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Well, the Wright brothers invented an aeroplane. Their most important contribution was the use of wing warping to allow the control of roll. Wing warping turned

Well, the Wright brothers invented an aeroplane. Their most important contribution was the use of wing warping to allow the control of roll. Wing warping turned out to be less practical than the approach still used today: the aileron. A patent owned by the Wright's on wing warping caused a lot of pointless legal conflict and arguably slowed down the pace of innovation with respect to the problem[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aileron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aileron

TeMPOraL 2y ago
I"m starting to wonder when, if ever, patents did not hinder technological advancement on the net.
- kube-system 2y ago
  When the development of the innovation requires a bunch of up-front capital.
- jeroenhd 2y ago
  Various improvements to machinery during the industrial revolution were only possible with vast amounts of investment upfront, and the patent system made that possible. You're not going to be building a factory powering steam engine at home, even if you've found a method that will increase its efficiency by a significant margin. Of course, patents are only respected when a country is in the lead. Early America was notorious for espionage and strategically ignoring patents to bolster its own economy, and China doesn't really care about what patents you may have when one of their companies is competing with you.
  - hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
    Related, a good article on how a contributing factor to the founding of Hollywood as the world's movie capital was due to Thomas Edison's stranglehold on patents: https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2021/03/thomas-edison-the-unintentional-founder-of-hollywood/ https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2021/03/thomas-edison-th...
ycombinatornews 2y ago
Or to expand this a bit more - they learned and documented how to have controlled flight. They were the first ones to have flights measured in hours. Big difference from just a one off flight. (there is a great book about this https://share.libbyapp.com/title/1815407 https://share.libbyapp.com/title/1815407 )

TeMPOraL 2y ago

I"m starting to wonder when, if ever, patents did not hinder technological advancement on the net.

kube-system 2y ago
When the development of the innovation requires a bunch of up-front capital.
jeroenhd 2y ago
Various improvements to machinery during the industrial revolution were only possible with vast amounts of investment upfront, and the patent system made that possible. You're not going to be building a factory powering steam engine at home, even if you've found a method that will increase its efficiency by a significant margin. Of course, patents are only respected when a country is in the lead. Early America was notorious for espionage and strategically ignoring patents to bolster its own economy, and China doesn't really care about what patents you may have when one of their companies is competing with you.
- hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
  Related, a good article on how a contributing factor to the founding of Hollywood as the world's movie capital was due to Thomas Edison's stranglehold on patents: https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2021/03/thomas-edison-the-unintentional-founder-of-hollywood/ https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2021/03/thomas-edison-th...

ycombinatornews 2y ago

Or to expand this a bit more - they learned and documented how to have controlled flight. They were the first ones to have flights measured in hours. Big difference from just a one off flight. (there is a great book about this https://share.libbyapp.com/title/1815407 https://share.libbyapp.com/title/1815407 )