Whatsit Wednesday: Inline skates

When our boys were young, they loved skating. Stephan liked the skateboard, but also loved inline skating. We had our hands full making sure that they were safe as well as having fun. We don’t see as many people with inline skates anymore as fashion has moved on to something else. But skating in general is very well loved in the Netherlands, although it is most often done on ice. 

Still, it is interesting that the first inline skate was developed by a Belgian in the 18th century, depending on what you accept as a real inline skate, of course. Jean-Joseph Merlin from Huy (not far from where we have our Bible camp) was an inventor and watchmaker. He designed the first rollerskate in 1760, but did not take out a patent on it. 

When you look at who invented the rollerskate, you come out at a certain James Plimpton. He took out a patent in 1863 on the four-wheeled rollerskate that many of us older folks know from our childhood days. But the design from Merlin was easily a hundred years older at that time, although it was an inline model. There were even covered roller rinks in England in 1824. 

The idea of being able to skate was of course a much older idea, since people had been ice skating for quite some time. It was the need or desire to be able to skate when there was no ice that may have pushed Merlin to design his skate. And that was also why the skate looked more like a typical ice skate. The wheels were in-line so that the skater could also turn the foot and push off, just as with an ice skate. 

Inline skating is considered more a sport for long distance. Despite its popularity in various countries around the world, inline skating is not yet an Olympic sport, so we will not be seeing any of it this summer in Paris.