Cyril and Louis Keller will be officially inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in October. The brothers operated a machine shop in Minnesota and invented the world’s first compact loader. The world later came to know this as the Bobcat skid-steer loader. Melroe Manufacturing, which became Bobcat, heard about the loader and asked the Kellers to introduce it at the 1958 Minnesota State Fair. These machines replaced the pitchfork and wheelbarrow and made farm labor much easier. I have always been fascinated with skid steer loaders.
They are like an extension of your own body. Possibly because of their intuitive controls. I think most people who sit in a skid steer can perform basic maneuvers almost immediately. Performing those maneuvers safely on a variety of terrains or proper handling of a payload takes more time to learn. Still, they are the closest most of us will ever come to wearing a mechanical exoskeleton. Skid loaders to me have always been like hired muscle. Growing up on a dairy farm always required a fair amount of pitching out calf barns.
This was slow work and perfect for building muscle as it slowly crushed your spirit. We used to make a game out of pitchfork work to make it easier. The first time I saw a skid steer grab 8-12 of my pitch fork loads and carry it out, my world was changed. Games were not needed to operate this work saving beast, although the pitchfork would never be completely sidelined.
I don’t think my dad ever owned a skid loader. He would rent one to clean out the pole shed. I believe he started with a Mitey Mac then progressed to a Hydra Mac 8b or 9c made in Thief River Falls. Dad or Steve usually drove the skid steer and picked away at this large task.
A picture of one of these units was taken as it worked at our farm and eventually made it into an advertisement in a few farm magazines.
Sunday afternoons were my parent’s time to go out for dinner then drive around and listen to Uncle Sig play polka music on the Grafton, North Dakota radio station. If a rented skid steer was present during these times, I typically got it started and tried it out. I would create an obstacle course from square bales and practice moving through them. There was something so satisfying about pushing and twisting those levers and moving with such precision through square turns or even pivoting in one place. I would use the manure tines to stack a few bales then carefully deconstruct the pile until it fell over. It was like a large-scale game of Jenga. Sounds a bit mundane but this was pretty good stuff around Viking on a Sunday afternoon.
I have owned two skid steers; ironically, they didn’t really fit in my operation. So much of what I do on the farm requires that I lift something and then work on it while it is in the air. Once you lift something with a skid loader, you are safely stuck inside, crawling out can be very dangerous. The safety cage from my first skid steer had been removed. This created more flexibility in operation but also made it more dangerous. While crawling out and over the loader arms, loose clothing could catch on a lever and create rapid, unplanned movement. I learned to do a lot of things from the seat of the skid steer but eventually sold both of them.
Skid-steer loaders have long been an important construction and agricultural tool worldwide. On a global scale, several different makes of the skid loader have eased our burden and helped make us more productive. My memories of the machine will always be Sunday afternoons of independence and a little hay-bale Jenga.
