{"product_id":"american-independent-inventors-in-an-eric-s-hintz-9780262542586","title":"American Independent Inventors in an Era of Corporate R\u0026d","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow America's individual inventors persisted alongside corporate R\u0026amp;D labs as an important source of inventions.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDuring the nineteenth century, heroic individual inventors such as Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell created entirely new industries while achieving widespread fame. However, by 1927, a New York Times editorial suggested that teams of corporate scientists at General Electric, AT\u0026amp;T, and DuPont had replaced the solitary \"garret inventor\" as the wellspring of invention. But these inventors never disappeared. In this book, Eric Hintz argues that lesser-known inventors such as Chester Carlson (Xerox photocopier), Samuel Ruben (Duracell batteries), and Earl Tupper (Tupperware) continued to develop important technologies throughout the twentieth century. Moreover, Hintz explains how independent inventors gradually fell from public view as corporate brands increasingly became associated with high-tech innovation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFocusing on the years from 1890 to 1950, Hintz documents how American independent inventors competed (and sometimes partnered) with their corporate rivals, adopted a variety of flexible commercialization strategies, established a series of short-lived professional groups, lobbied for fairer patent laws, and mobilized for two world wars. After 1950, the experiences of independent inventors generally mirrored the patterns of their predecessors, and they continued to be overshadowed during corporate R\u0026amp;D's postwar golden age. The independents enjoyed a resurgence, however, at the turn of the twenty-first century, as Apple's Steve Jobs and Shark Tank's Lori Greiner heralded a new generation of heroic inventor-entrepreneurs. By recovering the stories of a group once considered extinct, Hintz shows that independent inventors have long been--and remain--an important source of new technologies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Eric S. Hintz\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0262542587\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262542586\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e MIT Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/17\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.90d","brand":"Eric S. Hintz","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48086453846271,"sku":"9780262542586","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_522bdef6-c1fd-4275-8b3a-d1a7073d9d66.jpg?v=1769094767","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/american-independent-inventors-in-an-eric-s-hintz-9780262542586","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}