History of inline skates
The documented history of inline skates dates back to the early 18th century, when enterprising inventors sought to make boots roll on wheels to emulate the gliding of ice blades on dry land. Because these early inline skates were modeled after ice blades, their wheels were arranged in a single line. Skates were simply assumed to have a single runner, whether it was a steel blade on an ice skate or a row of wheels on a wheeled skate.
The first patented wheeled skate was filed in France in 1819 by Charles-Louis Petibled. From that point forward, more patents and documented designs continued to explore wheeled alternatives to ice skates. Around 1860, wheeled skates began to gain popularity, and new patents appeared under names such as "roller-skates" and "parlor skates". As inventions increased, roller skates began to diverge from the original single-line layout. Inventors experimented with two rows of wheels as a learning platform for beginner skaters. These double-row skates offered greater stability, but they were difficult to turn.
In 1863, James Plimpton invented a roller skate with four wheels arranged in a two-by-two configuration, similar to a wagon, and added a clever mechanism for turning. It was the first double-row skate that allowed beginners to steer easily by simply leaning in the desired direction. Plimpton's invention sparked a rapid rise in roller skate popularity and spread across both sides of the Atlantic, creating a period of "rinkomania" during the 1860s and 1870s. His design also redefined the term roller skate, which no longer referred to all wheeled skates but became synonymous with the two-by-two Plimpton style.
The development of precision ball bearings in the mid-19th century helped make bicycles more efficient and practical. By the 1880s, Plimpton-style roller skates similarly incorporated ball bearings into their wheel assemblies, making skates roll more efficiently. At the same time, manufacturers began operating skating rinks as promotional ventures from the 1880s through the 1910s. All of these further fueled the Plimpton skate craze.
Although Plimpton's roller skates took center stage, inventors and enterprises continued to introduce new roller skates with a single line of wheels between the 1870s and the 1910s. These models included features such as brakes, pneumatic tires, and [|foot stands] placed below the center of the wheels.
From the 1910s through the 1970s, many new variations of single-line wheeled skates were patented and manufactured. While still in the shadow of 2x2 roller skates, some models began to gain popularity among ice hockey players by the 1960s and 1970s, due to their better emulation of ice blades. In particular, off-season training skates used by USSR speed skaters inspired Gordon Ware of the Chicago Roller Skate Company to develop and patent a wheeled skate, which was sold through Montgomery Ward in 1965 under the name "Roller-Blade". In 1973, Ralph Backstrom promoted the Super Sport Skate, a joint venture with his friend Maury Silver, as an off-season training tool for hockey players. Both of these skate models became direct precursors to modern inline skates.
In a related development, the ski boot manufacturer Lange introduced the first molded plastic ski boots with internal liners in the 1960s. In the 1970s, Lange entered the ice hockey market with similar hard plastic boots featuring hinged cuffs and achieved some success. Meanwhile, skateboarding reached new heights during the 1970s, thanks to the introduction of polyurethane wheels and their superior performance. The confluence of molded plastic boots with hinged cuffs, polyurethane wheels, Super Sport Skates, and the earlier Chicago Roller-Blade laid the foundation for the emergence of Rollerblade in the 1980s and its widespread appeal among the general public.
In 1979, Scott Olson, a hockey player from Minneapolis, discovered the Super Sport Skate. He began selling them to local hockey players as a licensed distributor and soon started modifying them. Olson, his brothers, and his friends replaced the stock boots with customers' old hockey boots and swapped out the original wheels for polyurethane ones. Through further tinkering, prototyping and road testing everywhere he could, Olson eventually arrived at a skate design with an adjustable/expandable frame, polyurethane wheels and double ball bearings. The skate rolled faster, and remained more reliable on road surfaces. However, a patent search revealed that the Chicago Roller-Blade already covered many of these features. In 1981, Olson persuaded the Chicago Roller Skate Company to transfer the patent to him in exchange for a share of future profits.
Thus began the modern history of inline skates, with Olson's company eventually becoming known as Rollerblade, Inc. by around 1988. The registered trademark "Rollerblade" became so well-known that it entered common usage as a generic trademark. Around this time, the company began promoting the term "in-line" skating in an effort to prevent "rollerblading" from becoming a verb. The campaign proved effective, as media outlets, newspapers, and competitors adopted "in-line skating" as the preferred term by 1990. The phrase was soon shortened to "inline", the name by which these skates are known today.
Modern inline skates became practical for mass production and appealing as a recreational activity once key technologies came together. These included polyurethane wheels, ISO 608 standard ball bearings, and molded plastic boots. These skates incorporate double ball bearings with dual-purpose axles from Chomin Harry, single-piece frames from Christian Siffert, adjustable wheel rockering from Gordon Ware, single-unit boot/frame, longer frames and larger wheels from Maury Silver, plus additional innovations.
By the 21st century, inline skates have diversified into many forms to suit a wide range of inline skating activities and sports. These include recreational skating, urban skating, roller hockey, street hockey, speed skating, slalom skating, aggressive skating, vert skating, and artistic inline skating.
Wheeled skates
The history of inline skates traces back to the origin of ice skates in prehistoric times, with runners made from animal bones. Steel blades eventually replaced bone runners in the 13th century, with the Dutch sharpening blade edges for better purchase on ice for propulsion. Since then, enterprising inventors have attempted to make boots that could similarly glide on non-ice surfaces, with wheels.In 1760, John Joseph Merlin, a renowned clock-maker, musical-instrument maker and inventor from Belgium, experimented in London with "skaites" that "ran on wheels". These were the first recorded wheeled skates. Written records left no drawings or descriptions of wheel configurations, however.
In 1819, Charles-Louis Petibled from France filed the first known patent on wheeled skates. Three wheels in a single line, mimicking a steel blade, were integrated into a wooden foot stand with leather straps. Two wheels sat under the ball of the foot, while one wheel was positioned under the heel. A copy of Petibled's wheeled skates is on display at the National Museum of Roller Skating, in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
In 1823, Robert John Tyers from London was granted a patent for his skates with five wheels in a single line, again mimicking a steel blade. The main body of the skate is called the stock, and is meant to be attached to the bottom of a shoe. A frame with two wheel-mounting sides is secured to the stock. This skate employs a large wheel in the middle, and progressively smaller ones towards the front and the rear, creating a rockered wheel setup that allows skaters to execute turns more easily.
This novelty skate was popularized in London as "Volito". A hand-colored print from 1829 in the British Museum depicts a satirical scene where men wearing Volito skates escape chase by men on boots. The National Museum of American History has a Volito skate in its collections.
Robert Tyers was not the only inventor inspired by Petibled to make their own wheeled skates. Many inventors followed suit in the wake of the Petibled skate, including Spence, Lohner and Legrand. Yet another inventor was the famous ice skater Jean Garcin. He filed his own skate patent in 1828, named the Cingar skate, an anagram of his name. This skate, however, was technically similar to Petibled's patent. As a result, Petibled was able to render null and void Garcin's patent in 1832.
Up to this point in history, "roller skates" as a term was not yet used. Inventors simply referred to their contraptions as wheeled alternatives to ice skates. All known novelty skates had wheels aligned in a single line. Skates were simply assumed to have a single runner, whether a steel blade on an ice skate, or a row of wheels on a wheeled skate. This state of affairs continued through 1860.
Roller skates
Around 1860, wheeled skates started to become more popular. Patents on a wide variety of wheeled skates were issued. The configuration of wheels started to depart from previous single-line arrangements. Many of these early patents were titled "roller-skate" or "parlor skate". Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary dates the earliest printed use of the noun roller skate to 1860. Then, starting in 1870, the popularity of roller skates skyrocketed. Within a decade the term "roller skates" entered the popular lexicon.In 1860, the US Patent Office granted Reuben Shaler the first US patent on roller skates, titled "Wheel-Skate", with an accompanying drawing labeled "Parlor Skate". The four rollers formed a straight line, and were mounted by pins on two side pieces of a hanger that we would now recognize as a frame of a modern-day inline skate. His key innovation was a flexible rubber ring he mounted on each of the four metal roller cores. This allowed his roller skates to gain better purchase on carpeted floors.
In 1861, Albert Anderson was granted a US patent on "Improvement in roller-skates". The accompanying drawings titled "Parlor Skate" showed a two-wheeled skate, with a small wheel under the heel, and a much larger wheel in front of the toes, reminiscent of penny-farthing bikes. The large front wheel overcomes oncoming obstacles, preventing a skater from falling forward. The stock is inclined forward, with a raised heel section.
This is not dissimilar to how some modern-day hockey, freestyle and speed skates pitch a player leaning forward by default, giving a skater greater stability and stronger strokes.
In 1861, Henry Pennie was granted a US patent titled "Roller-skate". Its drawing, titled "Parlor Skate" showed a stock supported by two rows of wheels, with 4 wheels on each row, totaling 8 wheels per skate. In the patent specification, Pennie explained that his key innovation was the two rows of wheels. This set his skates apart from all previous roller skates that attempted to emulate ice skates with a single, centered runner. Pennie reasoned that two rows of wheels provided increased support area for better balance, without materially incurring greater friction. Beginners would learn with two rows of wheels, for a more balanced footing. Skillful skaters would move the two rows of wheels increasingly closer to each other, using different widths of washers as spacers, until they graduated to a single row of wheels. Pennie's skate, too, had two side plates secured to the stock, forming what continues to be known as a "frame" today.
In 1863, James Plimpton patented an "improvement in skates" consisting of a stock with four wheels arranged in a two-by-two configuration like a wagon. This was not the first roller skate with two rows of skates, but it was the first double-row skate that could be easily turned by a beginner. Plimpton's key innovation was a mechanism that allowed a skater to turn a skate by simply leaning towards the desired direction. The mechanism converted rocking and canting motions of the skate platform into movements of the two wheel axles. These axles in turn steered all four wheel into the right orientations for the turn.
Plimpton opened roller skating rinks and aggressively promoted this new sport of roller skating. His wheel-steering invention, together with his business acumen, spread his roller skates far and wide, resulting in a "rinkomania" in the 1860s and 1870s. The editors of the 1876 series of "Historical Notes on Roller Skates" marveled at the number of roller skate patents that resulted from the rinkomania. They compiled a table of roller skate patents issued in Europe and America from 1819 through 1876, showing an exponential growth starting with Plimpton's 1863 invention. Plimpton's skates forever changed the meaning of "roller skates". For the next century, the term "roller skates" no longer referred to all wheeled skates. It became synonymous with the two-by-two Plimpton-style skates, particularly to the masses.