3-D Printing: A Classic American Success Story

In Kansas, a 16-year-old produces a prosthetic hand for a family friend’s nine-year-old son, Matthew, born without fingers on one hand. The teen’s total cost to make this prosthesis on a 3-D printer at his county library: eight hours of labor. The value of this prosthesis to Matthew and his family: priceless. Inspired by this rewarding personal experience, the teen has started a non-profit to make 3-D produced prostheses for other needy children.
In Alabama, a similar happy ending unfolds for two-year-old Kate, also missing fingers on one hand since birth. The owner of the company that created the toddler’s new hand pro bono touts the advantages of 3-D printing for this type of project, “The ease of 3-D printing means low-cost, low-risk and high adaptability. The plans can be scaled up as children grow or customized to fit unique limbs or … situations. Print it, see if it works. If it doesn’t work, interchange it.” This entrepreneur predicts that within 10 years this technology will produce a fully automated, robotic, neuro-controlled prosthetic for $5.
In South Carolina, Chuck Hull is still active on the board and is chief technical advisor for 3-D Systems, the company he founded in 1986. Hull, a design engineer by trade, is credited with inventing 3-D printing and holds the patent on the solid imaging process he calls stereolithography. Hardly an overnight success, his invention has only become mainstream over the past few years. Just this year, he has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. At age 74, he is excited about the future of the technology and wants to stay involved. He is optimistic about its future, because he believes, “When you get enough smart people working on something, it always gets better.”
Interestingly, when asked to identify his greatest accomplishment, other than the technology itself, Hull is pleased that 3-D printing may contribute to the movement to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Unlike older manufacturing techniques in which material is cut, drilled or shaved off, with 3-D printing very little raw material is wasted. In addition, this technology allows manufacturers to produce products on demand, reducing the need for warehouse space. Hull feels strongly that these advantages of digital manufacturing may reverse the trend toward offshore production.
He also sees his invention potentially filling another need in our contemporary society. The rapid technological advances in our computer age, Hull feels, have tended to make individuals feel detached from tangible accomplishments. The 3-D printing process, on the other hand, offers the means to use technology to convert something on the computer to real-life applications.
It’s no coincidence that the real-life applications that have caught the public’s attention in human interest stories such as Matthew’s and Kate’s are medical and biomedical. The real strengths of 3-D printing lie in complexity and customization. So medical applications are a natural fit for this technology because all bodies are different. And in an era so conscious of “Affordable Care,” the cost-effectiveness of Hull’s process satisfies this very current public concern.
The ripple effects of Hull’s invention draw on many of America’s strengths and seem well suited to some of America’s current and future challenges. Above all, the story of 3-D Printing is a re-affirmation of the resilience and triumph of the American character.
DID YOU KNOW??
• Funding is available to replace, repair or build modular ramps for individuals who require on at their Sandy-impacted primary residence. For more information on this Sandy Relief Modular Ramp Program, call 888-285-3036 or 609-631-2450 and push 9.
• Many adults in Cape May County have difficulty reading and writing, or speaking and understanding English. You can give these people the gift of literacy by becoming a volunteer tutor for Literacy Volunteers Assoc., Cape-Atlantic, Inc. A training workshop will be offered on five consecutive Wednesdays, April 23 through May 21 from 6 to 9 pm at the Cape Technical School in Court House. For more information, call 609-383-3377.
Pierson writes from the Cape May County Department of Aging and Disability Services