Bobcat
By: The Working Man
The Melroe Manufacturing Company produced a skid steer loader M-
440 in 1962 which was dubbed the bobcat. Since the real bobcat
is agile, quick and tough, it was an apt name for the small
skid steer loader.
The Bobcat name was first used by the manufacturer in 1962 on the
440 model loader. Melroe Manufacturing Company now sells a lot of
equipment under the Bobcat division. Melroe was purchased by
Clark Equipment Company in 1969, and was purchased from Clark by
Ingersoll-Rand in 1995.
Bobcat Company is now a manufacturer of farm and construction
equipment with headquarters in West Fargo, North Dakota, USA, and
manufacturing plants in Gwinner and Bismarck, North Dakota,
Dobris, Czech Republic and Wujiang, China. It was a subsidiary of
the Ingersoll Rand Company from 1995 until it was sold in 2007 to
Korea's Doosan Infracore and Doosan Engine.
The Bobcat brand now includes not only
skid steer loaders
but
mini track loaders, loader backhoes, compact tractors, compact
excavators, compact utility vehicles and other small hydraulic
equipment, plus a large range of attachments for all of them.
Bobcat is one of the few major manufacturing companies operating
in North Dakota, and the only manufacturer building compact
excavators in the United States. There are now nearly one
thousand Bobcat dealers in over seventy-five countries.
Although the word "bobcat" is sometimes used to describe any skid
steer loader, such uses are incorrect. Bobcat Company owns
worldwide trademark registrations for its "Bobcat" name.
Accordingly, the word "Bobcat" only accurately describes
equipment and vehicles manufactured by the Bobcat Company.
Bobcat Company is currently engaged in a campaign to inform the
public of the proper use of the "Bobcat" trademark. Bobcat
Company's efforts are targeted at preventing Bobcat from becoming
a genericized trademark.
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