With all the snow we have been seeing this winter, there has been many different snow removal equipment in use including shovels, snow blowers, and plows. This equipment used today has seen a lot of changes over the years. For example, back in the 1920s, the University of Iowa used horse drawn snow plows as seen in the picture below. (1)
The first motorized snow plow was seen as early as 1913.(2) By 1944, motorized snow plows were being used more and more as well as improvements to the machines such as the additions of rotating forks and snow blowers as seen in the picture below. (3)
Today, there are patents for some facinating snow removal inventions including the following patent for snow melting heater mats. (4)
Want to learn more?
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Search for patents related to snow removal, snow plows, etc. at PatentScope
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Check out the following books:
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Doré, Guy.
Cold regions pavement engineering. Reston, VA : ASCE Press ; New York : McGraw-Hill, 2009. http://infohawk.uiowa.edu/F/?func=find-b&find_code=SYS&local_base=UIOWA&request=005120575 - Nixon, Wilfrid A. Living snow fences. Iowa City, Iowa : IIHR Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa, 2006. TR- 460. http://www.iowadot.gov/research/reports/Year/2006/fullreports/tr460.pdf
- Nixon, Wilfrid A. Optimal usage of de-icing chemicals when scraping ice. Iowa City, Iowa : IIHR Hydroscience and Engineering, University of Iowa, 2003. http://trid.trb.org/view.aspx?type=MO&id=750915
- Look for more on the Library InfoHawk Catalog.
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- Search relevant articles on Compendex
References:
- Horses Pulling a Snow Plow in Front of Armory, The University of Iowa, 1920s. The University of Iowa Libraries Digital Library. http://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ictcs/id/3385
- Snow Removal. National Snow & Ice Data Center. http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/snow/removal.html
- Hunt, Hal W. Winning the Battle with Snow. Scientific American. Jan 1944: 19-21. http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/journal/v170/n1/pdf/scientificamerican0144-19.pdf
- Bayless, Ronald E. and James M. Harvard. Snow Melting Heater Mats. US4967057. 1990.http://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=US37902859
loved the visuals, thanks for that. Read somewhere that it would be cheaper to make the side walks heated to melt snow vs snow removal.
Saw this CNN news item that might be of interest to you. http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/tech/2014/06/05/solar-roadways-orig-cfb.cnn.html