Posted 5 years ago
Rattletrap
(889 items)
This very early Caterpiller Crawler came up at an Auction and I couldn't refuse buying it since it reminded me of a similar tractor/crawler I plowed Cherry orchards with in Montana as a teenager. The Two Ton was the first tractor built by Caterpiller. I think it fits perfectly in the Sign Collection at Lakeside Storage mixed in with the other tractors, porcelain Signs and Antique cars. If it's old I like it! It doesn't hurt anything to have included in the Biggest Service Station pole sign Collection in the World.
While the Caterpillar Tractor Company was originally formed in 1925 as the result of a merger between the Holt Manufacturing Company and C. L. Best Tractor Company, the Caterpillar name originated years earlier. In the early 1900s, seeking for a way to improve the mobility and traction of his company’s steam tractors, Benjamin Holt replaced the wheels with wooden tracks bolted to chains. The innovation worked so well that one bystander was said to have remarked that the machine crawled along much like a caterpillar. Holt agreed, and dubbed his new machine “Caterpillar,” a name he eventually trademarked in 1910. In 1986 Caterpillar officially changed the company name from Caterpillar Tractor Company to Caterpillar, Inc.
Great find.
I’ll post a pocket watch fob of Holt Manufacturing later today.
Right. I had read the history of Holt/Cat but figure very few people who see the pics on CW even bother reading what I have to say I would spare them the history they don't care about anyway. I, personally, love the histories and stories of the olden days and the creative people who had vision and made things happen. Wonderful days!
Crswerner
Thx for the love it