Abstract

As with many technological advances, electrospinning was not invented in a few years as a consequence of the clear demands from industry. Rather, scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs worked independently towards the general, and sometimes overlapping aims of advancing knowledge and making money. This chapter focuses on the part of the electrospinning story which can be tracked through the patents taken out by individual scientists and by established commercial companies. The chapter takes us from the start of the 20th century to the kick-off point of the current intensity of activity following the work of Doshi and Reneker in 1995.