Hercules Patent Data Set

Patents as Knowledge Services database. Global patent data were retrieved using the European Patent Office (EPO) Espacenet worldwide database. This portal was chosen for its superior ability to track historical name variations and Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) clusters across a century-long span. Searches included multiple assignee variations, such as “Hercules Powder Company” and “Hercules Inc.,” to ensure a comprehensive longitudinal record. The complete population of 3,190 patents was visualized using comprehensive Hercules Patent Data (Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/dmzyy8nyng.1) to identify longitudinal patterns and technological clusters across the 100-year study period.