"Where 'Snowmobile' Began" in the early 1910s

[Sam Clements]

While Fred Shapiro antedated it to 1926, Newspaperarchive can date it to
1918 in Janesville WI, where they didn't even put it in quotes.

Sam Clements

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2008 15:21
Subject: "Where 'Snowmobile' Began" in the early 1910s


> The sports section (or rather "Automobiles" page) of today's Sunday
> New York Times (p. 11) claims that "snowmobile" arises from a Model T
> conversion kit created by Virgil D. White, a Ford dealer in West Ossipee,
> N.H.
>
> "In the early 1910s, White was searching for a way to make the Model
> T a true all-season vehicle. His solution was to add a second set of
> rear wheels and caterpillar tracks. White then replaced the front
> wheels with wooden runners. He called his creation a Snowmobile, a
> term now used to describe sporty snow vehicles."
>
> There is apparently a Snowmobile chapter of the Model T Ford Club of
> America (from illustration caption on-line).
>
> OED 2nd ed. (1989) has as its earliest cite 1931.
>
> Article on-line at
> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/automobiles/collectibles/20SNOW.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=where%20snowmobile%20began&st=cse&oref=slogin
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org