Recently the Minneapolis Star Tribune published an article all about the
 Zamboni and it's history. It was very interesting and I thought it would be
 fun to share it. It will take me several postings to get it all out to you so,
 please be patient!! A MACHINE WITH SOUL, Zamboni has a 'personality' all its
 A MACHINE WITH SOUL, Zamboni has a 'personality' all its own.
 by Rachel Blount, Staff Writer
 
 It's the name. Definitely the name. Just say it out loud and try to keep a
 straight face: Zamboni. It makes you giggle and grin. It sounds like the name
 of a trendy Italian restaurant or a low-rent magician or a cream-filled
 pastry. It does not sound like the name of a huge mechanical contraption that
 cleans ice, which is exactly what it is.
 
 When Frank J. Zamboni built the first of his namesake machines in the late
 1940's, he had no idea it would become one of the most recognized and
 celebrated icons of hockey in North America. By the time he died in July 1988
 at the age of 87, his family name had become a generic term. Hockey fans
 sometimes stay in their seats at intermissions to watch the Zamboni sweep off
 ice shavings and lay down a surface clean and smooth as a pane of glass.
 Zamboni drivers dress in tuxedos and Santa Claus suits. Children wave at
 Zambonis and beg the drivers for rides
 
 "If our name had been Smith or Brown, I don't think any of this would have
 happened," said Richard Zamboni, president of Frank Zamboni, Inc. and the man
 in charge of overseeing his father's brainchild. "It's kind of a screwball
 name. There's such a uniqueness to it, the machine kind of took on a character
 of its own. My father was always surprised at that."
 
 Mark Rasmussen, who has driven a Zamboni at Met Center for 12 years, agrees
 with the name theory. "It's universal," he said. "You say the name, and people
 know exactly what it is. People seem to be fascinated by it. It has a real
 mystique. If I told people I was driving a Brown, it wouldn't be as neat."
 
 Today, Frank Zamboni Inc. and its sister company -- Frank Zamboni Ltd of
 Ontario, which is run by Richard Zamboni's son, produce seven models. The
 smallest and least expensive is a Zamboni that is pulled behind a garden
 tractor. The largest are made for speed skating rinks. There are battery
 powered Zambonis and Zambonis that are used to vacuum water from artificial
 turf.
 
 The main plant in Paramount, California, employs 50-60 persons to build
 perhaps 200 machines a year. Each Zamboni is hand assembled, one at a time,
 and must be ordered six months in advance. A machine will last between 10 and
 20 years, sometimes more; Zambonis have a top speed of 9 miles per hour and
 aren't often taken for joy rides.
 
 The oldest one still running has been cleaning ice at Colby College in Maine
 for 32 years. "We're hoping that one will finally fall apart," said Richard
 Zamboni, who added that most of his business comes from rinks that need to
 replace old machines. "They do last a little longer than we would like."
 
 to be continued...
 Carol White
 U of MN
 GO Gophers!!!