Resources for Researching Engineering Designs

Databases Available from the Coates Library Home Page:  http://lib.trinity.edu

• Applied Science and Technology Abstracts
• Academic Search Complete
• Web of Science
• IEEE Xplore

Patent Information

• U. S. Patent Office:  Patent Full-Text and Full-Page Image Databases
  http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
• freepatentsonline (useful for getting images if your computer doesn't have TIFF software installed)

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/
• European Patent Office  (includes patents worldwide)
  http://ep.espacenet.com/

 

Product Information

 

• Thomas Register—quick access to online company catalogs and websites as well as millions of CAD drawings
  http://thomasregister.com
• McMaster-Carr—over 400,000 products described; good for components & prices
  http://www.mcmaster.com/

 

Design Sites

 

• U.S. Patent Office:  Patent Full-Text and Full-Page Image Databases
  http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html
• howstuffworks website—nice graphics and clear explanations
  http://www.howstuffworks.com

 

Standards

 

• ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials)
  http://www.astm.org  (items may be purchased online; local availability at the UTSA Library)
• ANSI (American National Standards Institute)—search for standards at
  http://www.nssn.org  (available at Southwest Research Institute Library)

 

 

 

Prepared by Barbara MacAlpine

Science Librarian/Trinity University

Last updated September 23, 2007