Bobcat mourn passing of skid-steer inventor

BOBCAT Company have paid tribute to Louis Keller, the co-inventor of the world’s first skid-steer loader, who died on 11 July at the age of 87.

Together with his brother Cyril, Louis invented the first skid-steer loader, which was based around a three-wheeled loader they developed in 1957 for a turkey farmer near Rothsay in Minnesota.

The Keller loader, as it was known, had two drive wheels and a rear caster wheel, and the brothers built a total of seven in the first year.

In September 1958, they were hired by the Melroe brothers at Melroe Manufacturing Company in Gwinner, North Dakota, which was later to become Bobcat Company.

Using the Keller brothers’ design, Melroe introduced the M60 self-propelled loader and, in 1960, Louis added a rear drive axle, resulting in the M400 model, the world’s first true skid-steer loader.

More than four decades later, Louis was among those honoured in 2004 when Bobcat received the ASAE ‘Historic Landmark’ award — a recognition reserved only for the most important agricultural innovations in American history.

Rich Goldsbury, president of Bobcat Americas and Oceania: ‘We were saddened to learn about the passing of Louis Keller, one of the inventors of the compact, three-wheeled machine that led to the first Bobcat-branded skid-steer loader.

‘The Keller brothers’ drive to help make common jobs easier for farmers and others helped launch the compact equipment industry, and their contributions to Bobcat and the State of North Dakota in particular will never be forgotten.’