Classification Bulletin

The bible of this system is the Manual of Classification of Patents, published by the Patent Office. Supplementing the manual are the class and subclass definitions contained in the Classification Bulletins, also obtainable from the Patent Office. 

The United States Patent Oflfice classifies its patents into some 350 main classes, each of which is divided into many subclasses. There are now about 45,000 of these subclasses. Titles of the classes and subclasses are listed in the "Manual of Classification of Patents (54). Revision of this classification is a continuous process. As classes are revised and new definitions for them are written, these are pubhshed first in the Official Gazette of the U. S. Patent Office and later in the Classification Bulletin issued at intervals by the Patent Office. 

To search the United States patent art, therefore, the first step is to examine the "Manual of Classification, together with the definitions furnished in the Classification Bulletins in order to determine, if possible, which classes will contain the art to be examined. The only classified sets of patents available to the public in this country are in the Patent Office search room in Washington. Some companies, therefore, maintain partial sets in their own libraries. These may be readily maintained by subscribing to the classes of special interest. In this way, copies of the patents classified by the Patent Office into these classes are automatically received. 

U. S, Patent Office, Classification Bulletins—class and subclass definitions, references to re-... 

The U. S. Patent Office provides several guides for obtaining those patents of interest. These are the Manual of Classification of Patents (117), the index to said manual, plus a series of classification bulletins which define the classes and subclasses listed in the manual. Once having determined the subclasses of interest, one may obtain from the Patent Office, at a charge of about 20 cents a page, separate numerical lists of both the original references and cross references in each subclass. Furthermore, the Patent Office will supply these lists of subclasses and cross-reference lists upon receiving a request which fully describes the subject matter of interest. The subclasses of Class 260, The Chemistry of Carbon Compounds, are the subclasses of main interest, and these have been recently revised. The definitions for Class 260 are in Classification Bulletin No. 200 (116). It may be noted at this time that a revised copy of this bulletin, as well as a new index to the Classification Manual, is scheduled for publication in the near future. 

Classification Bulletin, United States Patent Office, Department of Commerce, Washington,... 

FIGURE 1.1 The five Platonic solids. O. Benfey,Precursors and Cocursors of the Mendeleev Table The Pythagorean Spirit in Element Classification, Bulletin for the History of Chemistry, 13—14, 60—66, 1992—1993, figure on p. 60 (by permission). 

U.S. Geological Suiwey and U.S. Bureau of Mines. (1976). Principles of the Mineral Resource Classification System of the U.S. Bureau of Mines and U.S. Geological Suiwey. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1450-A. Washington, DC U.S. Government Printing Office. 

Choquette, P. W. and Pray, L. C., 1970, Geologic Nomenclature and Classification of Porosity in Sedimentary Carbonates American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin, Vol. 54, pp. 207-250. 

As new reports are received they are screened for suitability, AD (ASTIA Document) numbers are assigned, and the reports are cataloged and analyzed. To announce new reports, ASTIA publishes The Technical Abstract Bulletin (TAB). This is a semimonthly publication, arranged by subject fields of interest. TAB lists both classified and unclassified reports but is itself unclassified and also has a numerical index of all reports announced in it. In addition, it includes a Notice of Changes in Classifications or Limitations in the status of documents which were previously announced. As a further reference aid, ASTIA publishes quarterly and annual indexes which list reports by descriptors and by sources. 

The over-all scheme was devised purely from the standpoint of the needs of Gulf Research Development Co. Certain operations, such as the preparation of bulletins concurrently with making selections for the files, have been discussed only to make the picture complete and to illustrate how time may be conserved by combining collection of material for the files with other existing operations. The salient feature of the scheme is the continuous collection, classification, and filing of literature and patents. This operation has been found most helpful in the preparation of surveys and is passed on to others for whatever use they may care to make of it. 

The revised Swiss classification was adopted in January 1908 and has been in use since then. The headings of the 129 classes and their subclasses are given in English in the third edition of this bulletin (169). 

Printed and mimeographed bulletins and data sheets of smaller size are much more difficult to locate. Partly because of their size, they are more likely to be lost. Furthermore, whereas books and large bulletins are logically sent to or placed in a relatively public location, single sheets or small bulletins are more likely to be placed in an individuaPs files and are thus less accessible, generally. Material in this classification is almost never found in a public library. 

World Health Organization (WHO). (1981). Nomenclature and classification of drugs and alcohol-related problems A WHO memorandum. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 59, 225-242. 

At the present time abstracts in the field of fabrication methods and equipment for plastics are not a very important source of information. No formal abstracting service in this field is known to the authors, although possibly some abstracts cover fabricating methods and equipment when such information appears in other classifications of literature. Chemical Abstracts deals mainly with the chemical nature of the materials being fabricated and not with the fabrication processes and machinery. It does not appear likely that an abstract service would be able to pay its own way because of the relatively few engineers who are engaged in development of fabrication methods and equipment for plastics. Some of the trade magazines do abstract each others articles as well as recently received manufacturers technical data bulletins. This information is not usually classified nor is it selected by any systematic method. 

Naturally, manufacturers literature is valuable, particularly in descriptions of equipment. These bulletins and data sheets can be located only through constant scanning of the free literature columns and advertisements, and adequate indexing or classification of the literature once it is in the library. 

Office International du Cacao et du Chocolat, Circulaire Periodique, monthly bulletins, numbered without volume classification. 

Carstensen, J. (2007) Statistical principles for ecological status classification of Water Framework Directive monitoring data. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 55, pp. 3-15. 

Prather, B. E., Booth, J. R., Steffens, G. S. Craig, P. A. 1998. Classification, lithologic calibration, and stratigraphic succession of seismic facies of intraslope basins, deep-water Gulf of Mexico. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 82, 701-728. 

Thompson, K. F. M., Kennicutt, M. C. Brooks, J. M. 1990. Classification of offshore Gulf of Mexico oils and gas condensates. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 74, 187-198. 

Folk, R.L. 1959. Practical petrographic classification of limestones. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 43 1-38. 

Field, E. H. (2000). A modified ground motion attenuation relationship for southern California that accounts for detailed site classification and a basin depth effect. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 90, S209-S221. doi 10.1785/0120000507... 

I AEG, 1981. Rock and soil description and classification for engineering geological mapping. Int. Assoc. Eng. Geol. Bulletin. 24 235-274. 

Wood, G.H. Jr., Culbertson, W.C., Kehm, T.M., and Carter, M.D. 1982. Coal resources classification system of the United States Geological Survey. In Proceedings, Fifth Symposium on the Geology of Rocky Mountain Coal 1982, K.D. Gurgel (Ed.). Utah Geological and Mineral Survey, Bulletin No. 118, pp. 233-238. 

Rosch, E. (1976). Classification d objets du monde reel Origines et representations dans la cognition. Bulletin de Psychologic, 242-250. 

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