Evolution of the Roller Skate & Skating—part 2

Recreational roller skating business began the first roller skating BOOM in 1870 which lasted into the early 1890s.  Skating was popular, and everyone wanted to try it!  Rinks began opening up everywhere, skate were being mass produced, and the roller skating entertainment industry was born.

Toe stops became an improvement to roller skates in 1876.  The rubber stops gave skaters the ability to stop quickly by simply tipping their toes to the floor.  Toe stops are still used today in rental skates and by free style skaters.  The rubber attachment is used for take offs when jumping.  Dance and figure skaters very rarely have toe stops, except when used for free dance, and most of the plates used for these two branches of skating have chassis designed without a fixed toe stop attachment. 

The design of roller skates continued to receive improvements. Birmingham, England’s William Bown patented his design for a new and improved roller skating wheel in 1876.  Bown is responsible for keeping the axel fixed while the bearings continue to roll in a separate motion.  Bown teamed up with Joseph Hughes, who drew up a patent for a ball/roller bearing race for bicycle wheels in 1877. 

The place is Richmond, Indiana the year is 1881 when Micajah Henley (pictured left) used a barn behind his home on 201 North 14^th Street to create his first roller skate factory.  Business was good and expansion became necessary.  After using various locations, the company installed a large brick building at North 16^th Street and the railroad.  This building later became the plant of the Indiana Tool company. 

Henley made great strides made in roller skating design and manufacturing during the late 1800s.  The pin ball-bearing wheel invention made rolling on skates easier and made the skates lighter, this occurred in 1884.  His skates became famous in the US and abroad and sold by the millions.  A Henley skate was patented in 1884, and Micajah and his son Harry, began to produce 15,000 skates a week.  The “Chicago Skate” (not to be confused with Chicago Skate Company) was their creation and in Richmond, Indiana—roller skating became BIG business.  In 1882, the Henley company had a local competitor—the Phillips, Marchant Company.  From 1882-1886, three other roller skate factories appeared in Richmond, but by 1886—the Henley company was the only listed in the city directory and by 1888 Henley Skate Factory had virtually no local competition.

Micajah Henley was responsible for a lighter, more durable and profitable wheel when, after much experimentation he decided to import a fiber made of Turkish boxwood.  The J.H. Fenton Company, a skate manufacturer in Chicago, Illinois, designed a skate with toe clamps and cast-iron chassis which the Henley Company adapted for their product.  However, this was just the beginning of modernizing his roller skate:  Over the years Henley would make the following roller skate improvements:  Chassis designed with metal spring-arched footplate; Straps replaced with clamps that were fastened with a key; Ball-bearings were substituted for Babbitt bearings—something no other maker of skates was doing at that time; and Henley skates introduced the adjustable tension via a screw.  This became the introduction of the kingbolt mechanism on modern day skates

 By late 1890s Robert Henley, the nephew of the then retired M.C. Henley, took over the Henley business and developed a ball bearing skate.  With this improvement, sales of roller skates in Richmond reached a new level.

There were other manufacturers that were busy during the late 1800s.  In 1884, Levant M. Richardson received a patent for the use of steel ball bearings in skate wheels so as to reduce friction and allowed skaters to increase speed with minimum effort. In 1898, Richardson started the Richardson Ball Bearing and Skate Company, which provided skates to most professional skate racers of the time.

Next Month: Part 3 of the Evolution of Roller Skates and Skating.  We will visit the 1900s!