ICEE delivery truck, Ypsilanti Township, MichiganThe ICEE was invented in 1958 by Omar Knedlik, a Dairy Queen owner in Coffeyville, Kansas.[2] He had been placing bottles of soda in his freezer until frozen, since he lacked a soda fountain. The frozen drinks were popular and he soon realized that he needed a machine to make the product. Knedlik eventually approached the John E Mitchell Company in Dallas to develop the machine. The Mitchell Company had been making cotton cleaning equipment, had diversified to aftermarket automobile air conditioning units, and was looking to diversify further as aftermarket air conditioners were eventually replaced by OEM units. It was natural fit for Mitchell and Knedlik in developing a machine that could handle the rigors of commercial use and had the manufacturing capabilities to make the machines to fulfill the growing demand. After 5 years Knedlik's idea had become the iconic ICEE Machine. He originally wanted his product to be called "scoldasice". However, he asked a local artist and friend, Ruth E. Taylor, to create a marketing name and logo for his invention. She developed the name "ICEE", as well as the idea of the logo's icicles hanging from the block letters, which has remained unchanged. She thought of the Polar Bear, but the actual bear mascot had already been created by the Norsworthy-Mercer ad agency . The "ICEE" word with the snow on it was designed by a Mitchell Company staff artist, Lonnie Williams, as part of a cup he designed. The Mitchell Company instituted a two-tiered franchise plan involving "Developers" and "Subdevelopers". Essentially, the Developers and Subdevelopers both paid fees and rentals for the right to use specified numbers of ICEE dispensers and for rights within exclusive territories to distribute the machines and to promote the sale of the Icee drink. By the mid-1960s, 300 ICEE machines had been manufactured.[3] @Curionic

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