(no subject)

[timelets]

By using the concept of stabilization, we see that the “invention” of the safety bicycle was not an isolated event (1884), but a nineteen-year process (1879– 98).

By the end of the period, the phrase “safety bicycle” denoted a low-wheeled bicycle with rear chain drive, diamond frame, and air tires. As a result of the stabilization of the artifact after 1898, one did not need to specify these details: They were taken for granted as the essential “ingredients” of the safety bicycle.
Bijker, Wiebe E., et al. The Social Construction of Technological Systems : New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology, MIT Press, 2012.