History of Crawler Tractors

the idea for the crawler tractor had been around for a long time and was tried by different inventors during the 1800s none of these worked very well until Alvin Lombard designed what became known as the Lombard log hauler in 1900 looking very much like a steam locomotive perched on a treadmill it had to be steered by a helmsman seated forward over a pair of moveable sled runners this steam tractor could haul up to 14 loaded sleds at once but it could only be operated on snow or ice had no brakes and was not very maneuverable to Californians Benjamin Holt and Daniel best had been experimenting with gasoline power and in 1906 Holt came out with the first gas crawler designed to operate on the spongy farmland of the California Delta it soon proved it's worth in the woods as well in 1908 the two competitors merged and the caterpillar Tractor Company was formed films shot in the 1920s demonstrate the caterpillars invincibility in all types of terrain and weather conditions with its greater bearing surface and firm traction the model 60 seen here could operate on hills with as much as a 60% grade the 60 could also trundle through deep mud and water if the going got too tough it could momentarily drop its load and then winch in the logs after reaching firmer footing the cleated tracks also gripped on slippery snow and ice allowing the agile cat to operate the year-round it was obvious that the big wheels which had been pulled by animals were even more practical when hauled by tractor steel hubs were fitted to the 11 foot wheels and it slipped tongue was shortened once the logs were attached the forward motion of the tongue activated the upright lever lifting the load off the ground at the landing the process was reversed and the logs were dropped

Channel: foresthistory

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Keywords: logging, Caterpillar tractor, Lombard, crawler tractors, loggers

Id: U1ZlnE200ms

Length: 2min 26sec (146 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 02 2009