Roller skates Roller skates Roller skates are shoes, or bindings that fit onto shoes, that are worn to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. The first roller skate was effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade. Later the "quad" style of roller skate became more popular consisting of four wheels arranged in the same configuration as a typical car. While the first reported use of roller skates was on a London stage in 1743, the first patented roller skate was introduced in 1760 by Belgian inventor John Joseph Merlin. His roller skate wasn't much more than an ice
John Joseph Merlin Fanny Burney wrote of Merlin with affection: While he was certainly respected for his talents, Merlin also seems to have cultivated his image as an eccentric. He took advantage of balls and masquerades to promote himself, appearing in public in odd costumes and showing off his inventions. "The Morning Post and Daily Advertiser" of March 4, 1778 declared "Mr. Merlin, the mechanic" to be the most striking Character of the 900 people attending a masquerade ball at the Pantheon. Merlin appeared "as a gouty gentleman, in a chair of his own construction, which, by a transverse direction of two winches,