The Canadian Ski-Doo

After spending nearly 2 hours searching for that perfect photo, I gave in and resorted to the only two flickr photos I have posted of the wonderful Village of Villeneuve, Switzerland. So what does the Villeneuve have to do with the Ski-Doo? Besides being a wonderful backdrop for beautiful views around Switzerland, it's also the home of one of the offices of Bombardier.

You see Bombardier wouldn't be in Villeneuve if it weren't for Joseph A. Bombardier, a Canadian, and his invention of the Ski-Doo in 1922, at the ripe old age of 15 years of age. Be sure to check out the link to see the first ski-doos. Bombardier Inc. was founded by Joseph-Armand Bombardier as L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée in 1942, at Valcourt in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.

Today Bombardier is a large manufacturer of regional aircraft, business jets, rail transportation equipment, recreational equipment and a financial services provider. Its headquarters are in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and has two additional offices in Switzerland.

If you happen to be visiting Quebec, perhaps the Bombardier Museum might be of interest to you. The large modern museum is located in Valcourt, Quebec and is dedicated to the life of Joseph-Armand Bombardier and the snowmobile as well as the industry he helped create.

The museum has been professionally curated and features a wide array of Ski-Doos and other industrial designs as well as a selection of books, booklets and other items of interest to ski-doo enthusiasts. The present museum is actually located blocks away from the huge, present-day Bombardier Recreational Products factory.

For me, the bombardier museum exists in Villeneuve. It's the building overlooking the start of the mountains which leads to the Col De Jaman, certainly a spectacular site to see in person. I remember being in awe finding the building for the first time along my journeys venturing into villeneuve back in June 2002. For that previledge of already identifying with the company made me appreciate the spectacular backdrop of the stunning Lac Leman.

What a great story behind something that I already appreciated when I found it in Switzerland. However, it has come back to me here in Canada once again after learning the ties between Canada and Switzerland and the first ski-doo.

The Blackberry

For some of us, it's hard to think about life without our mobile devices. I know that was my thinking while I was living in Switzerland. My mobile phone was how I was connected to my friends as I travelled from city to city. It was my way of knowing what they were doing and if I could meet up with them. Most of this communication was done through what most know as SMS or text messaging. It's the cheap alternative to calling someone. And it came in really handy when it was time to meet up with a friend in a train station with crowds everywhere.

So I can only imagine what it has been like to be using a Blackberry mobile device. The BlackBerry is a Canadian invention which was actually introduced way back in 1999. The Blackberry mobile device supports such functions as e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services. I guess you learn something new every day because before the Canadian inventions series a few weeks ago, I wouldn't have known this was a Canadian invention.

The Canadian company which developed the Blackberry is known as Research In Motion (RIM), it delivers information over the wireless data networks of mobile phone service companies. BlackBerry first made headway in the marketplace by concentrating on e-mail. If you really don't know what a Blackberry is, please click on the above link.

I'll leave you with a stunning photo of the progression of mobile phones.

For me, the mobile phone progression is mind boggling.

A Piece Of Canada

Last night P and I watch a show called The Greatest Canadian Inventions on CBC. The host, Bob McDonald, counted down a list of the top inventions, many of which were very surprising to know started in Canada and NOT the US as most people might think.

Quite frankly I was shocked, but also amazed that Canada's Top 100 inventions have not been in the limelight for most of these inventions. Canucks to many are quite selfless in their inventions, and usually let someone else steal the limelight to mainly the US.

Yes the US actually bought many of the patents from Canadians. Sorry Thomas Edison but you didn't actually invent the light bulb. You only bought the patent for $5000 to claim it as your own!

Some Great Canadian Inventions Include (in random order):

1. The Light Bulb - not Thomas Edison didn't invent it!
2. Pace maker
3. Telephone
4. WonderBra of 1935
5. Robertson Screw Driver
6. Plexi Glass (think Hockey games)
7. Basketball game
8. Electric Wheel Chair
9. Insulin
10. Propeller boat motor
11. Canoe
12. Electron Microscope
13. 5 pin bowling
14. The First Replay - think super bowl!
15. The Zipper
16. Poutine!

Since I didn't have a clue what a Robertson Screw Driver was, I thought I'd also tell you guys what I learned about this unique driver. The inventor, Peter Lymburner Robertson, was planning to sell tools from a street booth. As he was setting up this booth, Peter slashed his hand open. So Robertson vowed to create the ultimate driver so that he would never slash his hand with a flat head screw driver again.

P.L. Robertson went one step further and patented his square-headed driver in 1908. In fact, this driver was so cool the Fisher Body Company which constructed the Ford Model T decided to use his invention in its product line. Today 85% of Canadian screws sold use the Robertson head. See how simple the screw is! It's about a logical as the metric system if you ask me.


What's even harder to believe is that I've never seen this screw in Canada yet! Only 10% of the US uses this more practical screw but if things go their way, you'll be seeing a lot more people switching to this Robertson screw.

I'm thinking a few more inventions are on the horizon for the future to tell you about what Canada has done for the world. So this is the first of a series which I'd love to learn more about Canada too..