Whether you're just curious about patents or have some pressing reason to learn more about them, nothing is more instructive than to read and examine one. For all practical purposes, a patent application is -- or at least it contains in large measure -- the first draft of the patent document that may ultimately issue. So, anyone who may be involved in some way in securing patent protection will benefit from knowing what may be in a patent.

      Essentially, patents have two important parts: The claims at the end of the patent state specifically those elements of the described invention that the inventor claims as his or her novel invention; and the specification, which comprises all of the rest of the patent document that describes the invention in detail and in relation to the field in which the invention is useful. The claims describe the invention or invented elements that are protected; the specification puts the protected invention in context and provides a reference for interpreting the claims.

Almost all U.S. patents have traditionally included a number of basic sections into which the specification is divided, and modern patents have tended to formalize those sections, imposing a standard order and even favoring a set of standard headings. (Of course, much of this tendency toward standardization has been driven, to a great extent, by the need for the patent records to be machine storable and searchable.) As a result, modern patents have a relatively consistent format.

The title page, including

• A title record section
• An abstract description of the invention
• An illustrative drawing or drawings

The formal drawings, comprising

• A number of labeled figures referred to in the patent text,
  in particular in description of the preferred embodiment,
  that aids in understanding the text

The patent text, including

• A background section
• A summary description of the invention
• A description of the drawings
• A detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention

All are then followed by the patent claims.

      To illustrate what makes up a patent, we have prepared for Web display an annotated text version of a utility patent suitable for browsing. If you prefer, and have Adobe's Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, you may view on-line or download the formatted version as published by the U.S. Patent Office.