Publisher's Synopsis
This volume focuses on Caterpillar models from 1950 through 1979, Cletrac, John Deere, Eimco, Euclid, Terex and International Harvester, as well as smaller manufacturers, wheel dozers, blade makers, crawler attachments, circus and railroad crawlers. From mini-dozers to super dozers and everything in between this all-color volume, and Volume I of this book, covers the entire United States landscape of the fascinating world of crawlers and dozers. The book features 12 chapters tracing the evolution of the bulldozer, and describing the different makes and models through the years. The book features 402 colour photographs and an additional 172 black-and-white illustrations of crawlers and dozers and their related equipment, concentrating on the horsepower, engine types, weights, blades and special attachments. Caterpillar's Golden Years were between 1950-1970 and are thoroughly covered in this book; Cletrac, one of the earliest crawler makers, grew to be one of the top performers by the mid-1930s. John Deere started in 1948, and concentrated on farm equipment, but is a top crawler manufacturer as well. Eimco primarily manufactured mining equipment but entered the construction field in 1950; it was acquired by General Motors in 1954 and was operated as a separate division until 1968. International Harvester, also thoroughly featured in the book, dominated the agricultural machinery business and started making crawlers in the late 1920s. The first crawler volume covered Allis-Chalmers and Monarch, J.I. Case and Caterpillar to 1949, plus listed all the Holt, Best and Caterpillars of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Both volumes feature the text and crawler photographs in chronological order so the reader can follow development of the machines through the years, and both volumes have appendices listing all makes and models in chronological order, along with horsepower, weights and other data. Throughout the research period for these books, hundreds of crawler photographs were taken at shows, and numerous illustrations were gathered from libraries, machinery manufacturing companies and from private collections. The bulldozer has been man's continual helpmate in making the earth a better place to live.
