Ed Gloeggler asked about obtaining patent papers on Sandel's Violano-type
inventions.  No, you do not need a lawyer, but you do need patience and a
budget, depending on how deep into it you want to go.

Recently I have been involved in doing some patent work related to a book
I am writing on a non-musical instrument related topic.  Here is what I
did, and found out.

1) You need to find a library that is U.S. Government Depository library
that maintains patent records. (I live near Cleveland, Ohio; the Cleveland
Public Library is excellent for that and was a big help.  Major cities'
libraries and libraries of some universities may also be of help because
many of them are depository libraries.  However, not all depositories
maintain patent files.  You may have to do some telephoning.

2) You will find printed indices by year that enable you to look up a
patent number by name of applicant, company name, and type of product.
This is time consuming if you do not know the years in which a patent
was granted.  But, when you find the patent, it will give you the date
and patent number.  At Cleveland, I believe the printed indices go up
to either 1972 or 1977 and then the indices are computerized.

3) Once you have the patent number, you can look it up on microfilm
(which a patent library will have) and make photocopies from the microfilm
printer machine.  At Cleveland these are 10 cents a copy.  Patents can run
anywhere from a couple of pages to 10 or 12 pages, so take a lot of coins
with you!

4)If you want to go beyond obtaining the obtaining of the patent and want
to get a "Patent File History" (which would have all the correspondence,
application, challenges, etc.), then life becomes more complex and
expensive.  I have not done this because of the cost, but within the past
month was investigating it and found the following:

 -- You want a thing called a "File Wrapper and Contents" for a given
patent (you must know the patent number and other critical information: who
it's assigned to ,etc.)

 -- You want to contact the Certification Branch of the U.S. Patent Office
in Washington, D.C.  The phone numbers I have are (703) 308-9735 and
(703) 308-9726.  I talked to these folks and they told me in early
December that a Patent File History costs $150 and takes 25 working
days to obtain.  They accept MasterCard and Visa and you can fax orders
to (703) 308-7048.

Well, good luck and happy hunting!

Bob Ebert