We can trace the roots of Cat Bulldozers back to 1890. Two men, Benjamin Holt and Daniel Best, were each working separately on building steam tractors to use for farming in California. The track for the future Caterpillar Dozers was designed as a cure for the problem of wasted muck land that couldnt be farmed do to wheeled tractors getting bogged down.
During the early 1900s Holt developed the first steam track tractor as well as the first gas track tractor. It was also Holts track type tractor that inspired the first military tanks. But, it wasnt until 1925 that C.L. Best Tractor and Holt Manufacturing joined together to form Caterpillar Tractor Company. CAT was based in Peoria, Illinois where Best had purchased a closed down tractor manufacturing plant and to this day is still home for Caterpillar dozers.
Since that time Cat Bulldozers have been used extensively by armed forces around the world. During WWII D4 caterpillar dozers, D6 caterpillar dozers, and the D7 caterpillar dozers were used by allied forces. The US forces used some D6 caterpillars but mainly the D7 caterpillar dozers. The D9 Cat dozer was used by the United States Army in Vietnam not only for clearing for unit recognition from the air by painting the caterpillar cabs different colors.
Caterpillar Dozers have been used around the world for a wide range of heavy work including construction of roadways and the logging industry. Cat bulldozers and industrial excavators have done extensive work on the Panama Canal to expand the canal. One of the largest areas Caterpillar Dozers are used is in mining, both surface and underground mining. Caterpillar supplies more than half of the large equipment to the mining industry around the world.
Before you choose Caterpillar, compare other crawler dozers for your company or next project.
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