Zambonis, Kleenex, and the Cotton Gin

Last night, while witnessing the Red Wings loosen their grip on the Stanley Cup (in triple overtime, no less), I decided that one of the coolest jobs on earth would be the Zamboni driver for NHL games.

Think about it. What unrecognized importance! What an unsung hero! Who else would keep the ice so nice and smooth and shiny-like? The poor players would surely trip over their own skates at all of the ice’s imperfections. Not only that, but you get to drive a big machine around, and I’ll be honest, I love big machines. Zambonis are like the riding lawn mowers of Canada.

This, then, got me wondering about the name “Zamboni.” Is it a brand name? Is it the name of the actual machine? Was it invented by some guy named, like, Joe Zamboni?

Maybe it’s something like the Kleenex phenomenon. Kleenex, as we know, is a brand of tissue. But most people, myself included, don’t say, “Please pass me a tissue.” They say, “Please pass me a Kleenex.” When in fact, the brand of “Kleenex” could be something other than Kleenex entirely. It could be Puffs or Angel Soft or Wal-Mart brand. Maybe people refer to the Zamboni as a Zamboni, when it’s really a John Deere or something.

Or maybe it isn’t proper ice rink etiquette to use a brand other than Zamboni. Maybe only real Zambonists (I assume that’s what they call people who drive the Zambonis) use the Zamboni brand. Imagine the persecution that one would face if they were caught using something other than a genuine Zamboni.

The only other conclusion that I can draw is that Zamboni is the name for the machine itself. For instance, when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, he didn’t market the Cotton Gin brand. He merely informed others that his invention was called the cotton gin; and that others were allowed to patent their cotton ginning machines with their own company’s logo.

EST: 1792

I could probably look up the history of the Zamboni myself, which would make much more sense than taking the time to write this blog post, but I think that would take the fun away from my speculating. If anyone has the answers, I suppose you can deflate my ponderings of the Zamboni. I suppose.

This post is dedicated to Joe Zamboni, pioneer of the ice rink.