You might not expect the United States Patent and Trademark Office to be as excited about the Winter Olympics as it is . But this month , berth is release historic patents that uncover how winter sports emerged . So , who invented the snowboard ?
The USPTO’sWinter Games Intellectual Protectionmadness will go forward until the Olympics end by and by this calendar month . But in the interim , I went digging through its archive for other patents involving wintertime sports — and beg the USPTO ’s Paul Fucito to transport us a few more .
It twist out that the Winter Games are an interesting mix of quondam and Modern : A patchwork of ancient tools — like skis — and hyper - New , emerge technologies — like parabolic ski . Here ’s what we found .
The Snowboard
Snowboarding is one of the New fun in the games — many point to this patent of invention for a “ glandular fever - ski , ” awarded to Robert Weber in 1973 , as the first register dining table :
However , there ’s some dispute about that — in the form a fascinating1939 patentfrom two Illinois Swedish turnip advert Burgeson , filed long before the advent of modern snowboard . It ’s now widely considered the first snowboard patent :
“ picayune did I know growing up that my daddy ’s innovation would take off and become an Olympian sport with such a followers , ” his sonrecently commented .
The Hockey Stick
The first hockey sticks , of course , weremade by paw . But in the early 1900s , things were changing . The Hespeler stick fellowship , of Ontario , was credited with inventing the two - piece control stick , which was far well-to-do to make in aggregated quantities . Here ’s theirpatent app , from 1924 :
Plenty of enterpriser rushed to file away patent for masses - manufactured joystick , too . This goalie variation from Ontario inventor Z.A. Smith , from 1922 :
There were also idea that did n’t catch — like this 1915 letters patent for a hockey pin with a hidden part . Its handle hid a detachable rope that could be thrown to role player who go against through the ice .
The Bobsled
The birth of the bob is gruelling to nail — after all , the sleds used today are evolved from the simpler , old - fashioned sleigh that have been around for century . J.H. Kirk ’s patent of invention for a bob , from 1884 , was register a ten after the sport emerged :
The Ski
Skis are ancient inventions — they’ve been used in cold climate since we first figured out how to link up barque to our feet to move over mystifying snow packs . But our advanced idea of skiing as a sport ? That come out in the late 19th C . For example slalom — or slalåm — was first raced in 1905 , in Sweden .
Skis themselves are the study of huge amounts of engineering science these days — which we wo n’t initiate here . But contemporary ski were pioneer by Elan , which invented the “ mysterious sidecut ” ski — aka parabolical ski — and patentedseveral designsfor in the tardy 1980s :
The rest of the diligence was quick to follow — if not The New York Times , which ran a story entitledCaution urge on on New Shaped Skisin 1997 . Here ’s Rossignol’s1992 patent :
The Ice
What about the icing skaters ? A patent of invention for aice resurfacing auto — aka a Zamboni — was awarded to the eponymous Frank was awarded the letters patent in 1953 . By the 1960s , Zamboni had invented a model using an motorcar material body .
And as for the skate — well , they go back much , much further . Our modern-day idea of trash skating dates back to the turn of the hundred — here ’s O.W. Everett’s1901 patentfor a skate that could be affix to a boot :
Curling
Curling does n’t need as much Modern engineering , but here ’s a peculiar patent for strong - weather curling that the USPTO was able to excavate . “ The game is one requiring much accomplishment , and is very pop in vicinity where ice can be obtain , ” indite Massachusetts inventor Joseph Hamilton in his 1894 patent for adevice for play the game of curlingin warmer climes :
“ Said game [ is ] well realize , ” said Hamilton , who presumably had never excogitate curl on a metaphysical level .
The Snowmakers
What about the snow itself — or , more specifically , preventing the want of it ? The history of snow makers is astonishingly farsighted , dating back to the late 1920s . For example , the USPTO sent along this perplexing invention — for amethod of and setup for making carbon - dioxide snow — from 1926 :
But it ’s Wayne Pierce , a Connecticut artificer , who is wide cite as the inventor of the contemporary snow maker — or , at the very least , the first enterpriser to patent one . He and his Centennial State - inventors tested their first model in 1952 at theGrossinger ’s Catskill Resort Hotel , the first ski hill to do so .
His1954 designcalled for an elaborate embedded organization of pipes fly the coop through the topography :
This patent for aMethod for making and distribute snow , present to a Michigan man in 1974 , is a fiddling closer to the tech we use today : Its pivoting fan blow snow from a small water thermionic tube in the back :
The Ski Lift
Though there are purists who would argue lifts are n’t part of the true fun , they ’re a technological necessity for the game . The first modern chairlifts sprang up across American resorts in the late 1930s , though our Alpine counterparts had used older variations since the 18th C . George V. Dondero , of San Francisco , was grant a patent for a “ ski towing gadget ” in 1939 :
New York inventor Alexander Mellvaine applied for thispatent in 1949 — it was the first to propose a unsex foot remainder , which intend an attendee did n’t need to help passengers as much as they would with earlier good example :
The Flame
The USPTO place out thisdesign for a torch , which was patented in 1893 , just three old age before the first modern secret plan . While it ’s not specific to winter — or even the Olympics — it ’s an unusually beautiful drawing for a letters patent . Its inventor — Connecticut man Frederick Rockwell — described them as “ deconstructable pyrotechnicolor illuminating torches : ”
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