Joseph-Armand Bombardier

Bombardier, Joseph-Armand
Joseph-Armand Bombardier,, inventor of the snowmobile (b at Valcourt, Qué 16 Apr 1907; d at Sherbrooke, Qué 18 Feb 1964). Like many other inventors, Bombardier first tried as a teenager to realize his idea of an all-terrain vehicle, equally reliable on soft ground (eg, muskeg) or snow. The specific invention that made his machine of 1937 a success was the principle of steering by skis in front of a tracked drive. A decade later, based partly on wartime research, he made a 12-passenger machine, for which there was a small market, chiefly military.

In 1959 Bombardier's firm offered the Ski-Doo, creating a new type of vehicle, a new sport and a new market. What was different about the Ski-Doo was its size, an analogue of the motorcycle instead of the car or truck, and propulsion by a single track as wide as the whole machine, behind the steerable skis. Within a decade it transformed the social life of Inuit and arctic communities, creating a demand for gasoline, oil and spare parts. Competing SNOWMOBILE producers threatened to overwhelm the Bombardier family firm in the early 1970s, but it survived and expanded.

Author DONALD J.C. PHILLIPSON

Links to Other Sites
Bombardier
The official website for Bombardier, a world-leading Canadian manufacturer of innovative transportation systems, from regional aircraft and business jets to rail transportation equipment. Click on "About Us" and then "History" for an interactive timeline depicting company history.

Armand Bombardier
A profile of Armand Bombardier from the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame.

J. Armand Bombardier Museum
This multimedia online museum features a detailed biography of J A Bombardier and explores the history of the snowmobile industry in Canada.

Joseph-Armand Bombardier
Watch the Heritage Minute about Joseph-Armand Bombardier from the Historica-Dominion Institute. See also related online learning resources.