Editing Inline skates (section)

===Development of roller skates===

[[File:Google Ngram-inline skates,quad skates,roller skates,rollerblades-Case sensitive-1840-2022-chart.png|thumb|right|340px|Usage stats of various skating terms including "roller skates", before and after 1860]]

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.<ref>{{cite web 
|title=roller skate, n. 
|url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/roller-skate_n 
|publisher=Oxford English Dictionary 
|access-date=25 November 2024
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241125215229/https://www.oed.com/dictionary/roller-skate_n?tl=true
|archive-date=2024-11-25
}}</ref> Then, starting in 1870, the popularity of roller skates skyrocketed. Within a decade the term "roller skates" entered the popular lexicon.<ref name="ols-history-skating-1760-to-today">{{cite web
|url=https://online-skating.com/featured-articles/the-history-of-skating-from-1760-till-today/
|title=The History of Skating from 1760 till Today
|website=OLS Online Skating
|date=12 November 2023
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128072050/https://online-skating.com/featured-articles/the-history-of-skating-from-1760-till-today/
|archive-date=2024-11-28
}}</ref>

[[File:Reuben Shaler-US28509A-1860-Wheel Skate-Patent Drawing-FIG 1 n FIG 2.png|thumb|right|280px|Shaler skates w. rubber rings - 1860]]

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 (wheels) 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.<ref>{{Cite patent
|country=US
|number=28509
|pubdate=1860-05-29
|title=Wheel-Skate
|inventor1-last=Shaler
|inventor1-first=Reuben
}}</ref><ref name="Engineer-skates-no02">{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlFHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA102
|title=The Engineer
|volume=41
|date=1876-02-11
|article=Historical Notes on Roller Skates No. 2
|pages=102–103
|location=London
|publisher=Morgan-Grampian
|access-date=2024-11-30
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.inlineplanet.com/History/shalerparlorskate.html
|title=Shaler Gives the Skate Traction By Ringing the Rollers with Rubber
|website=The Inline Planet
|author-first=Robert
|author-last=Burnson
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041231121608/https://www.inlineplanet.com/History/shalerparlorskate.html
|archive-date=2004-12-31
}}</ref>

[[File:Albert Anderson-US33689A-1861-Improvement in roller skates-two wheeled skates-Patent Drawing-FIG 2.png|thumb|right|260px|2-wheel Anderson skate - 1861]]

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|penny-farthing bikes]]. The large front wheel overcomes oncoming obstacles, preventing a skater from falling forward. The stock (or foot stand) is inclined forward, with a raised heel section.
<ref>{{Cite patent
|country=US
|number=33689
|pubdate=1861-11-12
|title=Improvement in roller-skates
|inventor1-last=Anderson
|inventor1-first=Albert
}}</ref><ref name="Engineer-skates-no02"/> 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.{{r|naomi-grigg-2014|p=15,21,25}}<ref name="rerolling-inline-boot-frame-wheel-setups"/>

[[File:Henry Pennie-US31994-1861-Roller skate-8 wheels in 2 rows-Patent Drawing-FIG 1 n FIG 2.png|thumb|right|260px|4x2 Pennie skate - 1861]]

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.<ref name=pennie-two-row-skate-1861>{{Cite patent
|country=US
|number=31994
|pubdate=1861-04-09
|title=Roller-skate
|inventor1-last=Pennie
|inventor1-first=Henry
}}</ref><ref name="Engineer-skates-no02"/>

{{multiple image
 | direction = vertical
 | width = 260
 | image1 = James Plimpton-US37305A-1863-Improvement in skates-Birth of Quad Skates-Patent Drawing-FIG 1 n FIG 3.png
 | caption1 = 2x2 Plimpton skate - 1863
 | image2 = Plimpton Roller Skate prototype-between 1863 and 1866-at National Museum of Roller Skating-by Bruce McArthur.jpg
 | caption2 = Plimpton prototype 1863-1866
}}

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.<ref>{{Cite patent
|country=US
|number=37305
|pubdate=1863-01-06
|title=Improvement in skates
|inventor1-last=Plimpton
|inventor1-first=James
}}</ref> The mechanism converted rocking and canting motions of the skate platform (stock) into movements of the two wheel axles. These axles in turn steered all four wheel into the right orientations for the turn.<ref name="Engineer-skates-no03">{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlFHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA121
|title=The Engineer
|volume=41
|date=1876-02-18
|article=Historical Notes on Roller Skates No. 3
|pages=121–122
|location=London
|publisher=Morgan-Grampian
|access-date=2024-11-30
}}</ref>

Plimpton opened roller skating rinks and aggressively promoted this new sport of [[roller skating]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://youraudiotour.com/tours/national-museum-of-roller-skating-audio-tour-museum-proper/stops/9806
|title=The Father of the Modern Roller Skating
|website=National Museum of Roller Skating Audio Tour
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128071950/https://youraudiotour.com/tours/national-museum-of-roller-skating-audio-tour-museum-proper/stops/9806
|archive-date=2024-11-28
}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31831110
|title=The Victorian craze that sparked a mini-sexual revolution
|website=BBC News
|date=6 April 2015
|url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241128071725/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31831110
|archive-date=2024-11-28
}}</ref> The editors of the 1876 series of "Historical Notes on Roller Skates" (published in [[The Engineer (UK magazine)|The Engineer]]) 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.<ref name="Engineer-skates-no11">{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlFHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA287
|title=The Engineer
|volume=41
|date=1876-04-21
|article=Historical Notes on Roller Skates No. 11
|pages=287–288
|location=London
|publisher=Morgan-Grampian
|access-date=2024-11-30
}}</ref> 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.<ref name="museum-of-roller-skating-history-of-roller-skating-1997"/>{{rp|13–14}}<ref name="ols-history-skating-1760-to-today"/>