The virtual ice Skates museum | Dutch ice skates with curled blades (3)

Dutch ice skates with curled blades (3 of 3)
Fig.1: Dutch skates with safety curls, c.1880 The high rising curls were unsafe because they could easily hook with sometimes dramatic consequences. Therefore gradually the curls disappeared. But before they vanished completely the industry offered ice skates with symbolic curls. It is interesting to realize that this happened all over the skater's world at about the same time. Good ideas have many fathers and thus this design detail is named after men like Paulsen, Salchow and in the Netherlands Wichers and De Salis. The model marks the end of the blacksmith-made ice skates. The runner blades no longer had been forged by man power but punched out of metal sheets. The curls became as flat as a sheet of paper (details 1a and 2a). Thus, also the connection between platforms and runner blades changed. The forged eyes had been replaced by bolts and mutters. The bolts have been fixed to the blades by means of pins or slots (details 1b and 1c). A side effect is that the blades now easily can be extended at the rear or even beyond the end of the platforms. This made the ice skates not only safer, but faster as well. Manufacturer: unknown; mark: none Technical data: total length: 35.5 cm; height over ice: 3.3 cm; platforms: 28 cm long, 6 cm wide; runner blades: 14 mm tall., 3,5 mm thick; weight: 275 g Fig.2: Dutch ice skates with curled blades, c. 1900 Original solution providing for a design just in between two style periods. Manufacturer: P. van Staveren Mz Mark: Technical data: total length: 38.5 cm; height over ice 3.4 cm; platforms: 31 cm long, 6.5 cm wide; runner blades: 15 mm tall, 3 mm thick; weight: 300 g	detail 1a detail 1b detail 1c detail 2
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Dutch ice skates with curled blades (3 of 3)

Fig.1: Dutch skates with safety curls, c.1880
The high rising curls were unsafe because they could easily hook with sometimes dramatic consequences. Therefore gradually the curls disappeared. But before they vanished completely the industry offered ice skates with symbolic curls. It is interesting to realize that this happened all over the skater's world at about the same time. Good ideas have many fathers and thus this design detail is named after men like Paulsen, Salchow and in the Netherlands Wichers and De Salis.
The model marks the end of the blacksmith-made ice skates. The runner blades no longer had been forged by man power but punched out of metal sheets. The curls became as flat as a sheet of paper (details 1a and 2a). Thus, also the connection between platforms and runner blades changed. The forged eyes had been replaced by bolts and mutters. The bolts have been fixed to the blades by means of pins or slots (details 1b and 1c). A side effect is that the blades now easily can be extended at the rear or even beyond the end of the platforms. This made the ice skates not only safer, but faster as well.

Manufacturer: unknown; mark: none
Technical data: total length: 35.5 cm; height over ice: 3.3 cm; platforms: 28 cm long, 6 cm wide; runner blades: 14 mm tall., 3,5 mm thick; weight: 275 g

Fig.2: Dutch ice skates with curled blades, c. 1900

Original solution providing for a design just in between two style periods.

Manufacturer: P. van Staveren Mz
Mark:
Technical data: total length: 38.5 cm; height over ice 3.4 cm; platforms: 31 cm long, 6.5 cm wide; runner blades: 15 mm tall, 3 mm thick; weight: 300 g

detail 1a

detail 1b

detail 1c

detail 2