Getting Acquainted with Bobcat History

One of the highlights of the recent Bobcat Demo Days event which took place at the company’s European hub in Dobris, Czech Republic, was a meeting with Joe Keller who is the son of Louis Keller, who along with his brother Cyril Keller, were the original founders of the compact loader concept.

Joe who had been flown in from North America by Bobcat, gave a very in depth and often emotional speech on the background of his father and uncles business, and how they came up with a mechanized solution for cleaning out turkey sheds for farmers in the Minnesota area.

Pictured above: Joe Keller seen here on a restored Melroe-Bobcat M-610 which had a production run from 1972-1982. 

That first machine was a three-wheeled machine, with two large driving wheels at the front, and a trailing freely rotating wheel at the rear, which when launched in 1957 simply became known as the Keller Loader.

This invention was the catalyst for the Bobcat machines we know today, and was quickly taken on by the Melroe Manufacturing Company, who in turn employed the two Keller brothers to work on the project, and to further develop the concept, which they did in 1960 with the launch of the M400 which featured the now familiar four-wheel skid-steer design, the rest as they say is history.

You can find out more in this fascinating documentary style video which I came across on Prairie Public You Tube Channel.