By Michelle Heimburger Wed, December 9, 2009, 12:01 am PST

The traveling trick roller skate king (Photo by Jose Castillo) Humans invented the wheel thousands of years ago, but despite having both the wheel and feet for all that time, it took us until the early 18th century to combine the two and invent roller skates. It wasn't until one summer when a Dutchman, whose name has been forgotten by history, longed for the wintry pastime/transportation of ice skates. He strapped some wooden spools to his shoes, presumably stumbled and flailed around for a while, and "skeelers" were born. Decades later, the Belgian inventor John Joseph Merlin became the first recorded creator of skates, though his version had some flaws. He debuted his invention by entering a masquerade ball on skates while playing the violin. Unfortunately, his skates had neither a steering mechanism nor brakes, and he ended his performance -- and presumably his skating career -- by smashing into and destroying a wall-length mirror. Other inventors had a little more luck, but roller skating didn't take off with the public for the next hundred years, possibly due to the fact that all of their designs were virtually unsteerable, difficult to stop, and required tremendous exertion in order to move at all. In 1863, James Plimpton earned the enviable nickname of "Father of Modern Roller Skating" by inventing the quad skates we know today: two sets of wheels mounted on trucks which finally allowed skaters to turn. This, along with the addition of ball bearings in the wheels in 1884, sparked the first worldwide roller skating craze, and soon quad skaters were spinning, jumping, and dancing like their counterparts on ice. Since then, roller skating has come in and out of fashion, with peaks during the 1880s, as a cheap form of entertainment during the Great Depression, and, of course, during the heydey of disco in the 1970s and '80s. In the '90s, inline skates eclipsed quads in popularity -- especially for roller hockey, aggressive skating, and speed skating -- but quads aren't dead yet. Quads are still the skates of choice for artistic skaters, who are every bit as skilled, flamboyant, and competitive as their ice-bound analogues, though their sport doesn't get the Olympic love or TV ratings of ice skating. Quads are also preferred by jam skaters, those agile wheeled dancers whose fluid moves are as much like breakdancing or gymnastics as traditional artistic skating. Jam skating, which evolved from roller disco, has steadily grown in popularity, becoming more visible in recent years due to the films "Roll Bounce" and "ATL." But it may be the recent resurgence of roller derby that gives quad skates the boost to once again reign supreme among roller sports enthusiasts. Roll on, old-school quads! Suggested Sites... Quad Skating Dot Com - images, links, information, and resources for all your roller sports desires. Evolution of the Roller Skate & Skating - a history of roller sports. National Museum of Roller Skating - Lincoln, Nebraska's tribute to wheeled recreation. Glitterskates - an enthusiastic fan site for artistic skating. Finding a Roller Skating Rink - find a rink near you and get rolling!

Directory categories: Roller Skating, Roller Derby, Roller Hockey, Roller Rinks, Inline Skating

Archived under: Dance, Exercise, Hockey, Invention, Mickey Mouse, Performing Arts, Roller Skating, Sports

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