Roller skates have experienced many evolutions to make it to today's roller blades and skates. As improvements by different inventors have been made over the centuries, roller skating has become an increasingly popular sport with many different official competitions. Roller skates began as hard-to-control, basic footwear attachments but are now often high-tech, advanced devices that can enable skaters to reach high speeds and perform complex maneuvers.
Origins
John Merlin invented the roller skate in the 1760s in London, England, according to the National Museum of Roller Skating. Merlin was a well-known inventor and wore his roller skates to a party in London, but he crashed that night and suffered serious injuries. Merlin abandoned his invention, and the roller skate wasn't seen again much until 1819, when Monsieur Petitbled patented the first roller skate in Paris. Unlike Merlin's invention with wooden wheels, Petitbled's roller skates were made with wooden, metal or ivory wheels, wooden soles and leather straps.
During the 1800s, roller skates appeared in ballet in Berlin, Germany, in Holland as a modified form of ice skating, and in the streets of Paris and cities in England, notes Roller Sports Canada. Roller skating was dubbed "rinking" in England. Roller skates arrived in North America during the 1830s via European manufacturers.
Development
During the 1800s in America and Europe, roller skates were basically modified forms of ice skates, with two to six wheels attached to a wooden plate, according to Roller Sports Canada. Unlike the earliest versions of roller skates that could go only forward and couldn't turn, these versions arranged the wheels in an inline fashion, similar to the blades on ice skates. Developing into a design that featured two front wheels and two back wheels on each roller skate, the versions developed during the 1800s could turn and steer much better than the older designs.
The modern roller skate design is attributed to James Leonard Plimpton, who patented the four-wheeled roller skate in 1863, says the National Museum of Roller Skating. Plimpton invented the "rocking action" roller skate, which included a rubber cushion that allowed the skater to turn by leaning in the desired direction. In the 1860s, another inventor named E.H. Barney invented the clamp-on system for roller skates to attach them more securely to boots and shoes, using adjustable clamps and screws.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the modern-day design of "shoe skates" appeared, but clamp-on skates remained popular among the general public into the 1950s. Toe stops were later added to roller skates, the first rubber toe stop appearing in 1876 but not commercially produced until the 1950s. In 1884, steel ball bearings were added to roller skate wheels, improving turning and reducing friction.
Significance
Shortly after patenting his roller skate design, Plimpton founded the New York Roller Skating Association, or NYRSA, which opened the first public roller skating rink in the U.S., in Rhode Island in 1866, notes the National Museum of Roller Skating.
Known as "the father of modern roller skating," Plimpton is accredited not only with inventing the four-wheeled skat and opening the first public rink in America, but also with inventing the class system for teaching roller skating, inventing the first award system for competition roller skating and spurring the modern-day popularity of roller skating.
Aside from use in roller skating as a recreational sport, roller skates spread to use in other competition sports, including hockey. Roller skates were used in the first roller hockey game called "roller polo" in 1878 in England. Great Britain was the main country to play the sport until the end of World War II.
Modern Day
Roller skating soon became a competition sport in itself during the late 1900s. Roller skating was first featured as a demonstration sport in the 1979 Pan American Games and became a program sport in the Games beginning in 1987, according to Roller Sports Canada. Roller hockey also grew in popularity, with the first Roller Inline Hockey World Championships in 1995 and traditional roller hockey joining the Olympics as a demonstration sport in 1992. Today, speed skating and artistic skating are widely-practiced sports, on the competitive level and as recreational sports. The first roller skating Dance Championship event was held in 1939, and the first U.S. Amateur Speed Skating Championship was held in 1937, says the National Museum of Roller Skating. Costumes, sports apparel and safety equipment like pads and helmets are now often used with roller skates. The technology of roller skates continues to evolve today, along with the increasing appeal for roller skates used in recreation and competition.
Member Comments