Pioneered by Letraset in 1961, dry transfer lettering (AKA instant lettering, rub-on, rubdown, or press type), empowered designers (especially amateurs) to cheaply and quickly set type without needing traditional type or composing equipment. See a how-to video and Dan Rhatigan’s talk about the social impact.
Other manufacturers include Abifol/Jürafix/Typofix (Typopress, GDR), Alfac (Decadry), Artype, Chartpak (Velvet Touch), DYMO (Transplus) Formatt, GeoType, Mecanorma (Normatype, France), Prestype, Rapitype (Graphic Systems, UK), R41 (Reber, Italy; also distributed by Edding, Germany), Typophane (Deberny & Peignot, France), and Zipatone.