Bobcat: A Short History

Early in the 1950’s, Louis and Cyrus Keller operated ‘Keller Welding and Repair’ near Rothsay,
Minnesota. The Kellers’ repaired machinery for local farmers. In 1956, a turkey farmer Eddie Velo
stopped by the Kellers’ with a vexing problem; he described a need for a machine small enough to
maneuver inside a pole barn and light enough to operate on its upper level. The Keller brothers
developed a small, three-wheeled design with a belt-driven transmission, and delivered it to Velo in
1957 after which the Kellers had full access to Velo’s operations. The Keller brothers developed and
patented a more robust clutch-based transmission system after they learnt the drawbacks of the belt-
driven transmission system in 1958 and this transmission became the basis of the Melroe M60 loader.
The Kellers’ uncle, an equipment dealer for the Melroe Manufacturing Company based in Gwinner,
North Dakota introduced his nephews to the Melroe brothers in 1958. They invited the Kellers’ to
demonstrate the loader at the Minnesota State Fair, where it drew huge crowds. Melroe introduced the
four-wheeled M400 model “Skid-Steer Loader” in 1960 and began using BOBCAT as a trade name for
such products in 1962 on the 440-model loader. Les Melroe and advertising agent Lynn Bickett settled
on the ‘Bobcat’ name while exchanging name ideas during a drive between Minneapolis and Gwinner.
Bickett and Sylvan Melroe developed the “tough, quick and agile” slogan used in advertising the early
loaders.

Melroe was later sold to Clark Equipment Company in 1969 and then to Ingersoll-Rand in 1995. In 2007,
the Doosan Group of Korea purchased the Clark Equipment Company along with all its other
construction equipment groups and now does business as Bobcat Company. The company now owns
the worldwide trademark registrations for its ‘Bobcat’ name, which only accurately refers to equipment
manufactured by Bobcat Company.