There was no patent protection back in these days. A smart craftsman could not draw on recorded repositories of past work and if he came up with a new design, a

There was no patent protection back in these days. A smart craftsman could not draw on recorded repositories of past work and if he came up with a new design, anyone could copy it and sell in competition. Some worked there way into general use, but as far as I know there was never a 'next generation' in most cases. The innovator kept it totally secret. So a machine that, say, pitted olives, could make a man rich as bought olives and pitted them with his machine and sold the pitted olives. Other people had to pit them with sharp sticks or whatever. Some Roman nobles killed craftsmen who made them a good work to ensure no-one else could have one. Things stumbled along until the 1500's when Kings would grant Crown Patents so only you could make them. This gradually expanded to the modern patent system in the 1700-1800's?? Back in Greek times smart people guarded their secrets - and these were all hand made, holes drilled, bearings made, plates scribed with the workman's notes often in his head. Logically a mechanism would be made, improved, improved again etc. There may have been a dozen preceding Antikythera mechanisms on an improvement path, as well as successor machines - none of which survived to the present. The precious nature of brass bronze meant that anyone who found would melt it to sell for weapons etc. There may be dozens more hidden under water in collapsed caves etc.??