John Joseph Merlin is the first person known to have invented roller skates. In the 1760s, he debuted his invention by hurtling into a masquerade party at Carlisle-House in London wearing his new inline roller skates and playing the violin! Unfortunately, he could not control his speed or direction and crashed into a huge expensive mirror (£500 value), smashed it to bits, broke his violin and severely wounded himself.
When Merlin was 25, he moved to London where he opened “Merlin’s Mechanical Museum” which prospered into a very popular and regularly visited place. The visitors of the museum could play at the gambling machine, see perpetual motion clocks and mobile bird cages, listen to music boxes and even try the wheeled chair for a few shillings.
One of the visitors at the opening of Merlin’s museum was a young boy, Charles Babbage, who was invited by Merlin to his workshop. The future engineer, philosopher, and inventor was amused by the automata he saw. In his later years, he recalled what he saw in Merlin’s workshop: “There were two uncovered female figures of silver, about twelve inches high.”
He had another famous friend – the British jeweler, goldsmith and entrepreneur, James Cox – and together they created the Silver Swan automaton. Merlin designed the mechanism, while Cox created its shape. When Mark Twain had the opportunity to see the Silver Swan, he wrote that it “had a living grace about his movement and a living intelligence in his eyes.”
Miller worked first in Paris and then in London, where he died in 1803 at the age of 68.
Picture Credit : Google
