Nick Perna is an ice skating inventor. In this article, Nick shares how his skating inventions came about. The first invention he talks about is the PIC® Skate.
- The PIC® Skate came about from my first experience with Rollerblades back in the late '80's.
The inventor of Rollerblade skates sent a demo pair to our rink's pro shop and they asked for feedback on the product. I immediately put them on and skated right away all around the inside lobby of the rink! It was loads of fun...BUT...I also sensed that it could be MORE fun if they had a TOE-PICK on the front like a regular figure skate or rollerskate!
I also realized that the skate would turn quicker and easier if the wheels were "rockered" to the same radius as an ice figure blade. These were my two main suggestions I relayed to the company that made the Rollerblade skates.
Fast forward a couple of years...I was skating a lot on inline skates and teaching "inline freestyle skating" to current and former figure skaters. At that time, I had skaters using regular inline skates for cross-training, program run-throughs, and learning "moves-in-the- field"...all off ice! Since most of this was being done outdoors on an asphalt playground, there were never any "ice fees", no crowds, and NO Zamboni interruptions! The skaters and I LOVED IT! It was especially nice to get out in the fresh air during the spring and autumn months!
The Rollerblade company took notice of my teaching and interests in furthering the sport of inline skating and invited me to their headquarters in Minnesota to help them develop a curriculum for inline skating. Their intention was to develop a worldwide education program for inline instructors. Very exciting!!
The meeting, which included several other coaches and skaters from various industries, was a great success and, in fact, resulted in the first teaching plan for what was later to become the IISA or International Inline Skating Association.
At this meeting, I proposed to several members of the Rollerblade management team that they take a closer look at the "figure skating" market. I asked them to seriously consider developing and manufacturing an inline skate especially for figure skaters which would include a toe-pick, or toe-stop, and a proper rocker-radius of the wheels.
They looked at me as if I had three heads.
To this day, I still do not know the reason why they were so opposed to this idea, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the "image" the company was trying to get across in the marketplace...if you know what I mean.
Soooooooo...I decided to take matters into my own hands and do it myself!
I started experimenting with different methods of attaching a toe-stop to the front of a regular pair of inline skates. I also tried many different rocker set-ups to determine the optimum radius for a figure skater. Once I had a working model, I skated on it on all different types of surfaces and had many of my students test it out as well. They ALL fell in love with it!
Along about this time, I received a phone call "out-of-the-blue" from a man named John Petell. He was manufacturing a large, rubber toe-stop for the front of an inline skate called the "Pic-Stop" and he wanted to know if I would help "test" his product for him. I told him I would, and the conversation moved into us discussing the "safest" way to stop on inlines and eventually on to my work on an inline figure skate.
Well...long story short...John and I decided to develop the "PIC® Frame" inline figure skate and we applied for a joint patent on it. Several years later, we were granted the patent after one of the strangest scenes I'm sure the patent office has ever seen.
You see, we were called in to personally meet with the patent examiner in Washington, DC to explain, first-hand, why our invention was truly different from any other inline skate on the market. After explaining the many nuances of the skate to the "glossy-eyed" examiner over and over again, I finally got up, laced on a pair of Pic-Frames, and proceeded to perform a one-foot spin, a sit-spin and a flip jump right there in his polished, oak-floored, office!!
He was flabbergasted!
He was excited!
He couldn't believe his eyes!
He had just witnessed an "ice-skating" performance on "wheels" right there in front of him!
He granted us the patent, virtually on the spot.