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How roller skates influenced the creation of skateboards

2024-11-28T16:14:14+00:00

Skateboarding is a relatively recent outdoor activity, pastime, and sport. Although its roots are deeply attached to mid-20th-century California surfing, the skateboard DNA reveals a connection to a recreational activity born 200 years before in Europe.

The history of skateboarding, as well as the personalities who contributed to the invention and birth of the skateboard, are well documented.

Interestingly, though, there's usually an undervalued contribution that goes a long way back in time.

No, we're not taking you all the way to somewhere between 4,500 and 400 BC, when the early signs and versions of the wheel took shape.

Our main focus is on the invention of roller skates, a pair of transportation and leisure items that were developed in the 18th century.

To be fair, the skateboard owes as much to the lack of waves in Southern California as to roller skates.

Let's not forget skateboards evolved from these contraptions installed under our feet into milk crates or wooden boxes with wheels attached to them and handles sticking out for control before morphing into the modern skateboard shape.

In other words, roller skates paved the way for products like Kne-Koster (1925), Scooter Skate (1930s), Flexy-Racer (1932), and Skeeter Skater (1945), before the popular flat-deck-and-wheels design.

So, what exactly are the origins of roller skates?

Made for Arts

One of the first surprising things about roller skates, the predecessor of the skateboard, is that they were originally aimed at the performing arts world.

It was not a physical exercise novelty equipment.

According to historians, the earliest models were used in European theater and musical events to simulate ice skating onstage, an activity with over 4,000 years of history in southern Finland.

However, these roller skating appearances were rare because the first models made turning or curving nearly impossible.

Therefore, actors, actresses, and performers could only ride in a straight line.

It would take a century to see relevant improvements and updates to the equipment and, consequently, a spread in popularity.

Broken Mirror: The Disastrous Debut

As with skateboards and other sports gear, roller skates result from several incremental iterations.

Researchers point out that the first report of the use of wheeled skates took place in 1743 on a London stage.

However, the first recorded invention dates from 1760.

It was introduced by John Joseph Merlin, an inventor, musical instrument maker, and clockmaker from Liège, Belgium.

The tale behind Merlin's innovative roller skates is quite funny.

The story goes that the Belgian inventor made an unforgettable yet disastrous debut of his invention.

He showcased his skates at a high-society event hosted by Teresa Cornelys at Carlisle House in Soho Square, London.

During this demonstration, Merlin tried to impress the audience by skating around while playing a violin.

However, the skates, which lacked any kind of steering or braking system, proved difficult to control.

"Although well-known as an inventor and musician, Joseph Merlin was not a good skater, notes James Turner, author of the book "The History of Roller Skating."

"He couldn't control his speed or command his skates to go in the desired direction, and wildly crash-landed into a huge and expensive mirror [£500 value[, smashed it to bits, severely wounded himself, broke his violin and sent roller skating technique back to the drawing board."

Sadly, Merlin's written records had no drawings nor descriptions of wheel configurations.

The First Patent

The second of three important roller skate iterations happened on November 12, 1819, when Charles-Louis Petibled, a French inventor, filed the first-ever patent for roller skates.

He called them "land skates" and designed them to replicate ice skating moves indoors, allowing skaters to mimic gliding and maneuvering on solid ground.

Petibled's skates featured a wooden or metal sole mounted onto a boot or secured with straps.

The wheels - made from materials like metal, wood, or even ivory - were arranged in an inline configuration.

The design allowed for some degree of movement but had significant limitations, making tight turns or advanced maneuvers difficult.

The number and size of the wheels were flexible, with some models including three wheels with or without grooves.

Notably, Petibled incorporated a basic braking mechanism: a screw placed under the heel.

The skates' components, including cleats and axles, were constructed from sturdy materials like steel and riveted securely to the base.

Though primitive, this design laid the groundwork for modern roller skates.

The Defining Iteration

The last of three critical improvements arrived half a century later.

John Joseph Merlin's contribution to the birth of roller skates is undeniable.

However, it was American inventor James Leonard Plimpton who gave them safety and easy-to-use properties.

The patent Plimpton registered in 1863, a century after Merlin's creation, allowed riders to steer by leaning to the right and left.

They were called "rocker skates."

The four-wheel setup, also called "quad skates," featured independent axles for easy turning in a smooth arc and truly ignited a revolution.

Although his roller skates marked a significant breakthrough in the evolution of roller skating, a major issue persisted: the wheels wore out quickly due to substantial friction between the wheels and the skate axle.

Plimpton addressed this problem by introducing a brass ring positioned between the wheel and the axle.

To further reduce wear and tear, he applied lubrication to this brass "skate bearing."

Soon, roller skating rinks were popping up in New York and then expanding to other cities in America, Europe, and worldwide.

Merlin also founded the first roller skating club for gentlemen to impress the ladies.

In the venue, riders had to follow proper rules of etiquette and could have lessons to learn and improve their skills.

James Plimpton's roller skate design is still pretty much similar to the one used today.

His innovations also served as the inspiration for the creation of the skateboard and skateboarding roughly 100 years later.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

What is a seamount?

2024-11-27T13:47:55+00:00

The five oceans of the world hide many living and non-living secrets. Seamounts are underwater mountains, and some even rival the height of the tallest peaks on land.

A seamount is a large submarine landform rising at least 3,281 feet (1,000 meters) from the seafloor.

Unlike islands, seamounts do not break the ocean's surface.

Most are remnants of extinct volcanoes formed as magma pushes through the Earth's crust and solidifies.

Over time, i.e., millions of years, erosion and subsidence can shape these volcanic features into distinct forms similar to those we can actually climb on land.

Seamounts with flat tops, called guyots or tablemounts, are evidence of past wave erosion before they sank back below sea level.

But they can also form the ring-shaped coral reefs surrounding a lagoon called atolls.

These underwater formations are not only diverse in form but also in scale.

From small peaks barely meeting the height criterion to massive structures like the Detroit Seamount in the Pacific, with its 39,000-square-mile (100,000-square-kilometers) base, there are all sorts of striking features of the ocean floor.

The Cortes Bank, which is technically a seamount, occasionally provides spectacular waves for surfing 110 miles (177 kilometers) west of the coast of San Diego, California.

How Are Seamounts Formed?

As we've seen above, seamounts are predominantly volcanic in origin, created by processes such as:

Mantle Plumes and Hotspots: Rising magma plumes from the Earth's mantle create volcanic islands and seamount chains. The Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain is a well-known example;
Mid-Ocean Ridges: Divergent tectonic plates at mid-ocean ridges allow magma to rise and solidify, forming volcanic features;
Island Arcs: Subduction zones, where one tectonic plate is forced under another, generate seamounts along island arcs like the Marianas;

Where Are They Found?

Seamounts are distributed across every ocean basin, with the greatest concentrations in the Pacific Ocean.

They are often clustered in chains or groups, such as the Emperor Seamounts, which extend northwest from Hawaii.

Other notable chains include the New England Seamounts in the Atlantic and the Louisville Ridge in the southern Pacific.

Interestingly, the Arctic Ocean has very few seamounts, while the North Pacific holds the majority, including the largest mapped seamounts.

Despite advances in mapping technologies like satellite altimetry and multibeam sonar, only a fraction of the estimated 100,000 seamounts have been fully charted.

The Tallest, Deepest, and Longest

A seamount varies greatly in size, from modest elevations to colossal peaks. The most extreme examples are:

Tallest Seamount: Mauna Kea, though considered an island at its summit, rises more than 33,500 feet (10,200 meters) from its base on the ocean floor, making it the tallest mountain in the world when measured from base to peak;
Deepest Seamounts: Many are found in the Pacific's Mariana Trench region, where the ocean's depth exceeds 32,808 feet (10,000 meters);
Longest Seamount: With its 3,900 miles (6,200 kilometers) from the Kamchatka peninsula to the southeast of the Island of Hawaii, the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain is probably the longest of its kind;

The Oases of the Deep

Seamounts are biodiversity hotspots, often described as "oases of life" in the deep sea.

Their steep slopes and elevated position create complex current patterns, which help concentrate nutrients and attract marine life.

These nutrient-rich waters support a wide variety of species, including:

Plankton and Corals: Forming the base of the food chain, they provide habitat and food for other living organisms;
Fish and Mammals: Many species, including commercially valuable ones like the orange roughy, are drawn to seamounts for feeding and breeding;
Endemic Species: Some organisms are found only on specific seamounts, hence their ecological importance;

However, these ecosystems are vulnerable to human activities, particularly bottom trawling, a destructive fishing method that scrapes entire habitats from the seamount surface.

Therefore, conservation efforts are critical to protecting these unique ecosystems.

A Danger Lies Beneath

Seamounts are not without risks.

Uncharted seamounts pose navigation hazards; collisions, like the USS San Francisco submarine crash in 2005, highlight the dangers of these hidden giants.

Additionally, flank collapses - massive landslides caused by volcanic activity or structural instability - can trigger tsunamis.

These events, while rare, have the potential for devastating impacts on coastal regions.

Why Explore Seamounts?

Despite their importance, less than one percent of seamounts have been studied in detail. Exploration is vital for several reasons:

Biodiversity Discovery: Each expedition uncovers new species and ecosystems, many of which are unique to these underwater mountains;
Geological Insights: Studying seamounts helps scientists understand volcanic processes, plate tectonics, and Earth's history;
Economic Potential: Seamounts are rich in minerals and support fisheries vital to global economies;

The ability to map and explore these remote features has been improved over time thanks to technological advances like autonomous submersibles and improved sonar systems.

The bathymetric study of the world's oceans can also help us understand the behavior of sea currents and ocean swells.

Still, the sheer number of seamounts presents a nearly endless challenge for oceanographers, researchers, and scientists.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com