Abstract
DURING 1984 the IEEE is celebrating its one-hundredth anniversary. As the centennial events unfold, members can look back on a century of outstanding progress and achievements. To remind us of the state of the art 100 years ago, drawings from some U.S. patents issued in May 1884 are reproduced in this foreword. During 1884 the 300,000th patent was issued; in 1984 the number will approach 4.5 million. In May 1884, 1541 patents were issued of which about 3.5 percent could be classified as electrical; today the rate is nearly 5000 per month and about 19 percent are electrical.