The first U.S. Patent was issued in 1790. Between 1790 and July 13, 1836 patent numbers were not assigned. There were 9,957 patents issued before July 13, 1836. At that time a fire at the Patent Office destroyed most of the early patents, but not all of them. I have searched the early records (pre-1836) and could find no harpoon or other whalecraft patents that survived. Beginning in 1836 after the fire, patents were assigned numbers as given in the following tables.

The following list represents all U.S. Patents for whaling implements from 1836 to 1925. There were others after 1925, but that year marked the last whaling voyage from a U.S. port in a wooden hull, sailing whaleship, John R. Manta. Where known, pre-1836 patent info is also listed, although there is no known copy of that patent available.

All patents in the following list are described on this web site and examples are shown where possible. All patents are illustrated by the original patent drawings (sometimes cropped to minimize the graphic size and load time). Patents are listed in arbitrary categories, (not U.S. Patent Office categories) according to type of whalecraft, intended to simplify a search. Those patents that are currently shown and described on this web site are underlined, and clicking on the underlined name will take you to the proper page and that implement. Use your browser's BACK button to return to this patent list.

Click on a topic below for a list of Patentees, dates and patent numbers, then click on an underlined Patentee name in the next table to go to a detailed description and illustration of that item:

Bibliography  Harpoons  History  Knives  Lances  Links  Markings  Non-Whaling

Patents  Poison  Processing  Shoulder-Guns  Shoulder-gun Irons  Spades  Swivel Guns and Irons