History of Inline Skating
A Belgian ice skate - for summer
The first inline skates were invented in the early 1700s by a Belgian, Jean-Joseph Merlin, who attached large wooden cylinders to the bottom of his boots. [His were not only the first inline skates (skates with wheels arranged in a straight line from toe to heel), but the first “roller skates” of any kind. Only in 1863 was the quad roller skates invented with its two pairs of wheels arranged side by side.
The first patent for a roller skate was issued in Paris, France, in 1819. It went to a M. Petitbled whose invention had three wheels (inline, of course) of either wood, metal or ivory. Petitbled claimed his skate could do anything an ice skate could do, but in reality, wood, metal or ivory wheels slipped on hard surfaces, making turning and pushing (for propulsion) difficult.
Read More | More photos (thanks bluesk8r)
October 1st, 2006 at 9:01 am
you cant really compare ice skating and inline skating to aggressive skating tho can you defently not ice skating.
October 1st, 2006 at 9:11 am
http://www.rollernews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10818
October 1st, 2006 at 2:05 pm
haha i’m from belgium go figure !