Page 23 - Equipment Echoes Issue #137

CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2020

This Best 60 appeared on the MTS booth along with the company’s newest scrapers and its The Best 60 was one of the five tractors comprising Caterpillar Tractor Company’s first
3630T tractor. product line when it was established in 1925 by the amalgamation of Best and Holt.
MTS (Mobile Track Systems): This scraper manufacturer presented a new model scraper 28-33, of 33-yard heaped capacity and its 3630T
tracked tractor. Powered by a 630-hp Caterpillar C18 engine, the tractor is specifically designed to pull scrapers. The historically-minded
company also brought to the show a beautifully restored Best 60 crawler tractor dating from 1923. This particular machine is considered a
second generation Best 60 with upgrades from the first series introduced in 1919 such as strengthened roller frame and replaceable drive
sprockets. It took 5,500 man-hours to restore over a 4-month period. The Best 60 was one of the five tractors comprising Caterpillar Tractor
Company’s first product line when it was established in 1925 by the amalgamation of Best and Holt.

In addition to these historic machines, at least two other manufacturers were discovered to have previously unknown strong ties to the past.

Huber has reappeared under new ownership after being out of business since the mid Huber showed a nice historical photo display featuring one of its Maintainers from the
1990s. The former M-850-C Maintainer is now reborn as the M-850-E. early 1920s.
Huber Maintainer Division of Product Acquisition and Integration Services, LLC: Old-line manufacturer Huber had been out
of business for over 20 years but reappeared at CONEXPO under new ownership. Since 1875, Huber had grown to become one of
America’s leading manufacturers of graders and static rollers before its demise in the 1990s. The machine on display was an upgrade of
the Huber M-850-C Maintainer, now reborn as the M-850-E and made in North Dakota. This utility grader is Cummins powered, rated
at 74 hp, and weighs just over five tons.

IPS Cranes: This locomotive crane builder is the successor of the Ohio Locomotive Crane Company which was established in 1909.
Over the years this company, apart from its own line of cranes, acquired Browning Crane & Shovel Company, the locomotive crane
divisions of McDowell-Wellman Company and American Hoist & Derrick Company, and also built for the Ohio Power Shovel Company.

Finally, the displays of more manufacturers such as Pettibone included exhibits of their history.
The above is an extract from an article by the author for the UK magazine Classic Plant & Machinery.

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