This
is obviously my skating page. If you look close at the title you'll
see the letters are cleverly made of tiny people on skateboards.
Clever, huh? Well, this page isn't going to be about skate boarding,
but on roller skating. I do both inline and quad skating, but since
there is so much information out about the inline form, Mom thought she
would put more stuff on here about quad skating. Enjoy!
The
History Of Roller Skating
Courtesy
of "Roller Skating from Start to Finish" by Jack Trap
Could this be the great-great-great- grandfather of our modern roller skate?
It's possible. These skating wheels originated in Germany in 1870.
The whirring
sound of millions of plastic wheels-the revival of roller-skating-demands
some explanation. How did roller-skating start? Where and when? The official
credit for making the first pair of roller skates goes to Joseph Merlin,
a mechanic and maker of musical instruments, born in Huys, Belgium, on
September 17, 1735. In May 1770, Merlin went to London as director of Cox's
Museum in Spring Gardens and exhibited several of his pet Projects: an
organ, a pianoforte, and a harpsichord. Merlin also had examples of his
work in his home on Oxford Street (affectionately known as Merlin's Cave),
where he displayed his unique invention, the roller skate. A news piece
of the day carried this account:
"One
of his ingenious novelties was a pair of skates contrived to run on small
metallic wheels.Supplied with a pair of skates and a violin he mixed in
the motley group of one of the celebrated Mrs. Corneily's masquerades at
Carlisle House, Soho Square; when not having provided the means of retarding
his velocity or commanding his direction, he impelled himselfagainst a
mirror of more than 500 Pounds value, dashed it to atoms, broke his instrument
to pieces and wounded himself severely "
After
this fiasco, the sound of wheels was heard no more until 1790, when a Parisian
metal cutter invented a wheeled skate called patin-a-terre (ground skate).
However, it took twenty-five years or so for this unique skate to gain
recognition. In Berlin in 1818, roller skates were first used in the premier
of the ballet Der Maler oder die WintervergnUgungen (The Artist or Winter
Pleasures). The ballet called for ice skating, but because it was then
impossible to produce ice on a stage, roller skates were used.
The
first patent for a roller skate was issued to a M. Peti- bled in France
in 1819. This skate was made of a wood sole and fitted with two, three,
or four copper, wooden, or ivory rollers arranged in a straight line. Because
the rollers were of uniform size and alignment, it was impossible for the
skate to move on a curved line. In London in 1823, Robert John Tyers patented
a volito. In the British patent office the volito was described as an "apparatus
to be attached to boots, shoes, and other covering for the feet for the
purpose of traveling or for pleasure." The volito was five wheels attached
in a straight line. This skate caught the public's fancy and was a success!
More skate patents soon surfaced, each skate a little more sophisticated
than its predecessor.
Sounds like the first Inline skates, doesn't it?
So
skates started rolling, but slowly-it took the public twenty more years
to make skating a phenomenal success. The Germans first made it really
popular. In 1840, in a beer tavern known as Corse Halle, near Berlin, thirsty
patrons were served by pretty young ladies on skates. This novelty succeeded
in attracting much attention, not to mention the resulting improvement
in service. And when roller-skating invaded the Grand Opera's production
of Le Ballet des Patin- eurs (The Skaters' Ballet), skating became a sensation.
In 1857
public rinks were opened in Floral Hall of Covent Gardens and in the Strand,
London. Soon other types of skates, with lines of rubber or metal wheels
at the sides of the skates, became available. But it really was not until
1863, when an American named James Leonard Plimpton thought of putting
the wheels on springs, that roller-skating began to leave its indelible
mark on rink and pavement. Plimpton's skate had two parallel sets of wheels,
one pair under the ball of the foot and the other pair under the heel.
The four wheels were made of boxwood and worked on rubber springs. This
skate accomplished what previous ones could not: it could maneuver in a
smooth curve. Plimpton's skate was far superior to any other that had ever
been invented.
Soon after Plimpton's skates were introduced, roller-skating rinks became
popular social gathering places. In England roller-skating was the rage
at the Crystal Palace, among other notable locations. But because most
rinks were mismanaged and improperly regulated, this first great roller-skating
boom did not last long.
Mechanical
improvements in the skate were responsible for the next renaissance of
skating. Skates with pin bearings, which made them lighter and easier rolling
than the earlier models, were developed, and the skating craze was on again;
this time it lasted until the 1890s.
Here's some dainty flowers of the late 1800's VS 1900's.
Who do you think would win?
New and
bigger rinks were built in large cities. For example, in Chicago the Casino
Rink at Twenty-fourth and Madison opened in 1884 to crowds of thousands.
There was polo played on roller skates, roller racing, and roller dancing.
However, the advent of the bicycle in the 1890s captured popular attention
and pushed roller skating into a decline for the next decade.
In 1902
the rumble of wheels (now they had ball bearings!) was heard again when
the Chicago Coliseum opened a public skating rink. Opening night was attended
by 7000 people. In 1908 Madison Square Garden was converted into a rink,
and from 1909 to 1910 hundreds of rinks were opened in the United States
and England.
Roller-skating
remained popular until World War I. After the war, movies, dancing, and
the automobile captured the public's fancy, and roller-skating again declined,
but it never completely faded away. The Great Depression made roller-skating
popular again because it was inexpensive and a good way to get one's mind
off trying times. Roller-skating did not peak again until the late 1970s,
but its popularity held steady. Millions enjoyed the sport through the
1940s.
Thus the
wheel on a shoe has come a long way, from the adventurous efforts of Joseph
Merlin to the light, ball-bearing skates of the 1900s. And in the 1960s,
technology (with the advent of plastics) helped the wheel truly come of
age.
Perhaps the future of roller skating could be somewhat similar to what
some of the original inventors had visualized.
Pretty
neat information. I don't think we would all look so cool if we had
to use those skates they first made, do you?
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