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About Caterpillar

Caterpillar, commonly called “Cat,” is one of the world's most recognised heavy machinery brands. With over 100 years of manufacturing experience, an extensive portfolio of brands, and hundreds of products, the Irving, Texas, company has left its mark in agriculture, construction, and mining. Cat generator sets, dozers, forklifts, and other machines have contributed to modern history’s most significant projects, including the Hoover Dam, the Panama Canal, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Apollo 11 space mission.

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2024 Caterpillar 320 Crawler Excavator

Cat’s Manufacturing History

Caterpillar’s origins involve two men more than a century ago. Benjamin Holt built his first steam-powered tractor in 1890. Steam tractors helped farmers be more efficient, but farmers struggled with tractors sinking in the soft soil in California, so Holt replaced the rear wheels with a pair of tracks he made.

During a field test, a photographer remarked that the tractor crawled like a caterpillar. Holt’s invention became the first commercially successful tracked tractor, and he trademarked the Caterpillar name in 1910.

While Holt experimented with tracks, C.L. Best founded his tractor business in Oakland, California. Best focused on creating gasoline-powered, track-type tractors. The two companies merged in 1925, combining the best of each, and their first collaboration, the Model Twenty track-type tractor, was released in 1927.

In 1931, Caterpillar changed its grey colour to Hi-Way Yellow to improve the visibility of its machines at work. In 1979, the company again changed colours, this time to the Caterpillar Yellow associated with its products today.

Diesel Development

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2024 Caterpillar 216B3 Wheel Skid Steer

An engine prototype known as “Old Betsy” led to the first Caterpillar diesel motor, model D9900, and the Caterpillar Diesel Sixty Tractor in 1931. That same year, Cat released its Auto Patrol motor grader, facilitated by its acquisition of the Russell Grader Manufacturing Co. three years prior.

Cat started adapting its diesel engines for marine use in 1938. Cat entered this market after customers had already begun retrofitting its products, this time into boats and ships, as with crawler dozers and motor graders. Today, Cat engines are used in electric power generation, locomotives, agricultural and plant equipment, the petrol industry, and more.

A Shift To Construction

Caterpillar moved further into construction equipment with a new type of dozer blade in 1945, a pull-type scraper in 1946, and the first self-propelled wheel tractor-scraper in 1950. In 1952, the company launched the first integrated track loader, the No. 6 Shovel. The Cat D9 tractor dozer with an innovative turbocharged diesel engine debuted in 1954.

Cat’s first off-road dumper, the 769, arrived in 1962, and its first hydraulic excavator, the 225, appeared in 1972. Five years later, the company introduced its influential D10 dozer with a new triangular-track elevated sprocket system.

The 416, Cat’s first loader backhoe, came in 1985. In 1998, the manufacturer started thinking smaller by introducing its compact wheel loaders, mini excavators, and related attachments.

Innovating For The Future

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2014 Caterpillar C15 Generator Set

The current Cat lineup includes loaders, scrapers, graders, pipelayers, road reclaimers, material handlers, mining shovels, excavators, dozers, compactors, drills, draglines, cold planers, pavers, and more. Recent innovations have made the machines more efficient, productive, and ready to handle customer needs, including electric equipment.

Cat introduced an electric drive in 2008’s D7E track-type tractor. Ten years later, it did the same with the D6 XE, the first high-drive dozer to be electrically driven. More electric equipment is in the works as customers seek machines compliant with noise and emissions ordinances.

Find The Right Caterpillar Equipment

Explore MachineryTrader.co.uk to find new and used Caterpillar plant equipment and attachments. Browse a large selection of asphalt pavers, compactors, crawler and wheel dozers, excavators, pneumatic-tyre and cushion tyre forklifts, generators, loader backhoes, motor graders, motor and pull scrapers, off-highway trucks, pipelayers, skid steers, crawler loaders, telehandlers, tractors, water trucks, and wheel loaders, among others.

Popular model series include Cat CS56 compactors, Cat D6T dozers, Cat 320 excavators, Cat 140 motor graders, Cat 745 off-highway trucks, Cat 259 track skid steers, and Cat 950 wheel loaders.