Re:Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?
by ScalaFan on Monday July 15, 2019 @05:15PM
(#20445355)
Might not rubber belts have been possible instead of chains? Rubber was available 18th Century - maybe not in industrial quantities but still. In fact, latex was was available to the Mayans and Aztecs according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_rubber#History
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Re:Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?
by smogcutter on Monday July 15, 2019 @05:48PM
(#20445602)
AFAIK you'd need vulcanization to make rubber belts practical, so wouldn't have been available much earlier than chains and sprockets.