There is so much emphasis on designs coming full circle, reverting back to the tried and tested from the novelty. I think that is part of what makes this book

There is so much emphasis on designs coming full circle, reverting back to the tried and tested from the novelty. I think that is part of what makes this book so invaluable, the lessons on this including the 'folly of the patent' (where inventors forget about the '... and useful' part) is instructive no matter what business you are in. I found the seat designs particularly telling on this front. The modern seat supports the bones on each side with a central channel that does not put pressure on the nether reasons. This design was 'new'. Bicycle seats of the latter half of the last century did not have this, the highest point of the saddle (viewed straight on) was in the middle, there was no channel between each half. Yet in 1898 they had arrived at what is considered today to be the correct design. So this has gone full circle. I also found the early pneumatic tyres to be an interesting read. The way of fixing a puncture has not changed, you have the same processes involved, a puncture repair kit from 1898 would be compatible with tyres on today's bikes. Although the glue would have run out, the process is the same and the instructions for doing it properly are the same. Wheel rims have come a long way, in wood with the original pneumatic tyres it would take all day to peel off the tyre to get to the inner tube in order to fix it. Yet the benefits of the pneumatic tyre were such that this was considered worthwhile. This is also telling in that Dunlop's invention needed decades of refinement to be the tyre we know today. Although some brand names are still in the game there seemed to be a lot of diversity with stuff actually made in a 'Trump approved' way, in American cities, all competing.