By Porter Lang
First, the name is wrong. Wikipedia points out that “snow blower” is a misnomer, because the snow is moved by an auger or an impeller, not blown by air. It also says a snow blower differs from a plough, which pushes snow to the front or side. The machine throws it.
That is the first useful thing to know before buying one. The second is who built the first practical one.
Single-stage and two-stage
Wikipedia divides snow blowers into two classes. On a single-stage machine the auger pulls snow in and sends it out the chute, and the auger touches the ground, so the machine is unsuitable for unpaved surfaces. On a two-stage machine the auger feeds a high-speed impeller that throws the snow out. Two-stage machines can handle deeper snow, and because their augers do not touch the ground they can be used on unpaved surfaces.
Wikipedia gives a size range: small machines clear a path of 18 to 20 inches (460 to 510 millimetres) and only a few inches of light snow, while the largest, mounted on heavy winter service vehicles, can move swaths 20 feet (6 metres) wide or more, through snow up to 6 feet (1.8 metres) deep. The page does not say which size suits a given driveway, and we do not guess.
Before Sicard
Others tried first, and the early record is mostly about railways.
Wikipedia says Robert Carr Harris of Maple Green, New Brunswick, patented a “Railway Screw Snow Excavator” in 1870, and that Robert E. Cole patented a machine using cutters and a fan in 1923. A retailer’s history page, from a snow blower dealer and so a promotional source, says a Toronto dentist, J. W. Elliot, received a patent in 1869 for a design that was never built. Wikipedia’s article on rotary snowplows agrees that Elliot never built a working model.
Orange Jull of Orangeville, Ontario, then took the idea further. The rotary snowplow article says he built working models and tested them with sand. It says that in the winter of 1883 to 1884 he contracted with the Leslie brothers to build a full-size prototype, which succeeded, and that he later sold his design rights to them. The retailer says Jull was granted a patent in 1884, that 146 of the Leslie rotary ploughs were built, and that production continued into the 1950s. Those machines, in the rotary article’s words, have a large circular set of blades at the front, an engine in the body to power it, and a chute above the blades. Many are not self-propelled and are pushed by locomotives.
Sicard
Wikipedia calls Arthur Sicard “generally credited as the inventor of the first practical snow blower”. Its article on Sicard says he was born on 17 December 1876 in Saint-Léonard, Quebec, and died on 13 September 1946. He farmed in Saint-Léonard at the start of the twentieth century. He got the idea after seeing the rotating blades of a neighbour’s harvester, and applied the same principle to clearing snow. The French Wikipedia article says the same.
The retailer’s account differs in two details. It says that around 1894, aged 18, Sicard was working on his family’s dairy farm, and that he saw a grain thresher, not a harvester. It says he built a first prototype that bogged down in snow, that others dismissed the idea, and that he carried on alone.
Side by side
| Point | Wikipedia (English and French) | Retailer’s history page |
|---|---|---|
| Machine he saw | Neighbour’s harvester | A grain thresher |
| His work | Farmer | Family dairy farm |
| First prototype | 1925 | Around 1894, which bogged down; a later machine unveiled in 1925 |
| First sale | 1927, Outremont | 1927, Outremont |
Wikipedia’s Sicard article also notes that a 2022 article in Le Journal de Montréal describes him as a milkman, which conflicts with the farmer description. We do not choose between them. Our reading: the sources agree on the dates that matter, 1925 and 1927, and disagree only on a farmer’s background.
The first sale
The sources agree that in 1927 Sicard sold his first snow blower to Outremont, now a borough of Montréal. Wikipedia’s English article says his vehicles were in use clearing roads there by 1927. The Sicard article says it was sold under the name “Sicard snow plow and snowblower”. The retailer calls the 1925 machine the “Sicard Snow Remover Snowblower”.
He founded Sicard Industries in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec. Wikipedia says the company is now a division of SMI-Snowblast, Inc. of Watertown, New York, and that a subsidiary, Sicard SSI, continues in Knowlton, Quebec. It also says the first snow blower from Quebec is kept in a warehouse of the Canada Science and Technology Museum. We did not check the museum’s own records.
Practical: clearing a jam
Wikipedia gives one safety point that belongs in any buying decision. Snow can build up in the auger and jam it. The correct procedure is to turn off the engine, disengage the clutch and clear the jam with a broom handle or another long object, not by hand. Most modern machines include a dead man’s switch that stops the mechanism when the operator lets go, and many makers include a plastic clearing tool. The page says these switches may be mandatory in some jurisdictions. It does not say which.
Dates in order
- 1869: Elliot’s design patented, never built (retailer; rotary article).
- 1870: Harris’s New Brunswick patent (Wikipedia).
- 1883 to 1884: Jull’s full-size prototype (rotary article).
- 1923: Cole’s patent (Wikipedia).
- 1925: Sicard’s machine completed or unveiled (Wikipedia; retailer).
- 1927: First sale, to Outremont (all sources).
- 1960s: jet-engine blowers first used in Russia and Canada (Wikipedia).
What kind of sources these are
Three Wikipedia articles, one in French, that anyone can edit. A snow blower retailer’s history page, which is promotional. No museum record or patent was read directly.
What we left out
Injury figures, prices, engine and horsepower claims, and any brand recommendation. The sources do not say how Sicard’s first machine was powered or built, so we do not either.
Quick answers
Who invented the snow blower? According to Wikipedia, Arthur Sicard of Quebec is generally credited with the first practical one, completed in 1925. Earlier railway designs from the 1800s are described separately.
When was the first snow blower sold? Wikipedia and its French edition say Sicard sold his first in 1927 to Outremont, under the name “Sicard snow plow and snowblower”.
What is the difference between single-stage and two-stage? According to Wikipedia, a single-stage auger throws the snow itself and touches the ground. A two-stage auger feeds a high-speed impeller and can handle deeper snow.
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Roam first. Shop later.