Melville Man Patents the "Perfect" Snowman

A Melville man is now the official holder of a registered patent for the creation of the “perfect” snowman.

Ignacio Marc Asperas was granted the patent, titled, “Apparatus for facilitating the construction of a snow man/woman,” by the US Patent and Trademark office earlier this month.

While the invention is meant to inspire child’s play, Asperas insists that his 25-page submission, complete with more than a dozen diagrams, “is not a joke patent. It is completely serious.” That doesn’t stop him from infusing a bit of humor into his application though.

“It is said that the most ingenius ideas are the most simple in design. The wheel. The Toaster oven. And yes, now the ultimate Snow Man,” he wrote in his submission. He goes to say that he doesn’t pretend that his idea will be as revolutionary to the advancement of mankind, but does contend that his innovation is “a heck more fun then, err than a plain old wheel, and will inspire tons of enjoyment and play for hopefully a long time.”

Asperas, who now lives in Munich, Germany, writes that his idea for creating the perfect snowman stemmed from his frustrations in attempting to make especially large snow men/snow women, as he is diligent in keeping his invention gender neutral.

“Making a snow man is hard work. As an old pro, I know what a pain in the back it is to roll a snow boulder around a yard,” he wrote. “Compacted snow is virtually like ice! And you have to lift the darn thing a good four feet. Now this is really back breaking,” he wrote.

Seeing that there was nothing already written on building “snow-people,” Asperas got to work. His method includes a rubber or plastic round object, which he calls a “Snow Sphere.” The sphere is very light and enables snow to cling to it by means of static electricity which attracts and holds dry snow to it. The spheres give the snowman a perfectly round shapes for its body and head.

"So there it is," Asperas concluded. "My new and improved method and apparatus for building a snowman (woman). OK. Snow-woman (man)."