Caterpillar Company

Caterpillar Companies Origins

Steam tractors have been used by The Holt Manufacturing Company since 1890. Because of their enormous weight, which could reach 1,000 pounds (450 kg) per horsepower, steam tractors from the 1890s and the first half of the 1900s frequently sank into the soil of the San Joaquin Valley Delta agriculture in Stockton, California. Benjamin Holt found a solution and made the tractor 46 feet (14 m) broad by expanding the wheels to a maximum of 7.5 feet (2.3 m) in height and 6 feet (1.8 m) in width. However, this increased the tractors' complexity, price, and maintenance needs.

Another alternative was to construct a temporary plank road in front of the steam tractor, but this would slow down earthmoving and be both time-consuming and expensive. Holt proposed wrapping the planks around the wheels. He replaced the wheels of the steamboat's No. 77 Holt's 40 horsepower (30 kW) motor with a system of wooden rails attached to chains. On Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1904, he successfully tested the improved machine by ploughing the swampy delta plain of Roberts Island.

A steel plate-tracked vehicle was developed and copyrighted by Richard Hornsby & Sons in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, in 1904. This tractor was the first to steer by differentially braking the tracks instead of using the tiller's steering wheel. One of these tractors was utilised in the Yukon until 1927 and some of its pieces can still be found today. Many tractors were built and marketed expressly for usage in the Yukon. Hornsby realised there was a little market for their tractor in 1911, the same year Holt registered the "Caterpillar" trademark, and sold their technology to Holt.

Charles Clements, a commercial photographer, claimed that the tractor moved like a caterpillar, and Holt immediately drew the analogy. However, other stories claim that the British soldiers who witnessed the Hornsby tractor being tested in July 1907 gave this nickname. Caterpillar is the correct name for what it is! Two years later, Holt sold his first steam-powered tractor crawlers for US$5,500, or almost US$128,000 in today's currency. The track structure was 30 inches high on each side, 42 inches wide, and 9 feet (2.7 m) long (760 mm). The tracks were made from redwood slats that were 4 inches (100 mm) long and 3 inches (76 mm) broad.

The first continuous track that could actually be utilised with a tractor was Holt's improved "Traction Engine," which was granted a patent on December 7, 1907. Improvements to vehicles, especially those with traction engines, including features such boundless travelling platform supports for the engine.