The Birth of 3D Printing: IRI Achievement Award Address: With the Invention of the 3D Printer, Charles Hull Laid the Foundation for Today's Digital Manufacturing Revolution
2015; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 58; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1930-0166
Autores Tópico(s)Manufacturing Process and Optimization
Resumotalk is an engineer's view of the third industrial revolution. There are many views about what that revolution is, if it is a revolution at all. A lot of these views come from philosophy or from economics. There have been many articles in publications like the Economist, so something's going on there. But an engineer's focus is normally on things that can realistically be done, not on economic theory or philosophy. Inventive, innovative, and entrepreneurial engineers can push the envelope just a little bit further, which makes the future impossible to predict. But breakthrough innovations can help to create the future, and that's the topic of this talk. 3D printing has become a cornerstone of some conceptions of the third industrial revolution, but it didn't start that way. Here's how it started: One evening in 1983, called my wife and told her, Get on down to the lab right away. That didn't seem like a good idea to her; she already had her pajamas on and she was going to go to bed to watch TV. But insisted, so she got in the car and drove down to the lab. While she was driving, she was thinking, This had better be good. It was. When she walked into the lab, said, I did it--and handed her the very first 3D-printed part, a small cup (Figure 1). That printed cup was the moment when 3D printing first happened, but how did get to that point? By 1980, had been working at large companies for 19 years, first at Bell & Howell Research, and then at DuPont, as an engineer in industrial R&D and product development. was in the analytical world, working on continuous innovations, inventions, and new technology in analytical equipment for chemists. But breakthrough ideas are not generally supported by large companies or research organizations, at least not mine--especially if they're in a field that's outside the core business. had over the years tried different several new ideas on my employers and never gotten very far. felt had a talent for invention that couldn't exercise in a large company environment, so decided to leave for a smaller company, where thought I'd have more influence on the technology direction. also decided at that time to learn more about entrepreneurship. I'd had lots of management training but no training in starting new ventures. So in 1980 went to a new position at a small ultraviolet-technology company. Maybe a year later, had an idea for a low-cost, high-resolution scanning UV microscope--the key was low cost. was a new concept, and felt it would be a good fit for the company because we made all kinds of things related to UV technology. talked to the company president, and he ended up not supporting the idea. He actually got a marketing consultant in who surveyed the market and said there wasn't a market for this kind of microscope. Of course, for breakthrough things, there's never a market. still think it's a good idea, but they didn't go along with it, so let it go. Around 1982, a couple of years into my new position, had another idea, the one that would eventually become 3D printing. pressed the same company president about pursuing it because felt we could develop a market for it. guess wasn't persuasive enough. He wasn't interested, but persisted. He finally said, can work on this, but do it on your own Do it nights and weekends. You can use one of the labs in the company, but do it on your own time. So my day job was running the engineering department, developing new products for the company, and my night job was inventing 3D printing. My idea was to find a way to quickly make prototype plastic parts. Back in those days, it took six to eight weeks from when you had a finished design--either on a computer or, more typically, as a set of blueprints--to when you had the first physical article. was because the design had to go first to a tool designer, then to a tool maker, and then to a molder. …
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