Tidbits Grand Forks - April 16, 2015

Page 8

NOTEWORTHY INVENTORS:

JOSEPH BOMBARDIER RED RIVER VALLEY MOTORCYCLISTS ANNUAL

LIVE MUSIC BY DOWNTOWN HORNS!

MOTORCYCLE SHOW ALERUS CENTER GRAND FORKS, ND

SATURDAY, APRIL 18TH SUNDAY, APRIL 19TH 9:00AM - 7:00PM

9:00AM - 4:00PM

RAFFLE GRAND PRIZE:

2015 HARLEY DAVIDSON ROAD GLIDE SPECIAL FROM ANDY’S HARLEY DAVIDSON

$20 Per Ticket - Only 3,000 Tickets Sold!* $5.00 Admission

Kids 10 & Under FREE w/ Paying Adult

Altru’s Hospice Circle of Friends Humane Society Northlands Rescue Mission and Area Charities

For Information Contact

Timothy Gowan (701) 739-1605 Mike Hagen (218) 791-2910 or visit: www.RRVMND.org IVER VALL DR EY RE SAFETY

* Drawing at 4pm on April 19, 2015 at Alerus Center

CHARITY

BROTHERHOOD

MO

TS TOR CYCLIS

We owe the invention of the snowmobile to Canadian inventor Joseph-Armand Bombardier. But that was just a small part of this man’s contributions. Here are the facts on the inventor and businessman. • Quebec-born Joseph had an affinity for mechanics from a young age. At 13, he fashioned a mechanical toy locomotive driven by a clock mechanism, and a steam engine created out of old sewing machine parts followed shortly afterward. It was the family’s hope that Joseph would join the priesthood, and in 1921, the 14-year-old was sent to seminary. • When Joseph was 15, his father gave him an irreparable Model T Ford motor, which the boy soon transformed into the power behind an unusual sled, his first snow machine. • Not suited to religious studies, at 17, Joseph began an apprenticeship at a Montreal garage and enrolled in night classes in mechanics and engineering. By 19, he had his own garage, and it seemed he could fix anything. • In the winter of 1934, a days-long blizzard prevented Bombardier from getting his twoyear-old son to the hospital, and the boy died from a ruptured appendix. Joseph stepped up his efforts to invent a vehicle that could move over the snow. The result was a snowmobile that was steered by front skis and could carry seven people in its heated cabin. Within two years, he had built and sold 12 of his B7’s (“B” for bombardier, “7” for the number of passengers) to doctors, veterinarians, innkeepers, funeral directors, and schools.

Tidbits is Available at:

All Grand Forks, East Grand Forks & Crookston locations of: Lo

cated on publicatio the racks nea n r th Exit doors e !

and Grand Forks


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