Soviet Ice Cleaning Machines

Until 1956, there were no arenas with artificial ice in our country, which means that there was no great need for mechanization of ice preparation. Everything was done mostly by hand.

First, a little technical digression:

The ice harvester is designed as follows: a special knife cuts off an uneven ice surface to a depth of several millimeters, ice chips are collected with the help of augers and sent to a special tank, while hot water is supplied from another tank, which melts the ice and is evenly distributed over its surface, filling cracks . The water immediately freezes, and a flat surface is obtained. This entire unit is mounted either on a special chassis or on a car converted for this purpose.

A similar design was invented in 1949 by entrepreneur Frank Zamboni Jr., who founded a company for the production of these combines. The device turned out so successful that its author was not only awarded membership in three US Halls of Fame (hockey, figure skating, and inventive), but he himself became an eponym. That is, by his last name in everyday life they call any ice filling machine, regardless of the manufacturer.

But let’s leave Zamboni and his glory, let’s return to the USSR. Until 1956, there were no arenas with artificial ice in our country, which means that there was no great need for mechanization of ice preparation. Everything was done mostly by hand. The surface was leveled with special scrapers, and filled with a hose. This process is not fast, so during the breaks of the matches they only cleared the ice from the accumulated snow – with brooms and shovels.

GAZ-66

In the early sixties, with the advent of stadiums with artificial ice, the problem of mechanizing its maintenance arose.

The Soviet industry coped with the task and produced several types of vehicles that can be fully called ice combines. Their production was organized at Kommash, the Sverdlovsk plant for municipal engineering.

The first Soviet ice harvester was produced on the basis of the GAZ-63 truck. It was all-wheel drive, which ensured stability on ice. This combine became, perhaps, the most massive in the USSR; it was used in some arenas until the end of the nineties. Today, one of these cars can be seen in Voskresensk, next to the Chemist’s home arena. This hockey veteran served 19 years until he was replaced by a Canadian-donated Zamboni.

The second most common type of ice harvester in the USSR was a car based on the GAZ-66 truck, the famous “shishiga”. A blade was installed in its front part, with the help of which the ice was previously cleared. Another feature was that two people were required to work: one drove the car, the second, on a specially equipped site, controlled the cutting and pouring mechanisms.

“Loaf”

An interesting model of the harvester was made on the basis of the famous “loaf” UAZ-452. Its cabin was “uninhabited”, and instead of the signal button located in the center, a shaft was attached to the steering wheel, which passed through the entire car. The steering wheel itself was located at the back, along with all the control mechanisms for the ice-filling equipment of the combine. Thus, one person could manage both the car and the filling process, combining the functions of the driver and operator. In terms of the location of the controls, the machine strongly resembled modern ice harvesters from leading manufacturers.

Today, all of the listed modifications are most likely to be found in landfills or in the form of a monument similar to the Resurrection.

However, it is worth noting that since the sixties, Soviet hockey has been provided with ice machines of its own production.