365 - Decay A Day 2017 Pt 4 - 4

Get your skates on

#295 - 365

1760: First recorded skate invention, by John Joseph Merlin, who created a primitive inline skate with small metal wheels.

1819: First patented roller skate design, in France by M. Petitbled. These early skates were similar to today's inline skates, but they were not very maneuverable. It was difficult with these skates to do anything but move in a straight line and perhaps make wide sweeping turns.

1857: Finally, roller skating had gained enough momentum to warrant the opening of the first public skating rinks. The Strand, London and Floral Hall had these first roller rinks

1876: The toe stop was first patented. This provided skaters with the ability to stop promptly upon tipping the skate onto the toe. Toe stops are still used today on most quad skates and on some types of inline skates.

1880s: Roller skates were being mass-produced in America from then. This was the sport's first of several boom periods.

1884: Levant M. Richardson received a patent for the use of steel ball bearings in skate wheels to reduce friction, allowing skaters to increase speed with minimum effort.

1979: Scott Olson and Brennan Olson of Minneapolis, Minnesota came across a pair of inline skates created in the 1960s by the Chicago Roller Skate Company and, seeing the potential for off-ice hockey training, set about redesigning the skates using modern materials and attaching ice hockey boots. A few years later Scott Olson began heavily promoting the skates and launched the company Rollerblade, Inc..

I didn't realise how old skates were, as i thought it was something that was invented around 1950's. But couldn't believe that it was over 250 years old. And they are still going.

295oct22get your skates on2011450DIrishmanlostabandoneddecaynorthern irelandrusty