1st snowmobile patent granted to Carl Eliason (Sayner, Wisc) - November 22, 1927

In Sayner, Wisconsin you will find the Snowmobile Museum with an array of snowmobiles and outboard motors from the last century. Also there you will find the world’s first snowmobile ever created. This snowmobile, called a motor toboggan, was exactly that. A classic toboggan with a motor attached. Carl Eliason, of Sayner, is credited with inventing the world’s first snowmobile in 1924. Even today, Sayner is known as the “Birthplace of the Snowmobile”. Eliason built the first snowmobile in 1924 and received a patent for it on November 22, 1927.

From the original design of a toboggan with a motor, Eliason began changing the design of the snowmobile to make it larger and more sturdy. His first motor toboggan had a 2.5 horsepower motor, slide rail track guides, steering skis controlled by rope and wooden cleats. Eliason built the snowmobile in a garage behind his store for more than two years before finishing. The patent called the mobile a snow machine. From his patent in 1927 up until 1962, thirteen patents were given to the later-generation snowmobiles.

http://patentpending.blogs.com/patent_pending_blog/2004/10/the_snow_moblie.html