Have you ever watched a game of hockey or gone skating and wondered what the giant machine that drives across the ice every few hours is? Well, that is a Zamboni. But what does it even do? Zambonis are mechanized ice resurfacing machines capable of laying down a fresh sheet of ice in just minutes.

Ice needs to be smooth to skate on. After skate blades have torn up the ice, it becomes rough and bumpy, making it difficult to skate. For these reasons, skating ice needs constant resurfacing. Prior to the invention of the Zamboni, all ice resurfacing had to be done by hand. This included manually scraping the ice smooth and using scrapers, shovels, and brooms to remove shavings. Then, workers would wash the ice by squeegeeing it clean. Finally, workers would pour hot water onto the rink using barrels or hoses to create a fresh, smooth layer of ice.

Frank Zamboni, a former iceman prior to the invention of the refrigerator, opened a skating rink in Paramount, California. For his staff, resurfacing the ice was much too time-consuming, taking up to 90 minutes to produce a fresh layer of ice and taking away from necessary business hours. Zamboni, having experience in mechanics, set out to create an ice resurfacing machine that could do it all. He constructed his first Zamboni resurfacer, “the Model A,” in 1949 by combining a Jeep chassis and engine, as well as war surplus such as airplane parts. This invention was revolutionary for the skating industry, significantly cutting down on the time it took to resurface ice.

Here’s how it works:

To shave the ice, a 77-inch blade shaves off roughly a millimeter of ice. Two augers then convey the scraps of snow up into the machine’s snow tank. Next, to clean, warm water is spread on the ice to clean anything that was too deep for the blade. The machine squeegees it and sucks it back up. Finally, warm water is dripped onto the ice, and a wet towel is dragged across it. Warm water, which has less oxygen in it, freezes faster. This process results in a clean sheet of brand-new ice.

Zamboni’s work has resulted in his induction into multiple halls of fame, including the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame. The Zamboni has become a staple in the ice industry, with the name Zamboni, or “Zam,” being affiliated with all modern ice resurfacing machines.