Bobcat Skid-Steer Loaders Have Come A Long Way

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The M400, which the Melroe Manufacturing Company introduced in 1960, is considered the world’s first four-wheel-drive skid-steer loader. (Photo courtesy of Bobcat.)

For a machine that’s made such a significant, positive impact across so many industries, the skid-steer loader is easy to take for granted. The machine is so multifaceted, though, thanks to its ability to pair with augers, hammers, brooms, forks, and scads of other attachments, that it’s difficult to imagine a jobsite without a wheeled or tracked model present. The following brief history details advancements and innovations that made the Bobcat skid-steer loader in particular one of the most important and ubiquitous pieces of construction equipment ever built.

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Following the release of the M400 in 1960, the Melroe Manufacturing Company released the M440 in 1962, complete with a two-cylinder system integrated in the lift arms. The machine was the first from Melroe to receive “Bobcat” branding and the now-familiar white and red livery. (Photo courtesy of Bobcat.)

The Skid-Steer Loader Is Born

It sounds strange, but the construction, agriculture, forestry, landscaping, and other sectors globally have Minnesota turkeys to thank for the ultra-versatile skid-steer loader. That’s because the 1960-introduced M400, the world’s first four-wheel-drive skid-steer loader, stemmed directly from the compact, three-wheel self-propelled “Keller Loader” that brothers Cyril and Louis Keller developed in 1957 for Eddie Velo. A Rothsay, Minnesota, turkey farmer, Velo needed a loader small and light enough to maneuver his barn’s second floor in order to clean up turkey manure. Featuring left and right front wheels that enabled it to essentially turn in place, the Keller Loader became that machine.

In 1958, after the Kellers sold the rights to the loader to Gwinner, North Dakota,-based Melroe Manufacturing Company, they went to work for Melroe, first developing the M60 self-propelled loader that featured a boom system mimicking grasshopper legs. The subsequent M200 straightened out the “grasshopper legs,” but it was the M400, adapted from the M200, that added a fourth wheel and rear axle to form the first skid-steer loader. Eventually, Case, CAT, Gehl, Kubota, John Deere, New Holland, and other leading companies would develop their own models.

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Bobcat’s current A770 All-Wheel Steer Loader is billed as a “one-of-a-kind loader” due to the ability it gives operators to select between all-wheel steering and skid steering via a button set into the dash panel. (Photo courtesy of Bobcat.)

What’s In A Name?

In 1962, Melroe refined the M400 and created the M440, which incorporated a two-cylinder system into the lift arms, enclosed the drive shaft, and featured a 70:30 front-to-rear weight ratio that enhanced steering performance. Packing a 15.5-horsepower Kohler two-cylinder engine, the M440 also ushered in the “Bobcat era” when advertising pitchman Lynn Bickett likened the machine’s “tough, quick, and agile” traits to a bobcat’s. A year later, the M444 would add a pressured oil supply to the clutch systems, while 1964’s M500 would include a two-cylinder 24-horsepower Kohler engine.

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Among the innovations that Bobcat introduced to its skid-steer loaders over the decades was a vertical forklift mast option with the 1967-introduced M600. Bobcat says the option proved popular with bricklayers in particular. (Photo courtesy of Bobcat.)

By 1964, Melroe had already sold its 1,000th Bobcat, and by 1967, Bobcat sales reportedly made up 65% of all Melroe’s business. With sales exceeding $25 million by the decade’s end, Melroe was sold to Clark Equipment Company, which formed a Melroe Division. Clark later sold the Bobcat line to Ingersoll Rand Company. In 2000, the Melroe Company became the Bobcat Company, which South Korea’s Doosan has owned since 2007.

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Following the economic recession of the early 1980s, the Melroe Company adopted a “Still at 1983 Pricing” campaign to keep Bobcat prices consistent. The campaign lasted 10 years, driving both sales and customer loyalty. (Image courtesy of Bobcat.)

Getting Better All The Time

Over the decades, Bobcat developed numerous innovations that enhanced the skid-steer loader’s power and performance. 1967’s M600, for example, provided a vertical forklift mast option, while 1970’s M970, dubbed “Big Bob,” became the first to integrate a hydrostatic drive system and ROPS (rollover protection system). The M970 also added the Bob-Tach system, which replaced pin-on mounting to greatly expand the skid steel loader’s prowess. (When its patent expired in 1989, the Bob-Tach design eventually became the global ISO standard, Bobcat claims.) In 1972, the M610 moved the Bobcat skid steer to diesel power, while 1976’s 520 included usage of standardized components that aided Bobcat’s manufacturing process. Following the recession of the early 1980’s, Bobcat drove customer loyalty and sales by launching a “Still at 1983 Pricing” campaign that kept skid steer pricing consistent for numerous years.

Following 1990’s Next Generation 50 models that introduced the BOSS monitoring and diagnostic system, 1991’s 7753 featured vertical lift path loaders that improved lifting capacity. Prior to the 2000s, meanwhile, Bobcat debuted a hydraulic-powered Bob-Tach system in 1999, and during the 2000s, it introduced the A220 as the first Bobcat loader will all-wheel steering and skid-steering abilities, as well as joysticks for controlling driving and lift-arm operations. After moving the loader’s cab forward with the M-Series in 2009, Bobcat introduced its first Tier 4 engine in 2013, a year before selling its 1 millionth Bobcat loader.

Today, Bobcat’s skid-steer loader lineup ranges from 700-pound to 3,950-pound rate capacities. Current models include the S70, S450, S550, S570, S590, S595, S630, S650, S740, A770 all-wheel steer loader, S770, and S850.

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The M444 skid-steer loader that replaced the M400 in 1963 included the addition of pressure-oiled clutches, which enhanced the machine’s durability. (Photo courtesy of Bobcat.)

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The New Breed 30 Series of skid-steer loaders that Melroe Company launched in 1977 included the 530, 533, 630, 631, and 632 models. In addition to featuring air- and liquid-cooled gas and diesel engines, the models incorporated a center-mounted chaincase that featured drive chains in a “bowtie” arrangement. The feature’s ability to eliminate adjustments was a “highly touted competitive advantage,” Bobcat notes. (Photo courtesy of Bobcat.)

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With the 2015-introduced S750, S770, and S850 skid-steer loaders, Bobcat provided a 3.4-liter Bobcat Tier 4-compliant diesel engine that didn’t require a DPF (diesel particulate filter). (Photo courtesy of Bobcat.)

If you’re in the market for a skid-steer loader, you’ll find thousands for sale every day on MachineryTrader.com, including thousands of Bobcat skid-steer loaders.

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