Science Fair Project Encyclopedia - There are three things in
life that people like to stare at: One is a rippling stream,
another a fire in a fireplace, and the other is the Zamboni
going around and around and around. An ice resurfacer is a
truck-like vehicle used to clean and smooth the surface of an
ice rink, originally developed by Frank J. Zamboni in 1949. The
Zamboni Corporation and other companies manufacture ice
resurfacing machines, but because of the success of the Zamboni
Corporation, Zamboni has become a genericized trademark and most
people refer to any ice resurfacer as a Zamboni. Ice resurfacers
are needed because usage (such as ice hockey and figure skating)
creates many pits and ridges in the ice. Before ice resurfacers,
resurfacing a rink was done with scrapers and hoses which took
many workers over an hour to complete. Zamboni's invention led
to a great improvement in the speed and quality of ice
resurfacing, thereby contributing greatly to the popularity of
ice sports today. The heart of a