may be of too fast a heart beat if you see these stats from the US Patent Office
It took 75 years to get from patent No.1 to patent 1 million. It has taken less than one tenth of that time to go from 6 million to 7 million patents.
In a related story, when it comes to patents, plan to take to trip to Luckenbach Marshall, TX as this article lays out. Willie and Waylon and the boys will be waiting.