For more than 85 years, Caterpillar Inc. also known as "CAT", is an American corporation which designs, manufactures, markets and sells machinery and engines and sells financial products and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. With more than US$70 billion in assets, Caterpillar was ranked number one in its industry and number 44 overall in the 2009 Fortune 500.Caterpillar stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Caterpillar Inc. traces its origins to the 1925 merger of the Holt Manufacturing Company and the C. L. Best Tractor Company, creating a new entity, the California based Caterpillar Tractor Company. In 1986, the company re-organized itself as a Delaware corporation under the current name, Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar's headquarters are located in Peoria, Illinois, United States.
Facts
- In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake ranks as one of the most significant earthquakes of all time. Photos taken following the quake and subsequent fire show Holt Steam Traction Engine #37 helping with the cleanup. This is the first known instance of our machines in use to aid in disaster recovery.
- In 1919, a Holt 5-Ton Caterpillar Tractor was the first tractor to successfully navigate the 20 miles up to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado. In doing so, it also established a new record by reaching the highest point - 14,109 feet - at which any tractor had ever been operated up to that point in time.
- For every one of a competitor's tractors in use on the Bonneville Dam, contractors used 19 Caterpillar tractors.
- Caterpillar machines and engines help construct the fairgrounds and buildings for the 1939 World's Fair.
- In the 1940’s and 1950’s, Caterpillar machines help construct more than 70,000 miles of highways throughout the United States.