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Benjamin Holt

2 Pages 467 Words


Benjamin Holt
Benjamin Holt was born in 1849. He was the son Benjamin and Charity Holt. He was raised on a farm, which influence him to invent something that would make farm work easier.
Benjamin Holt first started experimenting with various forms of steam tractors for use in farming in 1890. His first major breakthrough came in 1904 with his invention of the first steam type tractor. Two years later in 1906 he invented his first gas type tractor. Earlier tractor model’s wheels would sink into soft soil, so both of Holt’s tractors used a new type of wheels, which would not sink, in any type of terrain. These two types of wheels were crawler tracks and they gave birth to the Caterpillar Company.
In 1925, Benjamin Holt and Daniel Best founded Caterpillar Tractor Company. Both men had been pioneers in the development of gas-powered tractor engines and tractors with crawler tracks instead of wheels. The Caterpillar Tractor Company supplied the Allied forces with track-style vehicles throughout World War I, during which Holt used his international experience to market Caterpillar products overseas. By 1930, the company had established dealerships in Australia, the Netherlands, East Africa, and Tunisia, and had forged a deal with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to supply that country with millions of dollars worth of tractors and combines for in order for them to expand agriculturally. Caterpillar’s international marketing enabled it to survive the Great Depression, and its sales rose even further when Franklin D. Roosevelt got elected president and began extensive road building and public works projects in the 1930s.
During World War II, the company’s profits nearly tripled because of sales to the United States military. After the war, U.S. military officers, whom had operated Caterpillar equipment promoted Caterpillar equipment, which boosted the company’s sales in the United States. England and Japan...

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