James Leonard Plimpton (1828,

Medfield, Massachusetts Medfield is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,799 according to the 2020 United States Census. It is a community about southwest of Boston, Massachusetts, which is a 40- ...

- 1911) was an American

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

who is known for changing the skating world with his patented

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 an inline skate design, effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade. Later the "quad ska ...

in 1863. Plimpton's roller skates were safer and easier to use than the existing versions, his "rocker skates" or quad skates allowed people to steer by simply leaning to the left or the right. He also opened some of the earliest roller skating rinks in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

. In addition to opening the first, official, roller skating rink he also established the first roller skating club, that included rules of roller skating rink conduct, with how to roller skate lessons, and proficiency tests for skaters to plot their progress. James Plimpton also invented the Plimpton cabinet bed. He married Harriet Amelia Adams on December 6, 1852.

External links

Smithsonian InstitutionThe history of skatingJames Leonard Plimpton (USA) – the father of traditional roller skatingThe Wights: A Record of Thomas Wight
* National Museum of Roller Skating {{DEFAULTSORT:Plimpton, James Leonard 1828 births 1911 deaths Roller skates 19th-century American inventors Sustainable transport pioneers