Holt Manufacturing Company

Holt tractors also played a part, to varying degrees, in the development of military tanks in Great Britain, France, and Germany.

The company decided to focus instead on heavy construction equipment and sought to capitalize on the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921.

The two companies had spent about US$1.5 million (about $26,060,721 today) in legal fees fighting each other in various contractual, trademark, and patent infringement lawsuits since 1905.

The factory cost US$65,000 (or about $2,380,560 ) to build[18] and used a 40 horsepower Corliss steam engine manufactured in Providence, Rhode Island, and shipped around Cape Horn.

In 1905, they resolved a patent infringement lawsuit when Daniel Best retired and gave one-third of Best Manufacturing Company to his son, Clarence Leo ("C. L.") Best.

[9] C. L. did not stay long, and left in 1910 to form the C. L. Best Gas Traction Company to replace his father's firm, resulting in further difficulties between the two men.

Baker, who later became the first executive vice president of what became Caterpillar Tractor Company,[9] wrote to Holt headquarters in Stockton and described the plant of the bankrupt Colean Manufacturing Co. of East Peoria, Illinois.

[5] In 1909, the engineers building the 233-mile-long (375 km) Los Angeles Aqueduct bought one of Holt's Model 70-120 tractors to haul supplies across the Mojave Desert.

Baxter initially cut the large tractors from the company's product line and introduced smaller models focused on the agricultural market.

It continues as the largest Caterpillar dealership in the US, under the ownership and management of Benjamin's great-grandson, Peter Holt (who is better known as the owner of the NBA's San Antonio Spurs, the five-time world champions).

[33] One key innovation Holt implemented was using flexible chain belts rather than gears to transmit power from the ground wheels to the working parts of the machine.

Carrying 675 US gallons (2,560 L; 562 imp gal) of water, the traction engine weighed 48,000 pounds (22,000 kg) and rode on huge metal wheels.

Holt's tractors were popular despite their weight and awkward size because they could harvest large fields for one-sixth the cost of a horse-drawn combine.

[35] The steam tractors were extremely heavy, sometimes weighing 1,000 pounds (450 kg) per horsepower, and often sank into the rich, soft earth of the San Joaquin Valley Delta farmland surrounding Stockton, California.

[18] During that period, the chief engineer (and managing director) of Richard Hornsby & Sons in Grantham, England, David Roberts, was experimenting with a chain-track.

[38] Hornsby's design incorporated a steering clutch that varied the speed of each set of wheels, allowing the operator to turn the tractor by retarding one tread or the other.

[40] Holt returned to Stockton and applied his skills and his company's expertise in metallurgy, design, and testing to develop a workable track-laying system.

On Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1904, he successfully tested the updated machine plowing the soggy delta land of Roberts Island.

The new company manufactured gasoline engines to replace the large, heavy steam boilers used to power the earlier Holt tractors.

Holt sent all farmers who owned Haines-Houser tractors in Yolo County, California, a letter containing a demand that they stop using the competitor's harvesters or face a lawsuit.

[47] Competitors latched onto Holt's litigious nature and warned farmers considering buying his equipment that they might be prosecuted for patent infringement.

Holt immediately sued, claiming breach of contract and infringement because as owner of the Best Manufacturing Company, he believed he also owned the "Best" name.

[33] In England, starting in 1905, David Roberts of Richard Hornsby & Sons had attempted to interest British military officials in a tracked vehicle, but failed.

When World War I broke out, with the problem of trench warfare and the difficulty of transporting supplies to the front, the pulling power of crawling-type tractors drew the attention of the military.

Company Vice-President and general manager Pliny Holt had retired and traveled to Washington D.C. to offer his services, and was appointed by Gen. C. C. Williams, Chief of Ordnance, to serve as chairman of the board organized to handle the production of the "Caterpillar" Artillery program.

The British Army Service Corps also used them to haul long trains of freight wagons over the unimproved dirt tracks behind the front.

[54]: 116  He proposed to Sir Maurice Hankey, Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence, that the British build a power-driven, bullet-proof, tracked vehicle that could destroy enemy machine-guns.

[2] The prototypes were rejected after trials found that their size and maneuverability did not offer the relative agility required by a tank for cross-country travel.

[14] In 1921, the company finished the "Mark VI", which achieved speeds of up to 31 miles per hour (50 km/h) on a test run from Stockton to San Francisco and back.

[59] A wooden, miniature mockup of an early British tank, powered by a motorcycle engine, was built especially for and showcased in pictures of Colonel Swinton's visit.

HOLT (before 1925)
An early bulldozer-like tractor, on crawler tracks, with a leading single wheel – for steering – projecting from the front on an extension to the frame. The large internal combustion engine is in full view, with the cooling radiator prominent at the front. An overall roof is supported by thin rods, and side protection sheeting is rolled up under the edge of the roof.
The Holt 75 model gasoline-powered Caterpillar tractor used early in World War I as an artillery tractor. Later models were produced without the front "tiller wheel."
A middle-aged businessman wearing a suit, standing, leaning casually but purposefully against the back of a garden chair.
Benjamin Holt , first to patent a workable crawling-type tread design, at age 45 in 1894
The Holt Caterpillar Co. factory in East Peoria, Illinois , in 1910. Tractors were assembled in place before assembly lines were introduced. Holt bought the plant from the bankrupt Colean Manufacturing Co. in 1910. [ 19 ]
A train of over fifteen wagons crossing the desert, a flat sandy expanse with scrub-like bushes and a mountain range in the distance.
Two Holt 45 gas crawling-type tractors team up to pull a long wagon train in the Mojave Desert during construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1909.
A machine similar in arrangement to the Holt seventy-five tractor, but with a steam boiler where later models would have the internal combustion engine fitted. A prominent chain drive extends the length of the vehicle from the steam engine to the rear, tracked wheels.
Holt Steamer No. 77, the second prototype of a crawler-track-type tractor, on a trial run demonstrating its ability to travel across the marshy peat soil of Roberts Island
Holt tractor in 1916 towing artillery.
A Holt seventy-five tractor towing a field gun through a war-damaged village in Europe. The tractor is stacked high with supplies, and a number of uniformed soldiers are walking alongside.
A Holt 60-horsepower, four-cylinder valve-in-head gasoline Caterpillar tractor from 1914.
A Holt 60-horsepower, four-cylinder valve-in-head gasoline Caterpillar ( s/n 524) in 1912. The tractor was restored in the late 1960s and is the oldest surviving East Peoria-built tractor known to exist. [ 42 ]
Simple, side-on drawing of a tractor similar to a Holt seventy-five, with the track arrangements drawn in greater detail.
Holt Machinery Company patent for a track-type tractor, number #1076578. Filing date: Feb 18, 1913; issue date: Oct 21, 1913. [ 43 ]
A field gun and crew, with Holt tractor, resting in a forest of very tall trees.
A Holt artillery tractor in use by the French Army in the Vosges during the spring of 1915
A large field gun and limber being towed along a sunken road through a battle-scarred forest by a Holt tractor. The gun has large fabricated steel-spoked wheels, with a wide tread to cope with mud.
8-inch Howitzer Mk 1 being towed by a Holt tractor at the Battle of the Somme , 1916
Restored Holt seventy-five tractor on display.
Preserved Holt 75 tractor ( s/n 3580) at the Great Dorset Steam Fair , England (2008)
An early armoured vehicle: the rectangular body is made of riveted plates and has a number of empty gun ports. It is carried on full-length caterpillar tracks.
A prototype of the Holt gas–electric Tank of 1918 featuring a 75 mm Vickers mountain howitzer and two Browning 7.92 mm machine guns
A tracked vehicle fitted with a large gun negotiates its way up a steep hillside (about 45˚, or one-in-one). The crew of two in the open cab are leaning forward and holding on tightly to avoid falling out backwards.
Self-propelled mount for 75mm gun or 105mm howitzer developed by the Holt Manufacturing Corporation
A military man in full dress uniform salutes a suited business man who is doffing his bowler hat in return. Behind the two men is a Holt tractor, which towers above them, and a diminutive one-man tank, which is below chest height. Behind the vehicles, a crowd looks on.
British Colonel Ernest Dunlop Swinton publicly honors the Holt company's contributions to WWI. A mock-up tank is on the left.