Presented here are the results of some ‘topical’ research for the year 2002––a selection of the patent specifications numbered 2002. It provides a snapshot of the technologies, the inventors and the illustrations of their inventions, from around the world and spanning more than 200 years, from 1794 to 2002. The value of both traditional, paper-based collections and current Internet-based resources in this context is underlined. Over 60 specifications, from some 30 countries and organizations are covered including US, GB, DE, RU, CH, PL, GR, OA, EP, WO, BR, JP, CN, SK and LT.