HNY20 - Old School(craft) Wheelspin Traditional Cache

This cache is part of the Metro Detroit 

🎆 Happy New Year's 2020 🎉
Geocaching Event : GC8CZ63

The shoe that’s kept us rolling has been with us for over 250 years with a very rich history stemming back to the 1700s. Roller skates are devices worn on the feet to enable the wearer to become mobile by rolling along on wheels and consist of a boot or shoe usually with four wheels with ball bearings, arranged in the same way as those of a typical car.

Nowadays, skates generally come in three basic varieties: quad roller skates, inline skates or blades and tri-skates, though some have experimented with a single-wheeled "quintessence skate" or other variations on the basic skate design. In America, this hobby was most popular in the 1970s through the 1990s.

Leo's Roller Rink, Kirksville, Missouri, 1966

Roller Skating is a form of traveling on a smooth surface using either specialized shoes or an attachment to the shoe that has one or more small wheels on them to allow a person to "roll" across a smooth surface. For many years it has been a form of recreation and has been a as well as a sport, and can also be a form of transportation.

A roller rink is a hard surface, either indoor or outdoor, used for roller skating or inline skating. This surface can be used for roller hockey, speed skating, and/or recreational skating.

By the early 17th century, ice skating had become such a convenient way for the Dutch to move around on their frozen canals that, in warmer weather, they evidently began using a primitive type of roller skate, made by attaching wooden spools to a platform. Some sources give the name of the inventor as Hans Brinker or Brinkner.

Roller Skates themselves first appeared around 1743 in an opera which included an ice skating ballet scene on a frozen lake. For this performance roller skaters had to pretend to be ice skaters. Years later, in 1760, a Belgian inventor named John Joseph Merlin patented the first roller skate while he was in London, England.

Merlin wore a pair of his new skates to a masquerade party at Carlisle-House in London to show their usefulness. Though he was a well-known inventor, he was not a good skater. He could not control his speed or direction and crashed into a large mirror, severely injuring himself and possibly setting back the sport of roller skating for years.

These early roller skates were all in-line skates but the design of these in-line skates did not allow the skater to turn or stop efficiently.

The first person to patent a roller skate was Monieur Petitbled who had a skate with a wood sole, leather straps, and three inline wheels that were made of either wood, metal, or ivory. These skates did not have stops or brakes, would only allow the person to go forward, and would not even allow for turning to be easily accomplished.

The mid-1800's would see the popularity of roller skates increase and also see some innovations in the designs of these devices in both the United States and overseas.

James Plimpton

In 1860, skates with wooden-rollers attached to them began being produced in Holland and a few short-years later in 1863, a Massachusetts inventor named James L. Plimpton revolutionized the design of roller skates to the four-wheeled type that we know today. Plimpton is considered to be the "father of modern roller skating". Plimpton's design would include two sets of parallel wooden wheels, with one set under the ball of the foot and the other set under the heel, mounted on rubber springs. The rubber mounts allowed the wheels to pivot providing a huge improvement in maneuverability and allowed for going around corners.

Plimpton, who owned a furniture store, soon pushed the couches and cabinets aside and rented skates in his New York shop and would eventually offer training classes and medals for the best skaters.

At first, people roller skated at home, but within twenty years of Plimpton's invention, businesses dedicated to the activity began to spring up. Plimpton himself is credited with opening the first roller skating rink in 1866, inventing the class instructional system for teaching roller skating as well as inventing the the awarding of proficiency medals for skating.

Sales of roller skates were brisk but rollers skating sales did not explode until 1881 when further innovations and improvements of the skates fueled a roller-skating fad that began in the 1880's and continued on for many years afterwards and also helped to create a competitive sport called roller hockey.

The boom of roller skating kept increasing in popularity through the late 19th century and beyond, particularly in cities of the American East Coast.

Earle Reynolds, champion skater.
From Spalding’s Roller Skating Guide
(New York, 1906).

Patrons who enjoyed ice skating during the winter months participated in the similar activity, now year-round. Early roller rinks varied greatly in size and type, both indoor and outdoor. Many consisted of simple wooden platforms that sometimes doubled as dance floors or ballrooms. While primarily an activity of eastern cities, a few enterprising individuals toured the rural areas of the Midwest and South with wagon-loads of roller skates. These entrepreneurs went from town-to-town, often in conjunction with circuses or carnivals, renting out skates and using whatever locally-available surface as an impromptu rink.

Press photo for the Patin d'or ("Gold Skating"), 15 October 1911.
This skating competition was held for 24 hours at the Vélodrome d'hiver (Winter Velodrome) in Paris.

The shoe skate, a skating boot with the skate permanently attached, was introduced about 1900. They were used almost exclusively by professional skaters, though. Most people rented their skates at a rink, and shoe skates were seen as unsanitary, so clamp-on skates remained the rule for recreational skaters. These skates were often adjustable to fit people who took different sizes.

Current "shoe skate" style
 

Most skate wheels were made of boxwood or maple during the 19th century. Early in the 20th century, manufacturers began to use steel wheels, primarily for outdoor skating, and wheels of aluminum alloy for speed skating. Fiber composition wheels were developed for rinks because they offered better traction on the wooden floors and were more durable.

John L. Wintz, who owned a California company that made plastic cosmetic cases and cigarette lighters, created a Lucite skate wheel in 1935. Then he became intrigued with the problem of making a wheel that would combine traction and durability. He eventually came up with a wheel made of brake fiber with rubber inlays. To manufacture the wheels, Wintz formed the Sure-Grip Skate Company in 1936. Other companies, notably Raybestos, later began making similar wheels.

Rental skates at a rink

The post–World War II baby boom also saw a boom in roller rinks across the United States. Having a roller skating birthday party became something of a rite of passage for American children in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Roller rinks in the United States underwent significant changes in the 1970s. New plastics led to improved skate wheels—ones providing a smoother, quieter ride—and easier-to-maintain skate floors. The Disco craze from popular 1970s culture led to another increase in the popularity of roller rinks—or roller discos, as some became.

Gone were the staid lighting and old-fashioned organ music as a generally older clientele replaced children, skating under mirror balls and special lights to disco beats. The end of the Disco Era and the advent of inline roller skates hit the roller rink industry hard, with many rinks closing. However, as had happened throughout history, most rink owners adapted and survived the economic storm.

Recent-design for inline skates

Recently, the sport of Roller derby has seen a rebirth in popularity in the early 21st century with amateur and semi-pro teams forming leagues nationwide. Roller Derby had gained Professional status in the 1950s and 1960s but had later been considered virtually dead. Many rink owners support this activity, along with roller hockey, speed skating, and roller figure skating contests.

Roller Derby in Baltimore, MD

Roller skating has become so popular there is even a roller skating museum in Lincoln, Nebraska and claims to have the largest collection of vintage roller skates in the world.

• First official roller hockey game called roller polo was played in 1878 at the Denmark Rink in London, England.
• The National Roller Polo League was formed in Dayton, Ohio, in 1882.
• Roller hockey debuted at the National Championships in 1961.
• Roller hockey was an exhibition sport in the Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, in 1992.
• Transcontinental Roller Derby formed by Leo A. Seltzer in 1935.
• First official U.S. Amateur Speed Skating Championship races held April 2-4, 1937 at the Arena Gardens rink in Detroit, Michigan.
• First Dance Championship held at the Mineola Rink, Mineola, NY, in 1939.
• First Figures Championship held at the Arena Gardens rink in Detroit, Michigan, in 1939.
• Roller skaters were included in the 1978 Sports Act and have participated in the Pan Am Games since 1979.
• The Skating Vanities, a professional roller skating show, performed across the U.S., Europe, and South America from 1942-1956.
• National Museum of Roller Skating founded on October 27, 1980, to collect, preserve, research, and interpret artifacts, documents, and published materials relating to roller skating's heritage.

The roller rink location nearby has been here for many, many years and has been enjoyed by folks of all ages. The popularity of the location has made this area extremely busy at times as the increase from the popularity of skating, once again.