Early Roller Skates
Early Roller Skates
24444
ANTIQUE VICTORIAN RITTER ROAD / ROLLER SKATES.
An extremely rare pair of early road skates sold by the Road Skate Co. of Oxford Street, London. The skates are clearly marked 'LEFT' and 'RIGHT' and also have the slight remains of "THE 'RITTER' PATENT" on the heel. Each skate has a pair of 4 ¾ inch spoked wheels with a solid rubber rim mounted one behind the other, very much like today's roller blades. On either side there are pine supports for the ankles (originally at the top there would have been leather straps to secure the skates to the legs). Each skate has its own brake and it is applied to the rear wheel by pulling a cord which would follow the wooden strut up to within a few inches of the skater's knee. The 'Road Skates' were the invention of a Swiss gentleman called Mr. Ritter who was a foreman at the Napier Works in London, where later on the first Napier motor cars were made. The skates were very popular around the end of the 1890's.
Dimensions:
1900
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![](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://www.sportantiques.co.uk/motoring-aviation-and-transport/automobilia/early-roller-skates&media=https://seek-unique-co.s3.amazonaws.com/sportantiques-64hFGwj3-uEHU73t22/stock/612e78c4a5cd0_3_24444.jpg&description=ANTIQUE VICTORIAN RITTER ROAD / ROLLER SKATES.An extremely rare pair of early road skates sold by the Road Skate Co. of Oxford Street, London. The skates are clearly marked 'LEFT' and 'RIGHT' and also have the slight remains of "THE 'RITTER' PATENT" on the heel. Each skate has a pair of 4 ¾ inch spoked wheels with a solid rubber rim mounted one behind the other, very much like today's roller blades. On either side there are pine supports for the ankles (originally at the top there would have been leather straps to secure the skates to the legs). Each skate has its own brake and it is applied to the rear wheel by pulling a cord which would follow the wooden strut up to within a few inches of the skater's knee. The 'Road Skates' were the invention of a Swiss gentleman called Mr. Ritter who was a foreman at the Napier Works in London, where later on the first Napier motor cars were made. The skates were very popular around the end of the 1890's.){kind=link}