Bobcat inventors inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame
Nov. 11—WEST FARGO — The brothers who invented the world's first compact loader — later named the Bobcat skid-steer loader — are now in the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
The Hall of Fame posthumously inducted Cyril and Louis Keller during the NIHF Illumination and Induction Ceremonies held Oct. 25-26.
The Hall of Fame in January 2023 had announced the brothers as inductees.
Bobcat representatives, along with members of the Keller family, were in attendance at the ceremony.
"If Dad and Cyril were here to accept this award, they would accept it for all the early and current Bobcat employees that have all helped bring the little Keller loader to be the bobcat machine it is today," Louis' son Joe Keller said in a statement. "There is no one that the Bobcat loader hasn't affected or helped through life — even though they may not know it."
During the Illumination Ceremony on Oct. 25 in Alexandria, Virginia, members of the Keller family represented Cyril and Louis by placing their names on illuminated hexagons in the museum's Gallery of Icons. The Induction Ceremony was held Oct. 26 at The Anthem in Washington, D.C.
"The ingenuity of the Keller brothers spurred the compact equipment industry," Mike Ballweber, president of Doosan Bobcat North America, said in a statement. "Today at Bobcat, their spirit of inventiveness lives on, as our organization continues to innovate for the jobsite of the future and empower our customers to accomplish more."
The Keller brothers ran a machinist and blacksmith shop in Rothsay, Minnesota, in the 1950s, and were approached by a farmer who wanted a piece of equipment that was light enough to be lifted on the second floor of his turkey barn and small enough to get into the tight spaces to clean the barn's manure-covered floor. He also requested it be self-propelled.
They developed what was known then as the Keller Loader, a three-wheeled loader with no steering wheel, which farmers began ordering after seeing it demonstrated.
Melroe Manufacturing Company, known as Bobcat Company today, invited the brothers to the 1957 Minnesota State Fair to demonstrate their machinery. There Melroe Manufacturing Company won the exclusive manufacturing rights to the machine and hired the Keller brothers to refine the design and put the machine into production. To improve the design, a second set of drive wheels was added to the back in 1960, and that model — the M400 — became the first true skid-steer loader.
The machine is now known as the Bobcat Skid Steer and accounts for 40% of the global market for skid-steer loaders.
Bobcat Company earlier this month announced plans to expand with a new manufacturing plant in Monterrey, Mexico, which is expected to begin production in early 2026, to grow the company's manufacturing footprint.
