A Brief History Of The Snowmobile
The Snowmobile is a relatively new invention to the world, having been around since at least World War II. The first Snowmobile was designed and patented by a man named Harlon Pallafer. He used the experience of flying to design the first Snowmobile, which he called the Grasshopper. In this article, we take a brief history of the Snowmobile and how it has evolved over the years.
A Brief History of the Snowmobile: The first Snowmobile to be made public was the Grasshopper, which Harlon Pallafer designed and built in his own garage. The Lombard Steam Locomotive was the first vehicle to utilize a continuous sliding track as the main road drive. This helped it easily glide over all kinds of rough terrain and snow with relative ease. The original Grasshopper was designed for city driving where potholes were common, but they were also quite handy when taking on long distance drives on snow. The track was expanded later to include tracks for all vehicles, and eventually to include a complete light kit for the car and engine compartment.
How it Works: The Snowmobile has four tires, but unlike most vehicles, only has one tire on the front. These are set on a slant, and the center of gravity is lower than most vehicles. This allows the Snowmobile to accelerate more quickly and with a better overall arc. The result is that the vehicle can reach a top speed of ninety miles per hour or better. It can handle downhill snow faster than a vehicle with a similar width but doesn’t have the agility for navigating the turns.
The Engine/Car: The engine of a Snowmobile is similar to that of most other trucks and cars. They have four wheel drive and are generally considered more fuel efficient than most trucks. The Snowmobile is able to extract more power from the engine because of its increased center of gravity, but the engine is not as light as it would be for a truck. The engine is powered by an alternator that is located in the back of the vehicle.
Where It Is Headed: Although the United States has had a long history of snowmobile use, Canada has had the longest running operational campaign of any country with over thirty years. The longest run by a Canadian vehicle took place during the height of the Cold War when the Americans were providing aid to the Canadians against the Soviet Union. The Canadians used their newly developed vehicles to plow through the streets of Berlin and down the highways of Canada, rather than fight the Cold War from the air.
What You Can Do with a Snowmobile: While the Canadian army still uses them to plow through the streets of New York City, you can take your snowmobile on a cross-country adventure and drive it in virtually any terrain. There are no laws against it. The history of the snowmobile is merely the history of man. If you want to learn more about the history of the snowmobile, I recommend you follow the links below.
