Office of Alien Property, found here:

RG 131 Entry P 112 Annual Reports, 1943 – 1978

You may also want to contact the records officer of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (scroll to bottom of page):

https://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/agency/departments/commerce.html

4. Could those four classes have been related to the atomic bomb, such as fission, uranium, etc.?

Again, a good place to look would be in the annual reports of the Office of Alien Property:

RG 131 Entry P 112 Annual Reports, 1943 – 1978

You may also want to research this subject in administrative and operational files/series of the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Record Group 241):

RG 241 UD-UP 10 Administrative Orders and Instructions 1945 to 1960

RG 241 A1 1038 General Records 1850-1949

RG 241 A1 1025 National Patent Planning Commission Files 1943-1945

RG 241 UD-04W 4 Office of the Commissioner: General Records, 1937-1978

RG 241 A1 1020 Office of the Commissioner: Subject Files, 1925-1968

RG 241 A1 1011 Order, Notices and Other Records 1845-1962