INPI.fr

INPI.fr refers to the French patent office's web site. The French patent office is INPI but that abbreviation is also used in Portugal for its patent office. Key to our purposes is the 19th Century advanced search page of inpi.fr. Originals, when present, are exquisite. However, they are not always present. The simple particle “aer”, specifically without the proper accent mark, deposit years ranging from 1800-1859, is key. A small amount of non-aero is to be sifted out of these results.

On records returned by their site:

• "Déposant" means the person who registered the patent, usually the inventor but sometimes a patent agent
• "Mandataire" means the patent agent.
• "BA" is the first series of patents ranging from the Revolutionary era through 1843. In this era the numbers used by INPI are different (lower) than the ones originally issued. Perhaps the office was numbering applications and INPI is numbering only granted or extant patents.
• BA starts in 1844 and happily the numbers correspond.
• INPI's title is not always the title given on the document.
• Scans sometimes include secondary documentation associated with the patent application.

INPI.fr on the web ; of note to us is that the "front door", if you will, of the French site has changed since we first started gathering data from said site. For that among other reasons, again, the 19th Century advanced search page of inpi.fr is key to our purposes.

For categories historically used by INPI, see French patent classifications