How did Arthur Sicard invent the snowblower?

Answer

Growing up on a dairy farm in Quebec, Ontario, in Canada, Arthur Sicard saw just how inconvenient snow-covered roads could be. His family couldn't get milk to market when deep snow made the roads impassible. Snowplows were available, but was there a better way?

As a teenager, Arthur also saw a machine called a thresher being used to harvest wheat. The thresher used rotating blades. He wondered if a similar machine could clear snow from country roads. He set out to build such a contraption. To make one that worked took him three decades.

It wasn't until the winter of 1925 that Mr. Sicard developed a snowblower that worked. That year, residents of Montreal saw a strange four-wheel-drive truck rumbling through the streets of the city.

That first snowblower had three sections: the truck chassis, two adjustable chutes, and a motor to run it. In place of its front bumper were two rotating blades in a housing with a scoop in front. The driver could clear and toss snow into the back of the truck or throw it more than 90 feet away. Instead of pushing the snow aside, the way plows did, the new machine could cart it off or throw it well out of the way.