Canadian Innovations and Inventions

Dump Truck Built

1920

3 years before the bulldozer was created in the United States, an inventor named Robert T. Mawhinney in New Brunswick created the first dump truck. It was first used in the building of roads and for hauling dirt away to build canals to move ships and boats around easier and to places where they could not go before.

Insulin Refined for Treating Diabetes

1921

Dr. Frederick Banting and his student, Charles Best discovered insulin as a treatment for diabetes. Diabetes is a disease where your body cannot control the amount of sugar in your blood and may cause blindness, the need to amputate limbs, and even death at a young age. They used dogs to test their new treatment before trying it on a boy from Toronto. Their insulin treatment worked immediately on the boy. Banting was given the Nobel Prize. Banting shared the award with Charles Best.

Snowmobile invented

1922

Joseph-Armand Bombardier grew up in the snowy weather of eastern Quebec. When he was 15 he tested his first full size model of a machine to drive OVER the snow. It was made with a wooden sleigh and the engine of a Ford Model T car. Today, the French word for snowmobile is "Bombardier" in honour of its inventor. The company he started, Bombardier, still makes snowmobiles and jet skis as well as airplanes and trains.

Snowblower Invented

1925

The snow blower was invented by Arthur Sicard. He got the idea from watching a farmer clear wheat in a field and thought this could help clear roads to make deliveries easier in the winter. His snow blower could send snow up to 75 feet away and changed life in cities like Montreal in the winter.

Large Roller Coasters

1927

Crystal Beach, Ontario near Fort Erie was a popular place for tourism in the summer, especially because it had an amusement park. In 1927, to attract more visitors, the amusement park added the first large roller coaster in Canada called "The Cyclone". It was well known for being a wild and violent ride. These coasters did not have the same safety features as today. As a result, in 1938, Amos Weidrich was killed on it when he stood up to take off while coat while it was moving.