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Additive manufacturing, also called 3D Printing, began in earnest in the early 1980s. The first patent application for an additive rapid prototyping technology was filed by Dr. Hideo Kodama in Japan in 1980, though he did not receive a patent due to his failure to submit the full patent specification within one year. In July of 1984, a group of French inventors filed a patent for stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing - a process in which layers are added to a part curing photopolymers with ultraviolet light lasers. The French patent was later abandoned due to Three weeks later, Chuck Hull,...