Inline skates are roller skates with two to five wheels arranged one behind another in a straight line. Though the first inline skates were invented in the 18th century, modern inline skates are the end product of a series of inventions. In fact, inline skate invention continues today with new designs for aggressive and all-terrain skates.
Early Skates
The earliest known roller skates were inline skates. They were invented in the 1760s and set the trend for the next century. In 1819, the first roller skate patent was taken out. The skates had three wheels inline. The quad skate, a skate with four wheels set in two side-by-side pairs, was not invented until 1863. At the time, the quad skate was easier to use than the inline, and soon became the dominant type of skate. But inventions continued to be developed that would make possible the modern inline skate. In 1863, the invention of brass wheel bearings allowed the wheels to be lubricated and roll much more smoothly.
Shoe Skates
Before clamps, skates were attached to the foot using leather straps, which stretched and broke. E.H. Barney invented the clamp-on skate in the 1860s. Most skates, both quad and inline, were soon using clamps or a combination of clamps and straps. It was not until the turn of the 20th century that the "shoe skate" was invented. Used mostly by professionals, the shoe skate was a stiff boot permanently attached to the skate assembly. In 1910, the Roller Hockey Skate Company released the first inline shoe, a boot with three inline wheels. The ankle support and secure connection between the foot and the wheels made faster and more aggressive skating possible.
Modern Inline Skates
In 1973, the polyurethane wheel was invented. With these new, faster wheels, inline skates could begin to compete with quad skates, paving the way for modern inline skates. In the 1980, two Minnesota hockey players founded Rollerblade, the first modern inline skate company. Using a design idea from the Chicago Roller Skate Co. skate, they incorporated four inline wheels and extended the front and back wheels beyond the boot. Doing so allowed them to closely approximate the blade of a hockey ice skate. Rollerblade quickly became successful enough that "rollerblading" has mistakenly become synonymous with inline skating.
The Rollerblade Mystique
Perhaps more than any physical invention, the invention of the Rollerblade image has made modern inline skating what it is. In the 1970s and '80s, inline skates became popular with hockey players and alpine skiers who wanted to train in the offseason. Not until the mid-1980s did inline skating take off as a new sport in its own right. Rollerblade launched an aggressive marketing campaign in Venice Beach, California, and Miami Beach, Florida, to establish the image of inline skating for fitness and competition. Inline skating took on an image very different from quad skating.
Extreme Inline
The modern image of inline skating as youthful and athletic eventually led to aggressive skating, also known as extreme skating. Aggressive skating, skating over and around obstacles using gymnastic movements, pushed the technology of inline skates. New wheels were invented along with "grind plates" to reinforce the frame. All-terrain skates, known as Crosskates, further refined the design of inline skates. With a single wheel in front of the boot and another behind, Crosskates make it possible to skate on unpaved trails. Thanks to modern inventions, inline skates come in different types for extreme skating, off-road skating, hockey, speed, or recreation.
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