Q. How do I search for patents?

The USPTO is the US Patent & Trademark Office and the EPO is the European Patent Office; two of the world's largest patent offices. 

Their sites used to search have special names and address - PatFT for U.S. and Espacenet for E.U. 

These are quite different to conduct searches in than library databases, so ask for help if you need it.

You can find more information and links on the Patents page of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Guide - one of several disciplines that use patents frequently.