i think it did in the US in the 18th and 19th centuries. Colt for example. many old-west certainly had lots of individual or small companies patent gadgets. i t

i think it did in the US in the 18th and 19th centuries. Colt for example. many old-west certainly had lots of individual or small companies patent gadgets. i think by the 20th century, it was already a big-business only thing. or was that just the economy in general? doesn't matter. the Wrights are kind of a sad story, but one that HN readers should be familiar with. technical excellence and just flopped at the business side. they got far too wrapped up in secrecy, almost paranoia, and like you pointed out, it just delayed and eventually ruined them. strain from fighting basically killed Wilbur at 45 years old.