A super special surprise guest joined SME CEO Robert Willig, Chuck Hull, commonly referred to as the inventor of Stereolithography, (now known as 3D printing)!
Alain Le Mehaute (fr. Alain Le Méhauté; born November 22, 1947) is a French engineer-chemist and inventor. He has written numerous scientific researches and academic literature on Geometry, Physics and Chemistry. Alain Le Mehaute, Olivier de Witte and Jean Claude André were the first to file their patent for the stereolithography process, but officially the title of inventor of stereolithography and 3D printing technology on the whole belongs to Chuck Hull 🤷🏻know your history 🤷🏻♂️
Into the mid 1990's Rapid Prototyping was the purpose of these early technologies. Sanders Prototype, Inc (now Solidsccape, Inc) used hot melt 3D materials in the first inkjet 3D printer, Modelmaker Pro with investment casting to produce metal finished products with dimensional accuracy. The idea came from the Richard Helinski Support Patent from 1989 that allowed printing real objects. This patent was licensed by other teechnologies that didn't print unsupported models. True 3D printing requires support. So please define 3D printing before claiming it originated before 1994. Check who owns this Patent and ask why they needed it.
What a special treat it was to meet Chuck today!
G.O.A.T. as the kids say nowadays
A pair of legends!
Would love to meet you, Chuck.
Love this
Looking good, Robert Willig
Business Development Manager - Stratasys Neo
1wI have a video of Chuck from around 1986 or so from a tv show, where he says “…we call this technology stereolithography, or 3 dimensional printing”. So really, it’s ALWAYS been known as 3D Printing! 😊