{{Short description|Device for removing snow}} {{For|the skiing turn|snowplough turn}} [[File:TowPLow front view2.JPG|thumb|TowPlow truck operating on a [[Missouri]] rural Interstate]] A '''snowplow''' (also '''snow plow''', '''snowplough''' or '''snow plough''') is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for [[Snow removal|removing snow and ice]] from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to refer to vehicles mounting such devices, more accurately they are known as [[winter service vehicle]]s,{{where?|date=June 2022}} especially in areas that regularly receive large amounts of snow every year, or in specific environments such as airfields. In other cases, [[pickup truck]]s and [[Loader (equipment)|front end loader]]s are outfitted with attachments to fulfill this purpose. Some regions that do not frequently see snow may use [[grader]]s to remove compacted snow and ice off the streets. Snowplows can also be mounted on rail cars or locomotives to clear railway tracks.
==Usage== [[File:Sidewalk plow.JPG|thumb|A small sidewalk clearing plow in [[Ottawa]], [[Ontario]], Canada]] [[File:Skid-steer plow.webp|thumb|right|[[Skid-steer loader|Skid-steer]] plow]] Newer technology has allowed the use of [[articulated]] plow systems which can clear multiple [[divided highway]] lanes simultaneously; jurisdictions adopting this technology include the provinces of [[Alberta]], [[British Columbia]], [[New Brunswick]], [[Ontario]] and [[Quebec]] in Canada,<ref>{{cite web |author=Rml/Rgl |url=http://www.towplow.com/12.html |title=Canadian users? |publisher=towplow.com |date=2012-04-11 |access-date=2013-03-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209080658/http://towplow.com/12.html |archive-date=2013-12-09 }}</ref> along with 21 states ([[Colorado]], [[Connecticut]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://portal.ct.gov/en/Office-of-the-Governor/Press-Room/Press-Releases/2016/11-2016/Gov-Malloy-and-DOT-Debut-New-Snow-Plows-That-Can-Clear-Two-Highway-Lanes-in-One-Single-Pass | title=Gov. Malloy and Dept. of Transportation Debut New Snow Plows That Can Clear Two Highway Lanes in One Single Pass, The Office of Governor Dannel P. Malloy, Nov 29, 2016.|website=CT.gov - Connecticut's Official State Website | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308041508/http://portal.ct.gov/en/Office-of-the-Governor/Press-Room/Press-Releases/2016/11-2016/Gov-Malloy-and-DOT-Debut-New-Snow-Plows-That-Can-Clear-Two-Highway-Lanes-in-One-Single-Pass | archive-date=2018-03-08}}</ref> [[Delaware]], [[Indiana]], [[Kansas]], [[Maine]], [[Maryland]], [[Massachusetts]], [[Michigan]], [[Minnesota]], [[Missouri]], [[Montana]], [[New Hampshire]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[North Dakota]], [[Ohio]], [[Oregon]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Tennessee]], [[Utah]] and [[Wisconsin]]) in the [[US]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.modot.mo.gov/newsandinfo/District0News.shtml?action=displaySSI&newsId=13566 |title=MoDOT News Release |publisher=Modot.mo.gov |date=2007-10-23 |access-date=2013-03-07 |archive-date=2012-02-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222034155/http://www.modot.mo.gov/newsandinfo/District0News.shtml?action=displaySSI&newsId=13566 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Office of Maintenance - Iowa Department of Transportation | url=http://www.iowadot.gov/maintenance/TowPlows.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026061705/http://www.iowadot.gov:80/maintenance/TowPlows.html | access-date=2024-12-26 | archive-date=2010-10-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.mass.gov/transportation/massdot-highway/mega-plows-ready-for-snow-ice-season/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722172314/http://blog.mass.gov/transportation/massdot-highway/mega-plows-ready-for-snow-ice-season/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 22, 2013|title="Mega Plows" Ready for Snow, Ice Season}}</ref>
== History == [[File:Snöplog 1909.jpg|thumb|Snowplows in [[Sweden]] (1909)]] [[File:Snowplow in Jyväskylä.JPG|thumb|Snowplow plowing in [[Jyväskylä]], Finland (2012)]] The first snow plows were horse-drawn wedge-plows made of wood. The earliest reference found by the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] was written in 1792 in a description of [[New Hampshire]]:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/snow-plow |title=snow-plow (n.) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=www.etymonline.com |publisher=Douglas Harper |access-date=March 3, 2021}}</ref> {{blockquote|When a deep snow has obstructed the roads, they are in some places opened by an instrument called a snow plough. It is made of planks, in a triangular form, with two side boards to turn the snow out on either hand.<ref>{{cite book |last=Belknap |first=Jeremy |author-link=Jeremy Belknap |date=1813 |title=The History of New-Hampshire: Volume III |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_G1WVO-O7C0C&pg=PA60 |location=Boston MA |publisher=Bradford and Read |page=60 }}</ref>}} With the advent of rail travel and later, the automobile, a number of inventors set about to improve existing snow plows. In the US, the "snow-clearer" is said to have been patented as early as the 1840s,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/snow/removal.html|title=Snow Removal|work=nsidc.org}}</ref> for railways. The first snow plow ever built specifically for use with motor equipment was in 1913. It was manufactured by Good Roads Machinery in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and was designed to meet the requirements outlined by engineers of the New York City Street Cleaning Bureau.<ref name="NYC municipal archives">{{cite book|last=New York City Department of Sanitation Arc. 1881 -1931|title=Street Clearing Bureau|publisher=NYC|pages=book 6 page 58}}</ref> Good Roads is therefore unofficially credited as the originator of the modern snow plow, though their horse drawn steel blade road graders were used to clear roads of snow as early as the company's founding in 1878 under their original name American Road Machinery.<ref name=HCEA>{{cite journal|journal=Historical Construction Equipment Association|volume=1/101/331|title=American Road Machine Company 1893 - 1895|pages=2}}</ref>
Carl Frink of [[Clayton, New York]], was also an early manufacturer of truck-mounted snowplows. His company, Frink Snowplows, now [[Frink-America]], was founded by some accounts as early as 1920.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3718/is_200006/ai_n8917320 | work=CNY Business Journal | title=After 80 Years, Clayton Plow Plant Shuts Down | year=2000}}</ref> For the winter of 1919, Frink, owner of a tire and machine shop, manufactured and equipped a bus with a steel V-blade snowplow for a Clayton to Watertown bus line. In 1920, Frink equipped a Linn halftrack with a snowplow and side-blades for Black River Bus Lines and started his snowplow business. The Linn Co. immediately started to equip their halftracks with snowplows and heavily promoted their superior traction; they dominated the eastern market until the 1930s when the halftracks were supplanted by the much faster four-wheel drive trucks.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Linn Manufacturing Corp. (aka Linn Tractor Co.) | url=http://flinflonheritageproject.com/wp-content/uploads/wppa-source/album-67/1038957.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205131405/http://flinflonheritageproject.com/wp-content/uploads/wppa-source/album-67/1038957.pdf | archive-date=2022-12-05}}</ref>
In 1923, the brothers Hans and Even Øveraasen of Norway constructed an early snowplow for use on cars. This proved to be the start of a tradition in snow-clearing equipment for roads, railways<ref>{{cite web |title = Canadian Railway Hall of Fame - |work = Rotary snow plow (2002) |year = 2006 |url = http://www.railfame.ca/sec_ind/technology/en_2002_RotarySnowPlow.asp |archive-url = https://archive.today/20121206001220/http://www.railfame.ca/sec_ind/technology/en_2002_RotarySnowPlow.asp |url-status = dead |archive-date = 2012-12-06 |access-date = 2008-10-03 }}</ref> and airports, as well as the foundation of the company Øveraasen Snow Removal Systems.{{CN|date=October 2024}} ==Railway snowplows== {{Main article|Wedge plow|Rotary snowplow}}
[[File:Snow plough train II.JPG|thumb|A small [[wedge (mechanics)|wedge]] plow mounted on a passenger train in [[Lower Austria]]]] [[Via Rail]], among other railways, has integrated plow blades with the front [[Cowcatcher|pilots]] of their locomotive fleet to clear thinner accumulations of snow as trains run.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canadianrailwayobservations.com/croarchives/aug2012via16.htm |title=VIA Rail Canada |publisher=Canadian Railway Observations |access-date=2013-03-07}}</ref>
==See also== {{colbegin}} *[[Challenger Tractor]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdVmU5bfDEc | title=Clearing public roads in British Columbia using our CAT Challenger with a 14-foot blade | website=[[YouTube]] | date=6 February 2019 }}</ref> *[[Grader]] *[[Plough (disambiguation)|Plow (disambiguation)]] *[[Rotary snowplow]] *[[Snow blower]] *[[Snow emergency]] *[[Snow pusher]] *[[Snowmelt system]] *[[Wedge plow]] *[[Winter service vehicle]] {{colend}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Snowplows|lcfirst=yes}} * [[Digital Public Library of America]]. [http://dp.la/search?page_size=100&subject=Snowplows Items related to snowplows], various dates * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCgf56POaz0 Seven-minute video about the history of snowplows in the U.S. state of Maine]
[[Category:Snow removal|Plow]] [[Category:Snowplows| ]] [[Category:Commercial vehicles]] [[Category:Articles containing video clips]] [[Category:Steel objects]]