I’ve written about roller skates before. I’m not sure why I have a fascination with them, as I probably haven’t had a pair on in 50 years. But perhaps, for most of us, roller skates were our first form of transportation. I can’t really remember if I learned to ride a bicycle before I strapped on a pair of skates or the other way around. Either way, it was close.
So there I was.
Little.
My first pair was adjustable. All metal. And they hooked on my shoes. I think they had brown leather straps across the top that buckled. Maybe.
Anyway. It was always a precarious adventure. We often skated in our basement, which turned out to be a bit like roller derby, what with us kids all cramming together and circling the octopus of a furnace. I am certain there were plenty of mishaps. I can remember my skates frequently coming undone and me winding up face-first on the basement floor.
But none of us wound up in the hospital due to a skating accident.
The outdoors were an entirely different beast with uneven sidewalks, driveways, and curbs. Yet. I never noticed the danger part of skating. Only the fun.
We also had a white leather pair of skates that we wore right over our socks. Just like little white leather high tops with wheels. I’m fairly certain these were one of my older sister’s. Probably a Christmas present somewhere along the line. But every so often, I got to wear them. Albeit, with a lot of room in the toe.
I bring all of this up, because on this date, January 4, 1863, a man named James Plimpton of New York patented his invention for four-wheeled roller skates. I’m not sure what all he invented in his life, but his good skates allowed people to steer by simply leaning to the left or the right. They were called “Quad Skates,” hence the four wheels.
It kind of cracks me up. He did all of this in 1863. The United States was being split in two by the terrors of the Civil War, yet there he was, in his little workshop, tinkering on roller skates. He also opened some of the earliest roller skating rinks in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island.
I should note. James Plimpton also invented the Plimpton cabinet bed. For those of you who don’t know them, a cabinet bed fits into a smaller space than you would imagine a bed can fit. When the bed is stored away during the day, the cabinet looks like a side table or buffet. Neat.
But when it is time for beddy-bye, the cabinet door pulls out like a drawer, and the bed frame expands. The mattress is all folded up inside. All you have to do is pull it out and looky, looks.
I should also note. He married his gal, Harriet Amelia Adams, on December 6, 1862. That was about one month before he patented his roller skates. Maybe the marriage brought him so much bliss he needed to put wheels on his feet. Maybe.
James Plimpton lived from 1828 to 1911. But his roller skates live on forever. Just not on me.
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He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.
— Confucius
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There’s no fear when you’re having fun.
— Will Thomas
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I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
— Pablo Picasso
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Roll with it baby. But with four wheels.
