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 Spring
has just come, and we are all ready to go outside to enjoy outdoor
activities, aren’t we? What’s your favorite outdoor activity? Playing
basketball? Riding a bicycle? Of all outdoor activities, many children
say inline-skating is one of their favorites. Inline-skating is definitely exciting and is
even good for your health. This is why children love it. However,
without James Plimpton, children would never have enjoyed this exciting
sport. Let’s go back to the 19th century to find out what happened!
 An
American named James Plimpton, who was born in 1828, worked at a furniture factory. He was
a hard worker. One day, he felt back pain. When he went to
see a doctor, he heard that he had the pain because of too much walking.
He had to walk a lot to sell furniture every day. The doctor recommended
he try ice-skating. He wanted to do as the doctor said, but he had
no time to do it. So, he always put off doing it. Unfortunately, this
caused him worse pain. Finally, he started ice-skating on his frozen lake. While spending
his winter ice-skating, his pain gradually went away.
 However,
when spring came, he couldn’t skate anymore. “Would it be possible
to skate all year round?” he thought.
He tried to come up with a plan. He found the answer while playing
with his children. His son was circling around the room riding a wheeled toy. “That’s it!
Wheels! I can attach wheels to the bottom of my skates. Then I could
skate on the ground,” he shouted!
Plimpton immediately started a study
to make skate shoes with wheels attached. At last, he invented the
first type of skates that didn’t need ice. They were called “roller
skates.” Roller skates spread out all over the world
as soon as they were invented. Now, with a slightly different design,
they are called in-line skates.
Give James Plimpton a big round of applause for his wonderful invention! |
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