History of Technology Volume 31

The complex linkages between technological change and its knowledge base have never been settled by historians. Every new theory is perplexed by every new piece of empirical research. This is the focus for the two special collections that make up History of Technology, Volume 31. Both collections centre on the most famous and best documented of cases, that of Europe prior to and after the Industrial Revolution. How did useful and reliable knowledge circulate and upset the cultural or intellectual world of those who were concerned with technology in some form? Who contended for knowledge and what price did they pay? Did rights over intellectual property - especially as represented in patent systems - assist in knowledge circulation and specification? Focusing on Britain, France, Italy, and Spain, the articles of this volume uncover several answers as well as newer issues.

Ian Inkster is Research Professor of International History at Nottingham Trent University, UK.

Special Issue: Conceptualising the Production and Diffusion of Useful and Reliable Knowledge in Early Modern Europe \ Introduction - Useful Knowledge Reconsidered, Karel Davids (Amsterdam) \ 1. Trading Zones: Arenas of Exchange during the Late-Medieval/Early Modern Transition to the New Empirical Sciences, Pamela Long (Independent Scholar) \ 2. Gate-Keeping: Who defined useful knowledge in Early Modern times?, Karel Davids (Amsterdam) \ 3. The Circulation of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe: Embodiment, mobility, learning and knowing, Lissa Roberts (Twente) \ 4. Three-Dimensional Models as 'In-Between-Objects': The creation of in-between knowledge in early modern architectural practice, Simona Valerian (LSE) \ 5. Artisans, Operative Skills and Labour Rationalities at the Beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Lilian Perez (University Paris-Diderot) \ Special Issue: Patent Agency in History: Intellectual Property and Technological Change \ Introduction - Patent Agency: Problems and perspectives, Ian Inkster (Wenzao College, Kaohsiung and Nottingham Trent University) \ 6. Patent Agents in the European Periphery: Spain (1826-1902), David Pretel (University of Cambridge) and Patricio Diaz \ 7. The Litigations Concerning Renault's Patents at the Beginning of the 20th Century, Gabriel Galvez-Behar (Université Lille 3) \ 8. Highly Fraught with Good to Man: Patent Organisation, Agency, and Useful and Reliable Knowledge in British Machinofacture circa 1780-1851 and Beyond, Ian Inkster (Wenzao College, Kaohsiung and Nottingham Trent University) \ 9. Patent Agents in Britain at the Turn of the 20th Century: Themes and Perspectives, Anna Guagnini (Bologna) \ 10. The Oldest Patent Granted in Mexico and Latin America, Dr. Manuel Márquez (L.L.& M.M. Consultores, SC)