I have a number of ancient (1800s) skating books at hand, I thought I'd post occasionally about interesting tidbits I find in them.

Here's the first. I believe this is an interesting discussion of the invention of the parabolic blade.


From "Skating" by Heathcote and Tebbutt 1892

Some years ago Captain Dowler, a member of the Skating Club, took out a patent for a skate having concave sides. His idea was that when the skate was inclined from the vertical, as in running on a curve, the concave side would bring a greater portion of the length of the blade in actual contact with the ice, thus increasing the bearing surface and consequently diminishing friction without interfering with the vertical curvature at the lower edge, by which the necessary amount of pivoting is obtained. The Dowler blade has been, and is, used by many thousands of skaters. With a 7-foot radius the side concavity should be a radius of 16 feet. At first the blades were made with the thinnest part in the middle, but I found that if the thinnest part were put back an inch or an inch and a half, the working of the skate was much improved ; and I also found that, in consequence of the end of the blade being thicker at the lower side than in the middle, and being ground to the same thickness along the entire length of its upper side, the cutting edge of the toe and heel was much more acute than in the middle, in fact so acute that the cutting in while taking a vigorous stroke sent up a shower of splintered ice. To obviate this I suggested the grooving away of the blade about half an inch from the edge at the toe and heel, so as to enable the cutting edge to be made the same angle along the whole length of the blade, and since 1881 Dowler blades have been constructed with the above improvements. I always skate with Dowler blades having right-angled edges, as I find I can skate every movement on them as well as on a straight-sided blade, and with much less fatigue. The angle at which a skate is inclined in the act of striking is much greater than when travelling on a curve, consequently with the Dowler blade a large portion of the edge comes into actual contact with the ice at the moment of striking and a vigorous push-off is the result; and this, combined with the minimum of friction, is the reason why figure-skating on Dowler blades is less fatiguing than on straight-sided blades. I have seen men, who from having rather weak ankles could only skate well enough to be classed as second-rate skaters, spring at once into the first rank through the use of Dowler blades : but, as against these examples, I have known skaters who could not skate nearly as well with them as with the ordinary straight-sided blade.

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Great forum quotes:
On Falling: '...it doesn't matter, it's what you do AFTER you fall that's more important' ISK8NYC

This is very interesting, but also hard to follow, IMO. It's not entirely clear to me that parabolic blades are being described. It might be tapered blades instead, like Gold Seals. I thought that parabolics came after parabolic skis.

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At first, it sounded like the author was describing side-honed blades (concave vertically, from stanchion to edge, sort of like a flared pant leg). But as I kept reading, it did sound like this was a description of blades that were narrower in the middle of the blade than the front or back. Interesting!

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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics

Just thought you might be interested to know that the Skating Club is still going strong although the name changed at the end of the 19th Century to the Royal Skating Club (I think following a merger with Wimbledon Skating Club but I get confused with the club history). We're still practicing the "English" or "British" style of skating.

Back on topic, I believe one of the club members actually still has a pair of the original Dowler blades. I'll ask him to bring them along one week and I'll let you know what they're like. I think I might have seen them last summer (we only have club ice for a few weeks each summer) but most of the antique blades bear little resemblance to modern blades.

Who is coaching you now that Gerald Spain is no longer with us?

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Some of the older club members are taking over with the coaching side of things. It's not as formal as it used to be with Gerald but in some ways I'm actually making better progress now (although that might just be my skating rather than anything else!).

We are always in need of new members, so it you wanted to venture out of London on a Sunday morning PM me and I'll send the details. There's the added draw of Dance club afterwards for those who still have energy.

The book has a picture of the blades and they are actually parabolic, although they do not have a toepick or toe rake.

A little googling turned up the following:
"U.S. Pat. No. 216,159 granted to Dowler in 1879, ... discloses a skate blade having greater width at the edge near the anterior and posterior ends relative to the middle"

and interestingly enough also a reference to the patenting of the toepick (!)

"German Patent St 5912 X1/77b,..., granted to Hans Schwarz, Koln-Riehl, and Dr. Berger discloses a blade for a figure skate including a toe pick. The toe pick constitutes a part of the working surface of a figure skate blade and is used to engage the ice both in propulsive and braking actions" (It is unclear if this patent is just for the toepick, or includes the toe rake as well). There's no date for this that I've been able to find.

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Great forum quotes:
On Falling: '...it doesn't matter, it's what you do AFTER you fall that's more important' ISK8NYC

Here are a couple of pictures of Captain Dowler's blade. Hopefully you can clearly see the features of the blades. No toe-picks and quite clearly wider at the toe and the heel than in the middle. But even at the narrowest point on the blade they're a lot wider than modern blades.

Hope the links work out OK, I've not tried adding pictures to posts before!

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...r/DSCF0709.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...r/DSCF0711.jpg