J.W. Elliott, a Toronto dentist, developed a "Compound Revolving Snow Shovel" in 1869. A sloped steel casing scooped snow from the tracks into a revolving fan inside a wheel. The wheel was driven by a rotary engine on a shaft. Flat plates on the rim of the wheel caught the snow and sent it flying through an opening at the top of the wheel. Lack of financing prevented the snowplow from being constructed.
The first successful rotary snowplow was designed by another Canadian, Orange Jull. He had his design built and tested by the Leslie Brothers machine shop during the winter of 1883 - 84. Leslie Brothers purchased the manufacturing rights and went into successful production. Orange Jull produced a competing model with a large rotating spiral screw in 1890 to 1892, but this model was not as successful as the earlier Leslie plow.
The development of the rotary snowplow provided a more efficient way to clear heavy snow from the tracks, and enabled the trains to run under harsher conditions.
Read more about The Rotary Snow Plow [offsite]
Technical Innovations