Joseph-Armand Bombardier The mind behind the snowmobile
By: Yurui Qin
When you think of winter sports it is hard to forget about the snowmobile. It doesn’t matter if you heard about them, watch them on extreme sport channels or road one it’s safe to say that they have been a life changer both in the sports industry and in the medical industry. Since the vehicle was invented it was used to play the role of finding missing people after avalanches and much more. It also brought a new idea for winter sports. So who was the genius mind behind this invention? Well, the answer to that question is no other than Joseph-Armand Bombardier.
Early Life Joseph-Armand Bombardier ( bom-bound-tic) w as born on April 16, 1907, in Valcourt QC to A lfred Bombardier and Anna Gravel. Growing up at a small farming village located in Appalachian hills and being the oldest of his eight siblings he grew up fascinated by mechanics even at a young age. When he was at the young age of 10 he would make small tractor models out of a cigar box and a broken alarm clock very impressive especially at a young age. At age 13 he would make toys such as boats and trains out of mechanics he would find at a local jewellery shop. At this age, he would also make small steam engines and small locomotives. He was constantly mocked for his inventions but he didn't let that get to him. Growing up in Valcourt snow would often block off roads for days or even weeks he dreamed of inventing a vehicle that would solve this. A couple of years past and by age of 15, he tested his first full-scale invention that would be the start of the idea for the snowmobile. He had a Model T Ford engine and strapped it to two wooden sleds with an airplane propeller in the back and as the engine ran he would travel through the snow and at a fast pace that it could run over a kilometre. He and his brother would use the vehicle to drive around Valcourt. However, his father disapproved of such an invention because the engine could’ve caused an injury. Despite that he still had big dreams of one day making a lightweight vehicle that many could use to drive on snow at a fast pace.
The Beginning Bombardier ( bom-bound-tic) b ecame a skilled mechanic working at a local garage. He gets his father's permission and decides to quit college and move to Montreal where he would study electrical and mechanical engineering at night school courses. Then at the age of 19, he built a garage with some help for some of his family and to run energy the young Joseph built a dam in which he installed a mini-turbine at a nearby river. There he began again to work on a vehicle that could be used to get to places faster especially at places with cold climates like his hometown Valcourt. Then in 1929 he married Yvonne Labrecque (Evan-Lab-er-ic) and raised six children together. But then the unthinkable happened in 1934 when his two-year-old son died due to peritonitis (par-it-to-night-is) ( A i nflammation of the peritoneum ( Par-It tone-e-um) t hat is usually caused by an infection from fungi or from bacteria.) because the family could not reach the hospital in time. This pushed Joseph to work harder and harder to prevent this from happening again to anyone. Then he invented the first “official snowmobile.” The vehicle could hold the max of seven passengers at a time and was steered by skis. The vehicle was called the B7 snowmobile (B for Bombardier ( bom-bound-tic) a nd 7 for the number of passengers it holds.) The vehicle had a s procket wheel/track system w hich he also invented and was later on used in many other vehicles even till today. H e then patented the vehicle and the wheel/track system on June 29 in 1937. That same year in 1937 he brought the vehicle to the market and started advertising it around Montreal, the first customers who bought the B7 were ambulance drivers and doctors who lived in distant or remote places. Joseph soon saw success in the business and the market expanded to retail and transportation businesses. You could say that this was a pretty big success story right here and we be done but no Joseph didn't stop here he continued to work harder and harder.
Hard work and dedication pays off After years of hard work since he was 17 it finally paid off. Gradually he turned his garage that he and his family built when he was 19 into a manufacturing company called ( le-auto-ni-edge-bon-bound-tic-lim-i-tee)w here he hired farm labourers and trained them into workers he needed. Some of his relatives also joined in and worked for him. It wasn't long until his business started to bloom with manufacturing as much as 200 snowmobiles each year! He would go on and invented more variations of the snowmobile like the B12 (He patted it in1942) However when world war two brock out in 1939 the Canadian Armed Forces took interest in Joseph’s snowmobiles but the Canadian Armed Forces wanted more powerful vehicles that had the ability to sustain military equipment while also carrying more troops. This led Joseph to develop more suitable models and in different variations of the B12 for the military the models were called Mark I, Mark III and Kaki. During this time over 1,900 models were manufactured between 1942 and 1946. During 1947 he would also introduce the C18 a school bus that was able to run on snow. During 1947-48 the company would earn $2.8 million in sales about $39 million today earning $324,000 in profit worth about 5 million today. In 1953 the famous Muskeg Tractor was introduced and it was a vehicle that could travel through snow, sand etc. The reason why he invented this vehicle was due to the reason that during the winters of 1947-48 the government started to clear the road so the snowmobile didn't have a use for that anymore and the sales for snowmobiles started to drop to only one million and that had a big hit on the companie so Joseph started inventing all-terrain vehicles.
Introducing the Ski-Doo While his Muskeg Tractor was a massive world-wide success he wanted to continue inventing new snowmobiles. But this time he wanted to make a smaller and more lightweight snowmobile compared to the C18, B7 etc. so trust he began testing. He started with a wooden prototype similar to a toboggan in 1958 he then introduced his new product in 1959. The Ski-Doo was smaller and super lightweight compared to the other snowmobile models it was about the size of a motorcycle. The Ski-Doo was also able to do pretty much anything else the old models could. It could transport people during the harsh winters,carry items like wood and it was also able to do tricks that the old models couldn't! The first Ski-Doo has streeable skis. Soon this line of snowmobiles caught the attention of everyone with new models introduced like Ski-Doo Alpines.
Joseph-Armand Bombardier’s legacy Sadly Joseph-Armand Bombardier ( bom-bound-tic) p assed away in 1964 on February 18 at the age of 56 due to Cancer. Joseph-Armand Bombardier has brought new ideas of transportation and a new winter sport enjoyable to all ages. Till this day the Ski-Doo is still one of the best-selling snowmobile manufacturers selling over 150,000 snowmobiles each year. There is even a museum dedicated to his legacy located in Valcourt Quebec called the J. Armand Bombardier Ingenuity ( In-gen-new-ity) Museum. While snowmobiling is one of the most popular winter sports and has also saved more lives than ever. And with his inventions other inventions are only possible because of him. Joseph-Armand Bombardier ( bom-bound-tic) w ill forever be a part of Canadian heritage.
SOURCES AND IMAGES USED https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/joseph-armand-bo mbardier https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/armand-bombardier-the-tireless-inv entor https://youtu.be/aWuZ9hUm5z4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1yMaTRGK9A https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/peritonitis-symptoms-ca uses-treatments https://www.westshoremarine.ca/when-was-the-snowmobile-invented- timeline/ https://www.ski-doo.com/ca/community/ontrack/Ski-Doo-history-Alpin e-utility-sleds.html http://townshipsheritage.com/article/joseph-armand-bombardier-1907- 1964-and-ski-doo https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canada-150/great-ca nadian-innovations-how-the-snowmobile-opened-much-of-canadasno rth/article34590806/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgHqknM9tT4 https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1726159574/ https://snowgoer.com/news/the-top-10-snowmobiles-of-2020/28312/ https://www.ride509.com/tactical-helmet?quantity=1&size=88&color=9 02&style=60 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WujWos_Wnss https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/128880 http://www.offroadvehicle.ru/AZBUCAR/Bombardier.html https://www.museebombardier.com/en/biography http://fondationbombardier.ca/a-propos/rapports-d-activites/2017-18/e n/ https://www.trekearth.com/gallery/North_America/Canada/Central/Que bec/photo36002.htm http://townshipsheritage.com/article/bombardier-dream https://historyofjoseph-armandbombardier.weebly.com/fun-facts.html https://twitter.com/tomfroese/status/957491906627305472 https://www.brandsoftheworld.com/logo/ski-doo https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/496521927659643454/
Fun Facts
● The Ski-Doo was meant to be called the Ski-Dog but due to a typing error in the document people called it the Ski-Doo
● Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) and Bombardier Inc. used to be the same company.
● BRP now even has other brands like the Sea-Doo, Can-Am, Rotax Engines, Lynx Snowmobiles, Evinrude, Manitou Pontoons boats, Alumacraft boats and Telwater boats
● Joseph’s net worth was about 1-5 million dollars
● During 1970 his company started making planes and trains and became a multinational corporation.
● The sizes of the B7 and the first snowmobiles would be comparable to a truck.
● The original garage (L’Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée) is located right beside the J. Armand Bombardier Ingenuity museum