A Short History of Bulldozers
By: The Working Man
A bulldozer (Paul Crisp) is a caterpillar tracked tractor
(Crawler) that has a very wide blade or metal plate attached to
the front of the tractor. It is used to break ground or push dirt
and other substances around with the wide blade.
The idea for bulldozers came from the Holt farm tractors. Holt
farm tractors were used to plough fields and because of their
versatility in pushing around ground they were chosen for use in
World War One.
In 1923 a young farmer named James Cummings and a drafter J. Earl
McLeod came up with the first plans for the first real bulldozer.
One of the first bulldozers ever made is on display in Sinsheim,
Germany and another in Morrowville, Kansas, USA. Morrowville,
Kansas is where the first bulldozer was built.
Since the 1920's there has been an increasing demand for larger
more powerful bulldozers on construction sites and other job
sites because of their ability to move around a large amount of
material all at once and even break ground.
Major heavy equipment manufacturers threw their hats into the
ring and started making bulldozers that weren't just tractors
with an attachment on the front but very large machines design
just for bulldozing. These companies (John Deere, Case, Liebher,
JCB, Terex, International Harvester, Komatsu, Fiat-Allis and
Caterpillar) created bigger and more powerful bulldozers to
tackle larger and larger piles of material.
Caterpillar D6 Bulldozer
Caterpillar has emerged from the pack as the premier builder of
bulldozers and is now famous for them. Caterpillar makes their
machines tough, durable and importantly, reliable.
And of course since the 1920's when the bulldozer was invented
there have been many improvements to the bulldozer such as more
powerful engines, a curved blade, hydraulics, raised cabs, better
tracks, arms for better manipulation of the blade, reliable drive
trains and even automated controls.
The bulldozer has come a long way from it's inception as a
tractor with a flat blade on the front attached by pulleys. It is
now a sophisticated machine that you will see on just about any
job site moving dirt and gravel around according to the need of
the workers.
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