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
Joseph Gibbs (engineer) Joseph Gibbs (engineer) Joseph Gibbs (1798–1864) was a British civil engineer and mechanical inventor. He patented a series of inventions for sawing and cutting wood, metal and stone. He is also known for his design work on the Great Northern Railway and the London & Brighton Railway. Gibbs was born in Staffordshire, the youngest son of a mill-owner and manufacturer. His uncle was mineral agent to the Duke of Devonshire and it was among the mines of the Derbyshire hills that it is thought that Gibbs acquired his taste for mining and geological research. He visited Holland and was engaged