Zamboni, Frank

Zamboni was born in 1901 in Eureka , Utah , into a family of Italian immigrants. Soon, his parents bought a farm in Lava Hot Springs near Pocatello , Idaho , where Frank grew up. In 1920, the family moved to a suburb of Los Angeles , California , where Frank and his older brother George worked as auto mechanics. In 1921, Frank studied in Chicago, and after returning from there, he and his younger brother Lawrence opened their own business.

In 1927, Frank and Lawrence began making blocks of ice for local farmers. In the 30s, electric refrigerators began to spread and in 1939 the brothers sold their business, leaving themselves the refrigeration equipment with which they intended to create an ice rink.

In 1940, the brothers opened the Iceland ice rink measuring 30 by 60 meters, which became one of the largest in the country (up to 800 skiers could be on it at the same time). Frank managed to create smooth ice, without humps due to cooling pipes passing under the ice. It took one and a half hours a day to level the ice, during which three or four people manually leveled, cleaned and refilled the surface. Sometimes, machines were used to level (cut off the top layer).

In 1949, Frank invented a machine that allowed one person to level, rinse and refill ice in just 10 minutes. By 1953, he received the patent US2642679 for this installation. In the early 50s, these cars were created on the basis of full-fledged Jeep CJ- 3B. ^[1] Sonia Heni , Olympic champion in figure skating, bought the second and third cars from Zamboni and used them to prepare ice during her tour.

Since 1956, the Jeep chassis without a body and a cab (Model F) was used as the basis of the machines. Since 1964, a chassis of its own design has been used. ^[one]

The demand for such machines was so high that Frank had to open a second factory in Brantford , Ontario, and a subsidiary in Switzerland . The name Zamboni has become a trademark, and is sometimes used as a common name for any such machines.

Frank Zamboni died in 1988 at the age of 87. Since its founding, Zamboni, Frank J. Zamboni & Co. Inc , has sold more than 10 thousand resourcefeyser. The ten thousandth unit was transferred to the Montreal Canadiens club in April 2012 for use in the Bell Center complex. ^[2]

• Frank J. Zamboni was awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of Technical Sciences at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York in 1988.
• In 2000, the name of Frank J. Zamboni was inscribed on the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame. ^[3]
• In 2006, Frank's name was inscribed on the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and World Figure Skating Museum Hall of Fame . ^[four]
• In 2007, Frank's name was listed on the US National Inventors Hall of Fame.
• In 2009, the name F. Zamboni was listed on the US Hockey Hall of Fame.
• On January 16, 2013, in honor of Zamboni’s 112th birthday, the Google Internet portal published an interactive Google Logo (Doodle) ^{[5] [6]} .

• Zamboni website
• The Zamboni Story - Frank Zamboni's Biography on Zamboni.com
• LORD OF ICE FIELDS: ICE-FILLING MACHINES. Zamboni ice-filling machines - an indispensable attribute of hockey competitions, performances of figure skaters and skaters // Popular Mechanics, August 2009
• Mechanical Celebrity - “Zamboni” // PRO HOCKEY Magazine No. 20 (37), 01/13/2009