Dallas's Sammie Bert and the "Snow Cone" (1920)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

An obituary seems to be the only other thing published about  this.
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12 September 1984, Chicago <i>Daily Herald</i>, section 1, pg.  10:
<i>Samuel Bert, snow-cone</i>
<i>machine inventor, dead</i>
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DALLS (AP) -- Former Illinoisan Samuel Bert, the man credited with  inventing
the snow cone ice machine and a fixture at the State Fair of Texas for  65
years, is dead at the age of 88.
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Bert died Sunday at Baylor University Medical Center of complications from  a
fall that broke his hip two weeks ago, said his son, Nick.
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"He really enjoyed the State Fair," his son said. "It was his way of  life."
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State Fair officials say Bert worked at the fair from at least 1919 to  1983.
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"He's been here longer than anyone keeps records," said Bob Halford,
assistant general manager for the fair.
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Nick Bert said his father invented a machine to mechanically scrape ice for
snow cones in the late 1920s. He said Bert owned the fair's Comer Roller
Coaster  from 1946 until 1976.
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Originally from Springfield, Ill., Bert came to Dallas after serving in the
Army in France during World War I.
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"He worked a couple of fairs before coming to Dallas in 1919," his son  said.
"He had a real feeling that it was going to be an up-and-coming  town."
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Nick Bert said he and his brother, Samuel Bert Jr., will continue to  operate
the eight concession stands his father started.
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Other survivors include Bert's wife, Mary; a daughter, Elena Lowry of
Dallas; a sister, Jane Bert, of Springfield; 12 grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren.

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