Frank J. Zamboni

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Frank Joseph Zamboni, Jr. (born January 16, 1901 in Eureka , Utah , † July 27, 1988 ) was an American inventor and entrepreneur. He is considered the inventor of the ice resurfacing machine and founded the company Frank J. Zamboni & Co. Inc.

youth

His parents, who were Italian immigrants, bought a farm in Pocatello , Idaho, where he grew up. In 1920 he moved with his parents to Los Angeles, where his older brother George ran an auto repair shop.

Professional career

After graduating from Chicago Business School, he and his younger brother Lawrence opened an electronics store in Los Angeles, Paramount , in 1922 . In 1927 he added a facility for the production of ice blocks. When electric refrigerators came along, he sold the ice block business in 1939.

Zamboni's most important invention - the ice resurfacing machine

Together with his brother and a cousin he built the ice rink "Iceland Skating Rink" in Paramount, Southern California, near his factory. The following year the facility, which had space for 800 runners, was roofed over. The huge ice surface had to be groomed several times a day. A scraper was dragged behind a tractor and three to four workers had to wipe away the scraped ice and re-water the area. It took 90 minutes.

From 1947 to 1952, Zamboni constructed a water tank on a Jeep body in numerous experiments and developed it into a modern, driver-controlled ice resurfacing machine, which became a bestseller and, as Zamboni, the generic name for this type of machine.

Private life

Zamboni married in 1923. The marriage had three children.

Honor

In 2009, Zamboni was posthumously inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame by the US Hockey Association.

In the computer game Plants vs. Zombies (Plants vs. Zombies), there is a character, the Zomboni , a zombie who drives an ice resurfacing machine with a big Z on the hood. The plant and zombie lexicon in the game refers to the approval of the Zamboni company and its website.

In 2013, for Zamboni's 112th birthday, Google created an interactive doodle in which you had to use an ice machine to smooth the ice that was used by ice skaters, ice hockey players and figure skaters.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Amonte, Barrasso, LeClair lead US Hockey Hall class in USA Today, July 28, 2009
  2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ushockeyhall.com
  3. ↑ Official Google Doodle and its interactive version on google.com from January 16, 2013

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zamboni, Frank J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Zamboni, Frank Joseph junior (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American inventor and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Eureka , Utah
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 1988