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Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by sliverstorm on Thursday September 12, 2013 @03:59PM (#6376547)
Pulleys are not that rare. Block and tackle is, but you have pulleys in your hands.
Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by jlgreco on Thursday September 12, 2013 @05:33PM (#6377100)
Wikipedia defines pulleys as "A pulley is a wheel on an axle that is designed to support movement of a cable or belt along its circumference", though I think the wheel/axle requirement is probably shouldn't be considered a hard requirement.

On the other hand, I don't think I would call the loops that fishing line passes through along the length of a fishing pole "pulleys".

I guess I'd say that block and tackle is not common, and neither are "wheeled pulleys", but "friction pulleys" are.

Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by sliverstorm on Thursday September 12, 2013 @05:55PM (#6377238)
If your line is out, and you take up slack and the fishing pole starts to bow, the loops are indeed functioning as pulleys.
Re:First Mechanical Gear Found in a Living Creature by jlgreco on Thursday September 12, 2013 @06:00PM (#6377275)
Absolutely, in the technical sense, though I would hesitate to actually describe it that way. It seems strange.

Alternatively, shoelace eyelets are pulleys ('block and tackle' in fact) , but describing them that way seems odd.