CATERPILLAR CENTENNIAL
Part One - the Caterpillar story
In 1925 two competing businesses joined forces to form a company that would become the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives.
Holt Manufacturing Company was founded by Benjamin Holt in 1892. C. L. Best Tractor Co. was founded by Clarence Leo Best in 1910 (originally the C. L. Best Gas Traction Company).
Benjamin Leroy Holt (1849 -1920) was born in New Hampshire and moved to California to join his brothers in 1883. The brothers operated the Stockton Wheel Company in Stockton, California. The company they formed in 1892 built steam traction engines and combine harvesters. Holt’s first successful track-type tractor was demonstrated in 1904. Over 100 related patents for crawler-type tractor treads had already been issued worldwide, but none were successful in the field.
Best was born in Oregon in 1878 and started out working for his father’s Best Manufacturing Company. Daniel Best formed his company in 1871 to make portable grain cleaners in San Leandro, California. They also made a range of steam driven farm machinery. This company was acquired by the Holt Manufacturing Company in 1908. After working for the Holts for 2 years, Clarence Best formed his own rival company to build gasoline-powered tractors. He also manufactured “tracklayer” tractors after acquiring the rights to an early tracked crawler. His most successful tractor was the C. L. Best 60 Tracklayer. This tractor was later produced as the Caterpillar Sixty.
“Benjamin Holt set about to find a way to aid farmers whose heavy equipment sank in soft, muddy soil. Finding wheels ineffective, Holt designed a track-laying system to disperse the weight. In 1904, Holt successfully tested the first practical track-type tractor known as the "Caterpillar®" and commercialized its use.
Holt made numerous innovations and by 1908 was able to replace steam engines and introduce gasoline-powered tractors, which offered greater efficiency in operation. Originally developed to solve local agricultural problems, the Caterpillar track-type tractor soon demonstrated its potential not only in the agricultural environment, but also in road building, earthmoving, logging, and military operations. Used extensively by the U.S., French, and British armies in World War I, the track-type tractor hauled men and supplies across the battlefield. From 1914 to 1918, 10,000 Caterpillar tractors were made by Holt's company and other licensed manufacturers for use in the war. Holt's track-type tractor contributed to the design of the British tank, which profoundly altered ground warfare tactics.”1
The name ‘caterpillar’ came from a photographer’s exclamation that the machine crawled like a giant caterpillar because of the motion of the track. The name was registered with the U.S. Patent Office in 1910.
A combination of heavy debt loads, nation wide depression and fierce competition from the Ford Motor Company’s Fordson tractors forced Best and Holt to consider a merger. Even though the two companies had been fighting each other for years in contractual, trademark and patent infringement lawsuits they merged to form the "Caterpillar Tractor Co." C.L. Best was the CEO of the company until his death in 1951.
National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee Benjamin Holt - https://www.invent.org/inductees/benjamin-holt
Sources:
Best Manufacturing Company - Wikipedia
Holt Manufacturing Company - Wikipedia
