hi sorry it took me so long to reply.

i recommend taking some time poking around on the US patents site
www.uspto.gov

and looking to see what is there. just when you think you have it figured out they change everything.

patents granted after 1976 are searchable on line. before 1976 you have to already have the patent number, which can be found in musty old ledgers in a patent repository library..

down at the bottom i found a link to "libraries near you" which eventually took me to
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/ptdl/ptdlib_1.html

this is a list of united states A to L, with links to other states at the bottom.

you don't say if you are in the US or not. i don't know much about canada patents and nothing about any other country, so i hope you are in the USA.

if you are a million miles from a patent library and you have the exact name of the inventor and the exact year the patent was granted i will look for it for you the next time i go up there. but the ledgers are year by year and i am not willing to look in a bunch of them, so i have to have pretty exact data.

once you have the patent number downloading the patent is reasonably easy, considering this is being done on a computer. i can talk you thru this, or download it and e mail it to you.

the problem usually is that people don't have exact enough information.

hope this helps.