There's something to be said that mass production is another distinct stage of invention. Karl Benz may have invented the first internal combustion engine car, and plenty more built cars by hand for the rich, but Henry Ford made cars anyone could have for cheap.
I agree with that. It is a bit like the idea that having an idea for a startup is less important than the ability to get it to a level where investors might be interested.
A while ago there was an artical posted here about all the world changing inventions that came out of Bell Labs. It was easy to show for most of them that they weren't the actual inventor, and in many cases not even the first producer. They were the first to make it practical for mass production, however.
