The massive US corporation Caterpillar Inc is synonymous with tracked vehicles.
The Caterpillar Tractor Company, renowned for its tracked vehicles, was formed in the US in 1925 and switched from steam to diesel power in the 1930s.
The first nineteenth century steam-powered tractors were heavy and prone to getting bogged down in soft ground. As early as 1901 Alvin Lombard was granted a patent for a continuous track which he put into production on steam log haulers.
During the First World War the first tanks with continuous tracks were employed to traverse the difficult terrain.
The Caterpillar Tractor Company began in 1925 following the merger of Holt Manufacturing and Best Gas Traction.
Following CAT’s switch to diesel power and successful campaigns supplying the US Navy Seabees fighting construction battalions in WWII, the company emerged in the 1950’s as a global force in the design and manufacture of construction vehicles.
Today Caterpillar makes an enormous range of diggers, bulldozers, loaders and excavators supplying a wide range of industries all around the world. In fact, the term ‘bulldozer’ is more or less synonymous with Caterpillar.
In recent years Caterpillar have licensed several toy companies including Germany’s Bruder Toys to make ranges of toys based on their renowned diggers and bulldozers.