Earliest Known Pair

• Ice skates were invented in Northern Europe in Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands. Some date back to as early as 1000 B.C. Unlike the skates of today, the first ice skates had a blade made from animal bone that were tied to shoes with leather straps. These ice skates were believed to be used for transportation and hunting. The first recorded mention of ice skating was around 1180 in a book written by a monk, William Fitzstephen, where he describes kids playing on ice wearing ice skates.
  
  

Developments

• Around the 14th century the Dutch were using wooden platform ice skates with iron blades. Like the earliest known ice skates, these skates were attached to the shoes using leather straps. By the 16th century, the Dutch improved ice skates' blades by making the blades narrower and double edged. This new design enabled the user to move across the ice with ease.
  
  

First Steel Clamp

• E.V. Bushnell of Philadelphia invented the first all-steel clamp, which allowed you to clip the blade onto a boot, in 1848. Jackson Haines, an American figure skater and ballet dancer known as the father of figure skating, developed a two-plate blade in 1865 that attached directly to his boots. The "toe pick," which was a group of saw-like teeth at the front of the blade, was added to the blade in 1870 to improve figure skating moves.
  
  

Closed-toe Skates

• The first closed-toe ice skates where invented by a skate blades manufacturer, John E. Strauss, in 1914. Strauss was a blade maker who designed the skates to be lighter, thereby allowing figure skaters to perform better tricks. Ice skates have evolved ever since their discovery and improvements have been made to ice skates, whether for figure skating or hoceky, as they continue to be used and technology improves.