The History of the Famous Zamboni

Many people know the name of this popular machine, but very few realize how the machine originated or what it actually does on the ice.

It originally took three people one and a half hours to manually resurface a sheet of ice by hand. However, it was not until Frank J. Zamboni began to experiment an idea that a machine could do the entire resurfacing operation in less time.

Mr. Zamboni first experimented in 1942 with a tractor and in 1948, after putting his designs on hold for more than five years, he developed a model that would resurface the ice by one person in 10 minutes. This machine was later named the Zamboni.

This famous machine called the Zamboni operates with a large blade that shaves the surface of the ice just like many of us men
shave our face. After the ice is shaved, a large horizontal screw gathers the shavings and a vertical screw propels the shavings into a
snow tank located in the front of the machine.

Cold water is then sprayed onto the ice from the wash water tank and a "squeegee" material flushes the dirt and debris from any remaining grooves and indentations in the ice.

Next, the dirty water is vacuumed up, filtered and returned to the wash tank. Finally, the rink surface is renewed when clean hot water is spread on the ice by a towel behind the conditioner, which causes the water to freeze.

This process of shaving the ice with the Zamboni happens 6-8 times a day at the Triangle Sportsplex, which is about 1,140-1,520 gallons of fresh hot water! Now, that’s a lot of water!

Since the development of the first Zamboni, 8 different models have been produced. Zamboni machines may provide 10-20 years of service for one ice rink or ice surface. The SportsPlex Zamboni was built in the late ’70’s and it was then refurbished in the early ’90’s.

More than 8,000 Zamboni machines have been sold throughout the world. The National Hockey League began purchasing Zamboni’s in the early 1950’s. Resurface Corp. is the only other manufacturer of ice resurfacers, which happens to also be the machine that is used by several NHL teams, including our very own Carolina Hurricanes.

Frank J. Zamboni & Co. still operates out of Paramount, CA, Brantford & Ontario, Canada, and Zurich, Switzerland. Although Mr. Zamboni passed away in 1988, the company remains a family run business.