The idea of 3D printing dates all the way back to 1945 when sci-fi writer Murray Leinster first described the technology with surprising accuracy in his short story “Things Pass By”. He envisioned a machine that could take his drawings and replicate them with a moving arm, using melted plastic to form 3D objects.
The general concept of and procedure to be used in 3D-printing was first described by Raymond F. Jones in his story, "Tools of the Trade," published in the November 1950 issue of Astounding Science fiction magazine. He referred to it as a "molecular spray in that story.
It took a while for these ideas to move beyond fiction, but in 1971 we had a breakthrough with Johannes F. Gottwald filing a patent for a Liquid Metal Extruder. He envisioned this extruder to be just like an office printer, only it would print 3D objects with metal rather than words with ink.
With the first patent yielding no results, the world of 3D printing remained nothing more than ideas. It’s at this point that David Jones came along with his popular column “Daedalus” in the magazine New Science. Unfortunately for Jones, he’s never credited with this idea, since his suggestion was tongue-in-cheek, but he still deserves a mention in the long history of 3D printing evolving from idea to reality.
Unfortunately, the first half of the decade was filled with promising patents from investors that either ran out of money or were financed by groups that failed to see any commercial applications that could recoup their investment.The first prominent patent of the decade was filed by Japanese inventor Dr. Hideo Kodama in 1981. He described his invention as a “rapid prototyping device”. More importantly, he was the first person to ever apply for a patent that described a laser beam curing process. Sadly, his patent never went through as he abandoned financing the patent one year after filing it.
Next up was a trio of French inventors who came forward with a patent in 1984. Jean-Claude André, Olivier de Witte, and Alain le Méhauté were colleagues working for French technology firm Alcatel and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). They followed Dr. Kodama’s focus of a “rapid prototyping device” to produce complex parts. De Witte had previous experience working with lasers to cure solids and viewed this technology as the best option to employ in rapid prototyping. Unfortunately, their employers at Alcatel and the CNRS weren’t interested in the technology and the trio was unable to fund their project after applying for the patent, forcing them to abandon the idea.
In 1984 Charles “Chuck” Hull filed a patent for a stereolithography system, only three weeks after the trio in France filed for theirs. Hull’s idea was to use his company’s UV lamps to cure photosensitive resin layer by layer to create small custom parts.His patent was approved in 1986 and he started his own company: 3D Systems. Two years later they released the ground breaking first commercially available 3D printer – the SLA-1 – in 1988.
Across the pond from the French trio, the US Patent Office granted Bill Masters the first ever approved patent for any form of technology that now falls under the umbrella of 3D printing.
By now you’ve figured out that SLA printing was the first to hit the market, but Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM )and Selective laser sintering (SLS)weren’t far behind. Both had their first approved patents filed in 1988.Selective laser sintering was first invented down in Texas by university student Carl Deckard. Only an undergrad at the time, his printer was rudimentary and could only produce basic pieces of plastic. Still, the idea was there and the execution soon developed into the SLS printing we know today.
Also filed in 1988 was the patent for a fused deposition modeling machine by Scott Crump, a co-founder of Stratasys. It took until 1992 for the patent to be granted but Stratasys was quick to grab the lead in 3D printing with their new FDM machines.
This period ends with what may cause some confusion over how long 3D printing’s been around. In 1993, MIT professor Emanuel Sachs introduced the term “3D printing” to the lexicon, and the industry formerly known as “rapid prototyping” never looked back.
Stepping away from the purely commercial side of 3D printing, 1999 saw the first extraordinary achievement by 3D printing in the medical industry. Scientists at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine managed to 3D bioprint synthetic scaffolds of a human bladder. They then coated these scaffolds with cells from the patient’s tissue before this newly generated tissue was implanted into the patient. Since this tissue was made from the patient’s own cells, there was a low-to-zero risk of the body rejecting it, marking an important win for 3D printing in medical.
Now comes the era when most people learned about 3D printing. A variety of events are responsible for this proliferation, starting with Zcorp introducing a multicolor 3D printer in 2000. They repurposed the inkjet printing technology common to household full-color printers, adapting it to print colorful 3D objects. While it hasn’t evolved into an industry standard, multicolor printing remains a popular fascination of some.
The 3D printed bladder was merely the start for bioprinting and 3D printing’s ongoing usefulness in medical treatments. In 2002, a 3D printed miniature human kidney was created, again at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Though not full size, this represented a key advancement in bioprinting, exciting many that 3D printed organs could solve the shortage of organs available for transplant, and even 3D print hearts.
The movement, named RepRap (short for ‘replicating rapid prototyper’), started off as an initiative within the University of Bath, but later gained popularity worldwide. The project was open source and focused on the spreading of low-cost 3D printing worldwide, leading to its democratization. Interest in these low cost 3D printers skyrocketed as people edited and tinkered with his designs.The Z510 could not only print in colour, but was the first 3D printer that could print in colour in HD.
Another major event in 2008 was the first 3D printed prosthetic. This extraordinary achievement was compounded by the fact that this prosthetic leg did not need to be assembled, it was 3D printed to function immediately. This opened many people’s eyes to how 3D printing could save time and labour, as fully-assembled objects could be printed from scratch.
The first affordable FDM 3D printer kit was released in January 2009. It was called the BfB RapMan printer.2009 wasn’t just a year for FDM printers however. Organovo, a 3D bioprinting firm, managed to create the first 3D printed blood vessel. This was managed on a new 3D bioprinter which showed significant promise for the future creation of whole organs such as kidneys and hearts.
3D Printed Jewellery made headlines in 2011 when they were the first to offer 14k gold and sterling silver as 3D printable materials. Anyone who had designed something on their computers at home could have their model 3D printed in gold. The possibilities for custom and high fashion 3D printed jewellery expanded.
In 2013, Cody Wilson became a viral sensation after his company Defence Distributed posted an STL file on its site for 3D printing a working 3D printed gun. Ironically the US Government ordered Defence Distributed to remove the designs three days later, but the gun had already been downloaded over 100,000 times.
NASA announced they had used a 3D printer in space and created the first 3D printed object in space in 2014. This opened the door for future space manufacturing and the ability of future astronauts to create tools on-demand in space. If the team in space needed a particular item, they could be ‘beamed’ the design from Earth at light speed, and 3D print the tool out in space. What had long been theorized in sci-fi became a reality and potentially signals the future of the 3D printing industry.
A major milestone arrived in 2018 with the first family moving into a fully 3D printed home. From 3D printed bridges in the Netherlands to office buildings in Dubai to low-income housing, there are plenty of incredible example projects.
As of 2020, 3D printers have reached the level of quality and price that allows most people to enter the world of 3D printing. In 2020 decent quality printers can be found for less than US$200 for entry level machines. These more affordable printers are usually fused deposition modelling (FDM) printers
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