Bobcat Prototype Arrives at National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Bobcat Prototype Arrives at NIHF Museum

TUE APRIL 25, 2023 - NATIONAL EDITION
BOBCAT



Joe Keller brought a 1958 prototype skid-steer loader to Alexandria, Va., where it will be part of an exhibit at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum. (National Inventors Hall of Fame photo)

A legendary piece of construction history arrived at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum on April 19.

Joe Keller, the son of 2023 National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee Louis Keller and nephew of Inductee Cyril Keller, was on a cross-country trip with the Keller brothers' invention — a 1958 prototype skid-steer loader.

Keller brought the loader to Alexandria, Va., where the prototype will be part of an exhibit at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum honoring the 2023 Class of Inductees, who will be recognized in October during NIHF's 50th anniversary Induction Ceremony.

[alittlelark]

2. I just got off my Bobcat S-570, came in for lunch, and saw this !!

I prefer the evolved form. 🤓

[marble falls]

3. Mucking stables or moving gravel and dirt?

[alittlelark]

4. Moving dirt and BIG boulders.

She’s a brawny gal !!

[marble falls]

5. Those steers could/can move a lot of stuff for their size. And pretty simple to operate with a ...

... lot of protection for the operator.

When I was a kid I worked construction for my uncle. Driving a steer (dumping gravel down around foundations), I was told if a business agent for the operators' or laborers' union showed up and asked me for my card I was to tell him I was a member of the union he didn't represent.

One day a guy showed up and asked for my card. I asked who he represented. He said "operators", I said "laborer".

He said, "Listen you little son of a bitch, you'd better be down at the hall tomorrow morning at 7:00am!"

Told my uncle and I believe a hundred bucks changed hands.

A couple of years later I joined my first union and been pro-union ever since.