Editing Inline skates (section)

===Development of wheeled skates===

The history of inline skates traces back to the origin of [[ice skate]]s in prehistoric times, with runners made from animal bones.<ref name="art-of-skating-brokaw-1926">{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iZtOAQAAMAAJ
|title=The Art of Skating: Its History and Development with Practical Directions and Instantaneous Action Photographs of Celebrated Skaters of Many Nationalities
|pages=1–2
|location=New York
|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons
|year=1926
<!-- |isbn=9780598474728: This is an Google Books copy of the 1895 book -->
|access-date=2024-11-24
|first1=Irving
|last1=Brokaw
}}</ref><ref name="system-of-figure-skating-1880">{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vaBGAQAAMAAJ
|title=A System of Figure-skating: Being the Theory and Practice of the Art as Developed in England with a Glance at Its Origin and History
|pages=4–7
|location=London
|publisher=Horace Cox
|year=1880
|access-date=2024-11-24
|first1=H.E.
|last1=Vandervell
|first2=T. Maxwell
|last2=Witham
}}</ref> Steel blades eventually replaced bone runners in the 13th century, with the Dutch sharpening blade edges for better purchase on ice for propulsion.<ref name="art-of-skating-brokaw-1910">
{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cxc7AQAAMAAJ
|title=The Art of Skating: Its History and Development, with Practical Directions
|page=12
|location=London
|publisher=Letchworth at the Arden Press & Fetter Lane
|year=1910
|access-date=2024-11-24
|first1=Irving
|last1=Brokaw
}}
</ref> Since then, enterprising inventors have attempted to make boots that could similarly glide on non-ice surfaces, with wheels.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://youraudiotour.com/tours/national-museum-of-roller-skating-audio-tour-museum-proper/stops/9802
|title=The First Roller Skates
|website=National Museum of Roller Skating Audio Tour
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241125040615/https://youraudiotour.com/tours/national-museum-of-roller-skating-audio-tour-museum-proper/stops/9802
|archive-date=2024-11-25
}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Clinch-1895">{{cite book
|editor-last=Clinch
|editor-first=George
|last1=Rimbault
|first1=Edward Francis
|title=Soho and Its Associations: Historical, Literary & Artistic
|date=1895
|publisher=Dulau
|location=London
<!-- |isbn=9781473321595: This is an Amazon reprint of the 1895 book -->
|pages=[https://archive.org/details/sohoanditsassoc00clingoog/page/n43 28]–29
|url=https://archive.org/details/sohoanditsassoc00clingoog
|accessdate=2018-07-13
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=07W7AAAAIAAJ&q=wheels
|title=John Joseph Merlin: the ingenious mechanick
|location=London, England
|publisher=Exhibition catalog (Iveagh Bequest), Kenwood, Greater London Council
|year=1985
|isbn=9780716815822
|access-date=15 September 2014
|first1=Anne
|last1=French
|first2=Michael
|last2=Wright
|first3=Frances
|last3=Palmer
}}</ref><ref name="museum-of-roller-skating-history-of-roller-skating-1997">{{cite book
|title=The History of Roller Skating
|others=Illustrated with museum collections and archives
|last1=Turner
|first1=James
|last2=Zaidman
|first2=Michael
|date=1997
|location=Lincoln, Nebraska
|publisher=National Museum of Roller Skating
|isbn=0965819205
|url=https://www.rollerskatingmuseum.org/product-page/the-history-of-roller-skating <!-- encourage readers to get this book from the Museum itself at $15 (2024) instead of paying for x3 markup at Amazon and elsewhere -->
}}</ref>{{rp|7}}

[[File:Petibled-1819 wheeled skate-at National Museum of Roller Skating-by Bruce McArthur-landscape.jpg|thumb|right|300px|First patented wheeled skate - 1819]]

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.<ref name="le-roller-en-ligne-on-charles-petibled">{{cite web
|url=https://www.rollerenligne.com/dossier/charles-louis-petibled-le-premier-brevet-de-lhistoire-du-patin-a-roulettes/
|title=Charles-Louis Petibled : le premier brevet de l'histoire du patin à roulettes
|website=Le Roller en Ligne
|date=30 March 2019
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129130122/https://www.rollerenligne.com/dossier/charles-louis-petibled-le-premier-brevet-de-lhistoire-du-patin-a-roulettes/
|archive-date=2024-01-29
}}</ref><ref name="museum-of-roller-skating-history-of-roller-skating-1997"/>{{rp|8}}

[[File:The Engineer Vol-41 1876-02-04 pp85 Tyers Volito Fig 1 Fig 3 Config One.png|thumb|right|240px|5-wheel Volito skate - 1823]]

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.<ref>{{cite magazine
| author      = Thomas Gill
| title       = Tyers's Patent Volitos
| url         = https://books.google.com/books?id=mUkEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA295
| magazine    = The Technical repository
| volume      = 4
| pages       = 295–297
| location    = London
| publisher   = T. Cadell, Strand
| year        = 1823
| access-date = 2024-11-27
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HikAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA20
|title=The London Journal of Arts and Sciences
|volume=7
|year=1824
|pages=20–21
|publisher=Sherwood, Jones & Co., and W. Newton
|location=London
|access-date=2024-12-02
|first1=W.
|last1=Newton
}}</ref> The main body of the skate is called the stock (or foot stand), 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.<ref name="Engineer-skates-no01">{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlFHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA85
|title=The Engineer
|volume=41
|date=1876-02-04
|article=Historical Notes on Roller Skates No. 1
|pages=85–86
|location=London
|publisher=Morgan-Grampian
|access-date=2024-11-30
}}</ref>

This novelty skate was popularized in London as "Volito" (to fly about, in Latin). 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.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1931-1114-330
|title=The Volito, or Summer and Winter Skait
|website=The British Museum
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241125035904/https://media.britishmuseum.org/media/Repository/Documents/2017_12/1_15/21748ea0_c00a_4898_99b0_a83c010006e7/mid_PPA21248.jpg
|archive-date=2024-11-25
}}</ref> The [[National Museum of American History]] has a Volito skate in its collections.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_335014
|title="Volito" In-line Roller Skate
|website=National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241122011156/https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_335014
|archive-date=2024-11-22
}}</ref>

[[File:Garcin-1828 Cingar Skate-at National Museum of Roller Skating-by Doctor T Designs.jpg|thumb|right|260px|Garcin's skate - 1828]]

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.<ref name="ols-history-skating-1760-to-today"/><ref name="le-roller-en-ligne-on-charles-petibled"/><ref name="le-roller-en-ligne-on-jean-garcin">{{cite web
|url=https://www.rollerenligne.com/dossier/jean-garcin-lun-des-pionniers-francais-de-patinage-a-roulettes/
|title=Jean Garcin, l'un des pionniers français de patinage à roulettes
|website=Le Roller en Ligne
|date=24 December 2017
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240129130139/https://www.rollerenligne.com/dossier/jean-garcin-lun-des-pionniers-francais-de-patinage-a-roulettes/
|archive-date=2024-01-29
}}</ref>

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.{{efn-ua|Henry Pennie patented in 1861 the first skate with two parallel rows of wheels, setting his skate apart from previous wheeled skates with a single row of wheels.<ref name=pennie-two-row-skate-1861/>}}<ref name="museum-of-roller-skating-history-of-inline">{{cite web
|url=http://rollerskatingmuseum.com/inline.html
|title=The History of Inline Skating
|website=National Museum of Roller Skating
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410214014/http://rollerskatingmuseum.com/inline.html
|archive-date=2019-04-10
}}</ref><ref name="museum-of-roller-skating-history-of-roller-skating-1997"/>{{rp|8–13}}