We all know the Le petit patineur , this one was produced by Georges Flersheim but Fernand Martin bought the rights during the annual “Concours Lepine” in 1911. Martin bought in 1911 four models at the Lépine contest: the chestnut merchant, the man with stilts, the skater and the fly catcher.
The boy skates on only one skate, much like today’s skateboard, in the French article they talk about the : L’amateur de skating but the name was later changed by Martin of Flersheim to : Le Petit Patineur number 229
Here an article from I found in the magazine “La Nature” from 1911 of the “original” inventor.
Free translation:
The skating enthusiast.
Skating is fashionable and we frequently see, on the Parisian sidewalks, children practicing this sport with only one skate.
They kick off with the free foot pressing it to the ground and cover long distances on the single skate, one left behind, presumably, by more serious amateurs.
The mechanism controls two opposite cranks which, through appropriate connecting rods, produce the desired effects.
One of these cranks A carries the body by means of a connecting rod with a horizontal groove B’ fixed to the end of a rod C resting on the shoe D.
The second crank E controls a lever F which drives the right leg, the one that rests on the ground.
This leg is a G H I bellcrank, and the point of contact with the ground would describe an arc of a circle if the body were fixed; but the subject being mobile on the skate, the end of the foot is content to remain in place, thus offering the point of support necessary for the advancement.
And the amateur of skating goes forward.
The inventor of this curious toy is Mr. Boucheron, 4, rue de l’Eglise, in Vitry-sur-Seine.