The Impacts Of Benjamin Holt And John Deere

As of 2008 Caterpillar Incorporated was the 133rd largest company in the world with a market value of 45.13 billion dollars. As of May 2016 John Deere was worth 26.1 billion dollars, the 88th world’s most valuable brand, and number 19 on America’s best employers list. Benjamin Holt and John Deere both have made huge impacts on America. Benjamin Holt made the biggest impact with his track type tractor compared to John Deere’s plow. However, Benjamin Holt and John Deere both had huge parts in the agricultural revolution (“Deere”; “Benjamin” Wikipedia).

Holt and Deere had very unique childhoods. Holt was born January 1, 1849. His father owned a saw mill company that made wood for wagon and coach construction. In 1864 his brother Charles moved

Holt built his first steam traction engine that weighed 48,000 pounds and rode on huge steel wheels. His tractors could harvest large fields for a sixth the cost of a horse-drawn combine. In 1892 his tractor was capable of hauling fifty tons of material at three miles an hour. Up to this point America used animal power to haul goods, so the tractor was a huge innovation. In 1903 Holt became the first to design and manufacture a practical continuous tracks for use on tractors. In 1904 in a field around Stockton, California he successfully demonstrated the first track-type tractor. His tractor replaced horses in World War 1 to haul artillery and other supplies. His tractor was the inspiration of the British and French tanks, which drastically changed ground warfare tactics. By 1916 about one-thousand of Holt’s tractors were used by the British in World War 1. By the end of the war ten-thousands of Holts vehicles had been used in the Allied war effort. After Holt saw the tanks on the battlefield he built a prototype, the gas-electric tank, but it did not enter production. On December 5, 1929, after a month long illness seventy-one year old Benjamin Holt died (“Benjamin”