Alvin Orlando Lombard

Alvin Orlando Lombard (1856-1937) was the American inventor of the track-wheeled vehicle. First patented in 1901, the Lombard Steam Log Hauler revolutionized the movement of harvested logs through the woods and set the stage for every snowmobile, tank and bulldozer ever built.

Youth Alvin Lombard was born in Springfield, Maine in 1856. He demonstrated mechanical aptitude as a boy building small machines including a model wood-splitter powered by a water wheel. He demonstrated the model by cutting cucumber slices. He later obtained patents for some of his mechanical innovations at the sawmill, and opened a blacksmith shop in Waterville, Maine with his brother, Samuel Lombard. Samuel oversaw manufacturing of sawmill and logging equipment Alvin had designed. His Waterville home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.