From “How Indianapolis Built America and How it will Rebuild it with the National Bicycle Greenway”:

As the first United States manufacturer of chain that a man’s legs could not break, called block chain, Indianapolis Chain & Stamping, as Diamond Chain was first called, led the bicycle explosion of the Gay 90’s. As the principal supplier of chain’s next evolution, roller chain that machines could not break, it was then Diamond Chain that led the fledgling automobile industry. In the chapter ahead, you will learn about something we all rely upon daily to move our physical selves about. You will also acquire a deep appreciation for the company that put Indianapolis on the leader board as it continues to make endless miles of something we all take for granted – load bearing chain!

While chains have been around since before the time of Christ and were used in the form of heavy iron rings connected to each other to draw water out of a well, for example, two thousand years would pass before the steel they would need to engage continuously with gears would be invented. In 1855, when Charles Bessemer made it possible to mix different metals with iron to not only make it stronger, he also made it possible for the alloy that resulted, called steel, to be thinner.

An unstoppable wave of machines resulted. By 1869, shapeable and strong, steel, for example, became the handlebars, rims, spokes, hubs, frames, pedals, and crank arms of the first bicycle, the big wheeled Penny Farthing. On the HiWheel, or Ordinary, as it is also called, one pedals the same wheel he or she steers. Direct drive, this design made no use of chain.

Other posts about Indianapolis history Martin Krieg created as he wrote "How Indianapolis Built America" are at this link HERE