Printing Press
Johannes Gutenberg, Mainz, c. 1440. Pre-patent era: goldsmith engineering that made knowledge cheap.
Overview
Gutenberg adapted screw-press and metallurgy into movable metal type, printing 180 Bibles by 1455. Europe had no patent system, so the invention spread by hired workmen and lawsuits over partners. Within 50 years presses ran in 200 cities, producing more books than the previous thousand years of copying. The Reformation, the scientific revolution, and mass literacy all ride on its economics. Patent or no, few machines ever changed more.
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