I’ve heard (and I’m not sure if this is reliable) that in the late Roman Empire, technology was reaching a point that an industrial revolution of sorts could have happened, and that it was the turmoil following the fall of Rome that prevented it. Regardless of whether that is true, what historically did keep such a technological boom from occurring before the 19th century?
There's always more that can be said but while you wait you might enjoy some of these older posts on the topic. As you'll quickly see, its actually a pretty complicated discussion.
/u/Daeres and a deleted user discuss Why didn't we get an industrial revolution during Antiquity ?
/u/AlviseFalier talks about Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in the UK and not elsewhere? I have seen several theories, including colonialism, natural resources, Protestantism, capitalism and the rule of law. Is there any historical consensus on this?
and a particularly good post from /u/LuxArdens on Why did the industrial revolution happen so late in civilization?