Yellow Steel: The Story of the Earthmoving Equipment IndustryUniversity of Illinois Press, 2002 - 488 pagine In Yellow Steel, the first overarching history of the earthmoving equipment industry, William Haycraft examines the tremendous increase in the scope of mining and construction projects, from the Suez Canal through the interstate highway system, made possible by innovations in earthmoving machinery. Led by Cyrus McCormick's invention in 1831 of a practical mechanical reaper, many of the builders of today's massive earthmoving machines began as makers of reapers, plows, threshers, and combines. Haycraft traces the efforts of manufacturers such as Caterpillar, Allis-Chalmers, International Harvester, J. I. Case, Deere, and Massey-Ferguson to diversify from farm equipment to specialized earthmoving equipment and the important contributions of LeTourneau, Euclid, and others in meeting the needs of the construction and mining industries. He shows how postwar economic and political events, especially the creation of the interstate highway system, spurred the development of more powerful and more agile machines. He also relates the precipitous fall of several major American earthmoving machine companies and the rise of Japanese competitors in the early 1980s. Extensively illustrated and packed with detailed information on both manufacturers and machines, Yellow Steel knits together the diverse stories of the many companies that created the earthmoving equipment industry--how they began, expanded, retooled, merged, succeeded, and sometimes failed. Their history, a step-by-step linking of need and invention, provides the foundation for virtually all modern transportation, construction, commerce, and industry. |
Sommario
Creating the Need | 1 |
The Beginnings 18311945 | 36 |
The Postwar Decade 194655 | 108 |
The Interstate Decade 195665 | 143 |
The Industry Matures 196675 | 188 |
The Pinnacle and the Fall 197685 | 243 |
Recovery and Renewal 198695 | 301 |
Perspectives | 369 |
The Industry and Organized Labor | 389 |
Notes | 417 |
449 | |
455 | |
Altre edizioni - Visualizza tutto
Yellow Steel: The Story of the Earthmoving Equipment Industry William Russell Haycraft Visualizzazione estratti - 2000 |
Parole e frasi comuni
acquired acquisition Allis-Chalmers American Annual report became began Benjamin Holt building built bulldozers Canal Case's Caterpillar Inc Caterpillar Tractor Clark Cletrac company's competition competitors ConExpo construction equipment business contract contractors Corporation cost crawler tractor cubic yards dams dealer organization decade Deere & Company diesel Dresser early earthmoving equipment industry Engineering News-Record equipment manufacturers Euclid Europe European farm tractor Fiat-Allis Hanomag Harvester's highway Holt horsepower hydraulic excavators Ibid International Harvester introduced Japanese joint venture Komatsu labor largest late Liebherr loader-backhoe loss machinery machines major market share Massey-Ferguson McCormick ment merger million models motor graders move North America off-highway truck open-pit mines operations pany Peoria percent plant Poclain postwar president product line profit R. G. LeTourneau recession roads scraper steam Tenneco Terex tion tires tons track loaders track-type tractor union United Volvo WABCO Wall Street Journal wheel loaders wheel tractor-scraper worldwide