This week I welcome Bill Masters on the show. Bill is an American engineer, inventor, manufacturing entrepreneur, and business advisor.
He is known as the Father of 3D Printing, holding three computer automated manufacturing patents, that laid the foundation for today's 3D printing systems.
A number of highly respected engineers have claimed credit for being the inventor of 3D printing, however, as patents on file with the USPTO make clear, Bill Masters filed the first patent for this additive manufacturing technology on July 2nd, 1984.
According to the Bill, the idea for 3D printing occurred to him one night while camping on the Chattooga River in northeastern Georgia. While lying on the riverbank looking up at the stars, Bill realized you could take one star and make that your seed point. You could add stars from any direction until you had the shape you wanted.
He spent years refining this idea and filed a patent for his Computer Automated Manufacturing Process and System in 1984. This filing is on record at the USPTO as the first 3D printing patent in history.
Bill is also known as the father of modern kayaking. Starting out with only $50, he transformed a one-person operation into the largest kayak manufacturing company in the U.S.
We'll be discussing Bill's extensive background in 3D printing and Kayak manufacturing. We'll also be discussing his latest invention, the Shot Block, which is already sparking conversation in the gun market with it's new, patented, and innovative technology.
On this episode, I welcome Reza K. Amineh, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at New York Institute of Technology. He and a colleague won more than $350,000 to develop new imaging techniques that will enhance testing of composite materials in oil-and-gas pipelines.
Professor Amnieh has been working on this project since 2017 with support from internal NYIT grants, which paid for the launch of their Applied Electromagnetics Research Lab (AEMRL).
Their aim is to produce a prototype that can conduct fast and reliable tests of composite materials in various applications. If successful, this technology will significantly reduce costs and increase system safety for oil and gas extraction, urban infrastructure, and other operations that rely on pipelines.
We'll be discussing this project on this episode.