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Learning by Selling and Invention: The Case of the Sewing Machine

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  • Thomson, Ross

Abstract

For techniques diffusing as commodities, sales form a critical medium of technological communication which facilitates secondary invention. While sales may also influence the incentives to invent, I argue that the technical learning associated with selling provides a fuller account of invention for the case of the sewing machine in the United States. A study of some 3,500 patents and forty-eight city directories shows that as sales expanded in extent and location, so did patenting by first-time inventors. Moreover, patent use generated a flow of information back to inventors which increased the likelihood and extent of repeat patenting. In these ways, sales sustained technological change as a cumulative process.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomson, Ross, 1987. "Learning by Selling and Invention: The Case of the Sewing Machine," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(2), pages 433-445, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:47:y:1987:i:02:p:433-445_04
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    Cited by:

    1. Connolly, Michelle, 1999. "North-South Technological Diffusion: A New Case for Dynamic Gains from Trade," Working Papers 99-08, Duke University, Department of Economics.
    2. Michelle P. Connolly & Diego Valderrama, 2005. "North-South technological diffusion and dynamic gains from trade," Working Paper Series 2004-24, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    3. Ryan Lampe & Petra Moser, 2013. "Patent pools and innovation in substitute technologies—evidence from the 19th-century sewing machine industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 44(4), pages 757-778, December.

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