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Yellow Steel: The Story of the Earthmoving Equipment Industry, by William R. Haycraft, published by University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, IL, 2000. 6 x 9 paperback, xvi + 465 pages. ISBN ISBN 0-252-07104-2. Please note this book is new, not used. Haycraft, a retired marketing executive for Caterpillar Inc., has given us the first overarching history of the earthmoving equipment industry He 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 the earthmoving equipment industry. In the second chapter, “The Beginnings, 1831-1945,†Haycraft provides separate histories of the creation and early life of International Harvester, Allis-Chalmers, Caterpillar, LeTourneau, Cleveland Tractor Co., Euclid Road Machinery Co., Deere & Co., J.I. Case, Massey-Harris, and the three major steam shovel companies: Bucyrus Steam Shovel and Dredge Co., Marion Steam Shovel Co., and Pawling-Harnischfegfer. Haycraft shows how postwar economic and political events spurred the development of more powerful and more agile machines, from Adams road graders to Volvo wheel loaders. He relates the fall of several major American earthmoving machine companies from company formation to dissolution or merger and acquisition, showing how fatal mis-steps by International Harvester, Allis-Chalmers, Bucyrus-Erie, General Motors, Caterpillar and other companies, combined insidiously with the strength of the U.S. dollar to allow Japanese companies like Komatsu and Mitsubishi to win a beach-head in the American market with lower priced equipment in the early 1980s, which they then rapidly expanded to begin moving toward market domination in the 1990s. Haycraft also traces the efforts of manufacturers such as Caterpillar, Allis-Chalmers, International Harvester, J. I. Case, Deere, and Massey-Ferguson to diversify from farm equipment into specialized earthmoving equipment, creating yet more contestants in an already fiercely competitive industry. Rich in detail and extensively illustrated, Yellow Steel knits together the diverse stories of the many companies that created the earthmoving 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. Please note that while there are dozens of b&w photos in this book, it is NOT a table-top picture book, but a scholarly, heavily footnoted history of this important industry. * U.S. media (book rate) mail is $4.50. PLEASE NOTE that our experience over the 2004-5 holiday season was that an alarming number of books took over four weeks to be delivered to states west of the Mississippi River. We think—and hope—this probably has something to do with homeland security rather than any sudden deterioration of postal service, but we really do not know. All we know for certain is that we do NOT want to deal with a number of inquires and complaints about “Where’s my books?†when there is NOTHING we can do after we hand the package to the postal clerk and have the receipt in hand. If you want to use media (book rate) mail please wait at least four weeks before you contact us to inquire about the whereabouts of your book. And note that all we’ll be able to tell you is the date we mailed it from the Post Office. We will NOT be able to tell you where the book is, or when the Post Office is going to deliver it. The history of industrial, transportation, and agricultural development From Steam Engines . . . to Spacecraft (Story of earthmoving & construction equipment industry was posted and is owned by: Derek Ayers) |
D-Ayers@chicagopartsnetwork.com (Derek Ayers) for more information.
