Who invented the zamboni

Zamboni Company. But the success of the rink, and its sheer volume of foot traffic, soon raised a secondary concern. In the early s, skating rinks had a rather daunting procedure for restoring the surface of their damaged ice:. He Frankensteined parts from war surplus vehicles and bomber planes, and ran into numerous issues — chattering blades, malfunctioning snow tanks, lack of tire traction on the slippery ice. Per Joseph Scafetta, Jr. Top left: Zamboni working on prototypes; top right: a patent illustration for his early machine; bottom: an ice resurfacer prototype in action Zamboni Company.

The resulting invention — the Zamboni Ice Resurfacer — could perform all of these tasks in 15 minutes while driving across the ice. Future machines would improve this time even more. In , Zamboni formed Frank J. New owners often expressed concern that the new machines were so fun to watch that they were stealing the limelight. Zamboni had an astute eye for iteration, based on customer feedback.

Over the years, the machines saw various improvements — increased tank capacities, liquid-cooled engines, and later, electric power. But today, under the leadership of his grandson, the company he built continues to dominate the ice resurfacing market.

Since , the company has sold more than 12k ice resurfacing machines. Though ice rinks have seen slowing growth in the US, Zamboni has continued to mine customers in growing foreign markets. Fears about niche market saturation have never been fully realized.

But the Zamboni company enjoys a competitive advantage that goes back to the roots of Frank Zamboni, who has since been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. My father was always surprised by that. Privacy policy.

Generic filters Hidden label. Hidden label. The man who invented the Zamboni How the son of Italian immigrants created a niche industry for ice resurfacing machines and cornered the market. By: Zachary Crockett zzcrockett. Technically, these contraptions are called ice resurfacers. Enjoying this article? Thank you for subscribing. Your submission failed.

Please try again! Recent Posts. Home equity is the difference between the value of a home and the amount still owed on it. If the value of a home stays flat, home equity rises slowly — one mortgage payment …. In the 12 months ended Sept. Is crime-solving a good way to fall in love? This was the Model A. Built on a Jeep platform, a wooden box held the snow shavings; water dropped from a tank to wash the ice and was pumped back into the bucket.

Then another layer of water was laid down for a fresh, clean surface. The vehicle looked ungainly, but it worked, resurfacing the rink with a clean sheet in 15 minutes. Click here for more details. Restored by the company in , the Model A still works, though it mostly enjoys a well-deserved retirement at the Paramount rink.

The second Zamboni machine, the Model B, was created in , at the request of figure skater Sonja Henie, who saw the Model A and had to have one for herself. The machine earned a patent in and began its long, if lumbering, march across American ice. A Zamboni machine was first used in an NHL game in , and one scraped the ice at the Olympics for the first time at Squaw Valley in Growth was slow at first; only 32 machines were built through As with the other inventions, though, there emerged a symbiosis between the product—good, clean ice—and the times, as many municipalities and schools began to build rinks.

More than 10, have been sold. But the Zamboni ice-resurfacer is more than another example of ingenuity. It is a cultural touchstone. The late Charles Schultz, an avid hockey player, had two of them at his home rink, and the machines made several appearances in his Peanuts comic strip.

Snoopy drove one. Correction: The original version of this story misstated the title of the book from which it is excerpted. Contact us at letters time. By Cait Murphy. When the demand for cooling expanded into the produce industry, the brothers expanded their business vision, as well: they built a plant that made the block ice wholesalers used to pack their product that was transported by rail across the country. But as refrigeration technology improved, demand for block ice began to shrink, and Frank and Lawrence started looking for other ways to capitalize on their expertise with ice.

That opportunity came in the sport of ice skating. Popularity of the sport was growing, but there were few rinks in Southern California, so in Frank, Lawrence, and a cousin built Iceland Skating Rink in Paramount.