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"All fiction is propaganda, and the fiction we like is the propaganda we believe in, and the fiction we don't like is the propaganda we don't believe in."
- Samuel R. Delany
 |
| Plastic Constructor (3D Printer) | ||
| A 3D printer - for spaceships. |
This is the earliest description of what we now call a 3D printer that I've ever seen.
| It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photo-cells. But plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens as it comes. This thing will start at one end of a ship or a house and build it complete to the other end, following drawings only. |
| From Things Pass By,
by Murray Leinster. Published by Thrilling Wonder Stories in 1945 Additional resources -
|
Here's a description of the machine in action:
This video shows a prototype device that is an earth-bound version of a plastic constructor. Contour Crafting (CC) is basically a "house printer;" when supplied with the proper instructions, it will "print out" a complete shell of a house. Technovelgy readers should be familiar with the work of Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis from a previous article (see Contour Crafting: 3D House Printer for additional details on how the technique actually works).
“The arm made clumsy but precise gestures, following the drawings off to one side. It had begun by putting a blob of magnetronic plastic on a stout upright… Then, for a while, it made gradually enlarging circles about that spot.”
(Robotic Contour Crafting Video )
Compare to the idea behind the cosmic express from The Cosmic Express (1930) by Jack Williamson, however, for an early version of 3D printing as part of a teleportation idea. Compare also to Deposition (3D Printing) from Assassin (1978) by James P. Hogan.
Thanks to Eric for submitting this item, with quotes!
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Things Pass By
More Ideas
and Technology by Murray Leinster
Tech news articles related to Things Pass By
Tech news articles related to works by Murray Leinster
Plastic Constructor (3D Printer)-related
news articles:
- Contour Crafting: 3D House Printer
- Sketch Furniture Ultra Rapid Prototyping
- Contour Crafting House Printer Nears Test
- 3D Printing Your Winter Reality
- World's First 3D Printed Villa
- CreoPop 3D Pen Draws In Midair
- Protopiper Lets You Sketch Full-Size Objects In Real Space
- XYZprinting 3D Pen Used, Reviewed By Terrible Artist
- 3D Cocooner From Festo Spins Web In Mid-Air
| A 'Genuine Nanorobotic Production Factory' |
| Made In Space To Manufacture Optical Fiber In Orbit |
| Self-Assembling Bacteria Build A Pressure Sensor |
| Artificial Spider Silk |
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'A worker replaced by a nubot... had to be compensated.'
'... forcing the energy transfer which allowed him to regrow his lost fingers.'
'The car surged and lifted, clearing its top by a negligible margin.'
Science fiction authors are serious about sleep, too.
'I had explained," said Nessus, "that our civilisation was dying in its own waste heat.'
'Just what did I want Flexible Frank to do? - any work a human being does around a house.'
SF writers have thought about this since the 19th century.
