page_title: Benjamin Holt
section_title: Use during World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Benjamin Holt / Use during World War I
caption_attribution_description: English: On April 22, 1918, British Colonel Ernest Dunlop Swinton (right) traveled to Stockton, California, to publicly honor Benjamin Holt (left) and the workforce for their contribution to the war effort. Benjamin Holt was recognized by the Colonel at a public meeting held in Stockton.
context_page_description: Benjamin Leroy Holt was an American inventor who patented and manufactured the first practical crawler-type tread tractor. The continuous-type track is used for heavy agricultural and engineering vehicles to spread the weight over a large area to prevent the vehicle from sinking into soft ground. He founded with his brothers the Holt Manufacturing Company.
context_section_description: During World War I, Holt tractors were used to replace horses to haul artillery and other supplies. The Quartermaster Corps also used them to haul long trains of freight wagons over the unimproved dirt tracks behind the front. Holt tractors were also the inspiration for the development of the British and French tanks, which profoundly altered ground warfare tactics. 
  By 1916, about one thousand of Holt's Caterpillar tractors were used by the British in World War I. Holt vice president Murray M. Baker said that these tractors weighed about 18,000 pounds (8,200 kg) and had 120 horsepower (89 kW). By the end of the war, 10,000 Holt vehicles had been used in the Allied war effort.
  On April 22, 1918 British Army officer Colonel Ernest Dunlop Swinton visited Stockton while on a tour of the USA. Swinton publicly thanked Benjamin Holt and his workforce for their contribution to the war effort. During 1914 and 1915, Swinton had advocated basing some sort of armored fighting vehicle on Holt's caterpillar tractors, but without success. (Although Britain did develop tanks, they came from a separate source and were not directly influenced by Holt machines. After the appearance of tanks on the battlefield, Holt built a prototype, the Gas-electric tank, but it did not enter production.)
  After the war ended, Holt focused less on agricultural machinery and more on producing road-building equipment. On December 5, 1920, 71-year-old Benjamin Holt died after a month-long illness. Five years later, the Holt Caterpillar Company merged with its strongest competitor, the C. L. Best company, to form what is now Caterpillar Inc., the 133rd largest company in the world as of 2008.
caption: Benjamin Holt (left) with British Colonel Ernest Dunlop Swinton in Stockton, April 1918. The vehicle on the right is a Holt tractor; on the left is a miniature replica of a British tank
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