Joseph-Armand Bombardier’s first snowmobile-related patent was granted in 1937.
Bombardier’s key invention was not simply a motorized sled; it was a lightweight sprocket-wheel and rubber-track system designed to carry a vehicle over snow. He developed the basic system in the mid-1930s and applied for a Canadian patent in December 1936. The patent was granted on June 29, 1937, establishing 1937 as the relevant year.
The invention made practical snow travel possible in rural Quebec, where many secondary roads were not cleared during winter. Bombardier used the technology in the B7, an enclosed vehicle whose name referred to Bombardier and its capacity for seven passengers. The first B7 production vehicles appeared during the winter of 1936–37.
The date is sometimes confused with 1935, the year associated with development of the track system, or with 1959, when Bombardier launched the recreational Ski-Doo. Those are important milestones, but neither is the year the first patent was granted.