Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 November 1898 — GLASS SKATES. [ARTICLE]

GLASS SKATES.

They Are the Latest Feature tn Ice Rinks Thia Winter. The newest’ feature of interest in the New York ice rinks is the use of glass skates. It is found that skates with glass runners are far better, both for speed and ease in gliding for pleasure, than are the skates with metal runners, and several pairs are now being used in one of the metropolitan rinks. The inventor has succeeded In reducing the glass to a hardness that insures an edge which practically never becomes blunt. The tempering process remains a secret, but it is a fact that severe contact with hard ice does not fracture the glass. To look at these skates one would not suppose they were made of anything else than metal, for the runners are always colored in order to disguise the substance of which they are made. The coloring process is arbitrary, and tints in the case of ladies' skates are rd way's made'to correspond with the colors of the wearer’s costume. The runners of these glass skates are attached directly to an especially made shoe which laces from the heel up the back. The combination not only gives a skate which is perfectly easy in motion, but the high shoe stiffens theankle to an extent which greatly aids in the enjoyment and adds to the safety of the exercise.