Use this link to research US Patent Numbers:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm
Anything that was collected and patent in the year it was made, an issue year can be determined between partners or individual on an exact date and time...
US patents are for 20 years, so a 1992 patent expired on its issue date in 2012.
The date the patent was granted.
A patent number will only tell you the EARLIEST date on which the device was manufactured, and the patent number could still be put on many years after the patent expired (although without any legal effect). For U.S. patents, go to USPTO.gov, click patent, search, and type in the number to find the image of the particular patent you're interested in (prior to 1976).
That patent date is found on shotguns manufactured by J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co.
If that is a US Patent, you can look it up on Google, and tell when the patent was issued, but it cannot date the gun- other than we know it would have been made AFTER the patent was issued.
Is was made in 1919, that is the patent date. I suspect I have the patent posted in the patent section of the Gallery on the Remington Society of America if you want to see it...
That is not the serial number. It is the Patent Number. The serial number is found below this number. The Model 37 I have has this patent number on it and the serial number is 24071. I would also like to know the manufacture date of this rifle.
US Utility Patents that issued prior to or on June 7, 1978 had a term that was 17 years from the issue date. These patents have all expired. Patents that were filed after June 7, 1978 and issued before June 8, 1995. These applications have a term that is the longer of the two following options: 1) 17 years from the issue date of the application, or 2) 20 years from the earliest filing date. Applications that were filed before June 8, 1995 and were pending on June 8, 1995 have a patent term that is the longer of the two following options: 1) 17 years from the issue date of the application, or 2) 20 years from the earliest filing date. For applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, the patent term is 20 years from the earliest filing date. Eventually, barring future changes in patent term policy, all patents will expire 20 years from their earliest filing date.
US Utility Patents that issued prior to or on June 7, 1978 had a term that was 17 years from the issue date. These patents have all expired. Patents that were filed after June 7, 1978 and issued before June 8, 1995. These applications have a term that is the longer of the two following options: 1) 17 years from the issue date of the application, or 2) 20 years from the earliest filing date. Applications that were filed before June 8, 1995 and were pending on June 8, 1995 have a patent term that is the longer of the two following options: 1) 17 years from the issue date of the application, or 2) 20 years from the earliest filing date. For applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, the patent term is 20 years from the earliest filing date. Eventually, barring future changes in patent term policy, all patents will expire 20 years from their earliest filing date.
Impossible to date from patent number.
Apparently Milton Bradley was involved in a patent dispute but ended up with a patent for their Chinese Checker Board in 1941. My 4180 Board is presumed to date from our family about that time. Could the first two digits of the product number be the year of issue?