A · How many
Invention grants per year, England
14,375Grants 1561–1852
Key point
England granted 14,375 invention privileges and patents in 1561–1852: 363 in the 83 years 1617–1699 and 11,955 in the 53 years 1800–1852. The peak year is 1845 (570).
- Definition
- New invention privileges and patents granted in the year: Hulme's list for 1561–1603; for 1617–1852 the numbered entries of Woodcroft's list less those granting an extension.
- Formula
- grants(year) = Hulme grants + Woodcroft entries − extension entries
- How to read it
- 1604–1616 is blank because it falls between the two lists used here (Hulme ends in 1603, Woodcroft begins in 1617). Blank means unknown, not zero.
- Caveats
- Woodcroft numbers follow the date of the grant; the date used is the sealing date printed in the margin. Entries whose number the OCR lost are counted in the year of their neighbors. The two grants of 1853 are sealings of applications made under the law before 1852.
Table
Download CSV · m_a1_annual.csv
First 60 of 292 rows shown; the CSV has them all.
| Year | Hulme | Woodcroft grants | Woodcroft extensions | Numbers without text | Grants | List |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1561 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1562 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1563 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1564 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1565 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1566 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1567 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1568 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1569 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1570 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1571 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1572 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1573 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1574 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1575 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1576 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1577 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1578 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1579 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1580 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1581 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1582 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1583 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1584 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1585 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1586 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1587 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1588 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1589 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1590 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1591 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1592 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1593 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1594 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1595 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1596 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1597 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1598 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1599 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1600 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1601 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1602 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1603 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Hulme 1896/1900 |
| 1604 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1605 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1606 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1607 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1608 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1609 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1610 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1611 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1612 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1613 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1614 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1615 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1616 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | no list (1604-1616) | |
| 1617 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | Woodcroft 1854 |
| 1618 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | Woodcroft 1854 |
| 1619 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | Woodcroft 1854 |
| 1620 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Woodcroft 1854 |
ocrReliability card
OCR count: counted by rule from scanned OCR text; below, the error measured on a sample checked against page images
- Image check, year
- 119/120 (99%, 95% CI 95–100%)
- Image check, term
- 118/120 (98%, 95% CI 94–100%)
- Image check, number of grantees
- 118/120 (98%, 95% CI 94–100%)
- Image check, communication
- 119/120 (99%, 95% CI 95–100%)
- Hulme transcription, date
- 55/55 (100%, 95% CI 93–100%)
- Hulme transcription, term
- 55/55 (100%, 95% CI 93–100%)
Prior results
- 2,240 patents in 1660–1799 (secondary citation). — MacLeod, C. (1988), Inventing the Industrial Revolution, CUP, Table 9.1, p. 160 (as quoted by Nuvolari, Tartari & Tranchero 2021).
- 13,070 English patents granted in 1700–1850. — Nuvolari, A., Tartari, V. & Tranchero, M. (2021), 'Patterns of innovation during the Industrial Revolution', Explorations in Economic History 82; LEM WP 2020/23, p. 2.
Sources
- E. Wyndham Hulme, 'The History of the Patent System under the Prerogative and at Common Law', Law Quarterly Review 12 (1896) 141–154, and '… A Sequel', LQR 16 (1900) 44–56: the list of industrial monopoly grants 1561–1603, Nos. I–LV (55 grants), and the summary table on p. 52, transcribed by hand and checked against the page images. (public domain, 1896, 1900; https://archive.org/details/sim_law-quarterly-review_1900-01_16_61)
- Bennet Woodcroft, Titles of Patents of Invention, Chronologically Arranged, from March 2, 1617 (14 James I.) to October 1, 1852 (16 Victoriae), London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1854, 2 parts (Nos. 1–14,359). Entries were split from the word coordinates of the Internet Archive OCR of the University of Illinois copy (
chronologicalin1617grea_0,chronologicalind1617grea); 115 pages on which that OCR lost entry numbers were read again from the page images with tesseract 5. (public domain, 1854; https://archive.org/details/chronologicalin1617grea_0)