I'm extremely interested .
And I know I should not have stated things so firmly , without research . Sorry about that .
Also , I knew that Mr. Renold was one of the first . I didn't know that he was THE first !
Wow , I had no idea that "bush roller chain" went back to 1880 . I would have guessed more like 1895 .
Also , I'm surprised that it took so long to penetrate the bicycle marketplace . I realize that chains were a component which suffered from far too many confusing choices . There was the standard one inch pitch block chain , and then there were all sorts of amazing designs . But , if the "bush roller chain" was actually available in the early 1880's , I'm very surprised that it took so long to dominate the bicycle market !
If true roller-chain was available in the early 1880's , and required 15 to 20 years to dominate the bicycle industry , I'm disappointed that bicycles didn't lead the way with this technology . I've always bragged about how important bicycles were in leading the development of ; pneumatic tyres , ball bearings , seamless steel tubing , etc. , etc . I'll be disappointed if bicycles were behind the times when it came to roller bushing chain !
And of course Campagnolo and Stronglight and T.A. and many others , all made one-inch-pitch components , for the track racers , certainly in the 1950's , and right up into the 1960's .
But , about block chain being used by sprinters up into the 1960's , and big name chain manufacturers actually making block chain in "fairly modern" times . . .
Are we talking about the same thing ?
Solid steel blocks of metal , connected by side-plates , and held together with steel pins ? Solid steel blocks ?
Normally , almost always , almost every time , when someone is talking about "skip-tooth" chain , they are talking about one-inch-pitch-roller-chain . And just to be clear , although you can use a normal "half-inch" chain on "skip-tooth" cogs and chainwheels - you can NOT use a one-inch-pitch-roller-chain on "half-inch" cogs and chainwheels .
Block chain and one-inch-pitch-roller-chain can be used interchangeably ( assuming that they are roughly the same width ) . But block chain is made up of solid steel blocks , connected by steel side-plates .
And major manufacturers were making actual block chain , not only well into the 20th Century , but even after World War II ?? ??
I'm very interested . Thanks !
Raoul Delmare
Marysville Kansas
> Raoul said:
> Block chain is another story .
>
> It is ancient , antique , and much more expensive .
>
> Block chain was the original chain .
>
> The rollers were developed later .
>
> I don't think anyone has reproduced any block chain .
>
> And if you have any block chain , save it for use on genuine 1890's
safety
> bicycles .
> _________________________
>
> That's not quite the right story. Roller chain is very old. An excerpt
from
> the Renold website:
>
> In 1873 at the age of 21Hans Renold, son of a burgher family in Aarau,
> Switzerland, came to England and found work in Manchester with a firm of
> machinery exporters. His independent and inventive spirit soon found
> expression in the purchase, in 1879, of a small textile-chain making
> business in Salford. In 1880 he invented bush roller chain ......and an
> industry is born Thus began the enterprise of which The Institution of
> Mechanical Engineers was to say in a memoir: "Few realise how extensive is
> the influence of Renold's inventiveness on both civil and industrial life
> throughout the world. Hans Renold's vision was not restricted to the
> prospects in UK industry. By 1915 he had already established selling
> arrangements in nine overseas countries. Sales subsidiaries were formed in
> Canada in 1920 and in the USA in 1921. These were followed by others aimed
> at developing the French, Belgian and Dutch markets and in 1928 a selling
> operation was set up in Germany. The first acquisition of a major
> competitor came in 1925, when Brampton Brothers Limited, with its French
> manufacturing subsidiary at Calais, was purchased and the operation merged
> with the manufacturing facility previously established in Coventry.
>
> As to block chain, it was used by sprinters up into the 1960's, I think
> mostly for reasons of tradition. Regina, Renold, Brampton and Wipperman
made
> fairly modern block chain.