LibGuides: .Civil Engineering: Patents, Reports, Standards

Patent Search

Google Patents
Google Patents is a great beginner tool for patent searching. It has coverage of international collections and uses the same semantic search technology as the Google web search engine, meaning it often brings back highly relevant results on the first page. It also has excellent citation searching functionality. However, it is less useful for systematic searches.
Lens.org Patent Search
A free, powerful search engine. Search patents from over 100 countries as well as scholarly works. It takes a little longer to learn than Google Patents, but supports methodical, systematic patent searching.

Find Patent Classifications: CPC Codes
A searchable thesaurus of Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) codes. Use this tool to discover patent classification codes for use in your patent search.
University of Maine Six-Step Patent Search Strategy
Patents are a unique information source, and thorough patent searches require advanced searching techniques such as classification code searching. This document provides the basics.
Anatomy of a Patent
This guide from University of Wisconsin-Madison explains the basic parts of a patent (scroll down).

National Technical Reports Library (NTRL)
Produced by the US Department of Commerce, this is a database of technical reports produced for the US government. As of 1/20/2025, some information may have been removed or changed.
Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)
Technical reports from the US Department of Defense. The search bar in the upper right corner will search reports.
ENG Trail: Technical Report Archive & Image Library
The Technical Report Archive & Image Library (TRAIL) identifies, acquires, catalogs, digitizes and provides unrestricted access to U.S. government agency technical reports.

Not sure what a standard is? Check out our Standards Research Guide for more information!

Engineering Workbench (Accuris)

A comprehensive database to search and discover standards in your subject area(s). After identifying a standard you'd like to access, contact the library at libtech@oit.edu for assistance acquiring the full text.

NIST Standards.gov : How to Find Standards
Standards provide industries and innovators with a common language that facilitates trade, simplifies transactions and enables people to work together toward greater common goals that cut across disciplines and borders. Standards.gov is administered by the Standards Coordination Office (SCO) at NIST. This site provides: information about the use of documentary standards in the Federal government; background materials and resources on the standards landscape that are useful for industry and academia; and
useful standards and conformity assessment information freely available to the general public. As of 1/20/2025, some information may have been removed or changed.
IHS Standards Store (Now "Standards Store by Accuris")
Provides a searchable catalog of over one million documents from over 450 standards organizations and sells standards in hard-copy and in digital format.

ASSIST Quick Search
Searchable access to full-text Defense and Federal specifications and standards available in the official U.S. Department of Defense repository
ASHRAE Read-Only Standards
ASHRAE offers free, read-only access to a select number of their "current popular standards" and standards referenced in code. Scroll down the page to the Preview section to view available standards.
ANSI University Outreach Program
ANSI's outreach program educates and advises faculty about standards in the classroom and in curriculum. Through this program, faculty and students can get complimentary access to a defined group of ISO or IEC standards for the duration of a course.
Incorporated by Reference (IBR) Standards Hosted by ANSI
Incorporation by reference (IBR) allows Federal agencies to comply with the requirement to publish rules in the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) by referring to materials already published elsewhere. This ANSI portal provides free access to select read-only, full-text standards incorporated by reference in U.S. federal regulations.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Free Standards List
NIST offers a list of standards bodies that make some or all of their standards free, or free with membership. As of 1/20/2025, some information may have been removed or changed.