<history. 631.compactor>

Peterson's Dual 631 Compactor Buster Peterson came up with the idea to pair two 631 scrapers, back-to-back, minus the scraper bellies, to form a high-powered push machine in the early 1960s. At the time, Caterpillar had been toying with the idea of building a Super Push CAT to compete with LeTourneau's giant rubber-tired dozers.
Peterson's Dual 631 Compactor was designed for Guy F. Atkinson's Briones Dam project where it debuted in 1963. The heavy duty steel sheepsfoot packer wheels could handle the extremely rocky conditions that had defied other con-ventional compactors.
For the Oroville Dam project, Peterson engineer Roy Barnes designed cleaner bars for the Dual 631 tamper. "It was the only machine that would get the compaction they needed but they wouldn't accept it because they didn't have any history on it. Specs for Oroville called for so many passes-per-lift of material with a certain type roller. The Dual 631 far surpassed any of the other roller-type machines the Corp of Engineers came up with. The contractor still used it but, officially, it wasn't recognized.

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