Page 191 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

Buster’s experimental 905 wheel skidder made from a 950 wheel loader in 1968
so Buster’s design really made a difference. I think it woke Cat up to the fact that there was a market for it.”
Buster’s second design—a tracked log skidder— was another collaborative effort between Buster and Cat engineers in Peoria. It earned US Patent 37625584 in October 1973. That same year, Cat came out with the larger, higher horse-powered 528 rubber tired skidder. It would be another de- cade before Cat offered a D4H and D5H custom high-track skidder from the factory. And, another 23 years before they debuted a purpose-built track skidder—the Cat 527.
In the meantime, loggers and Cat dealers were modifying equipment to fit the diverse needs of the industry. “Forestry equipment has always been about innovation,” says Kevin Culligan, who split his career between Halton and Peterson, and re- tired in 2019.“All the guys who use these machines are innovators. They log on flat land, steep land, wet land, dry land, big woods and small woods, so the products they need are constantly changing and being modified. As dealers, we modified skid- ders out of D7s and D8s. We added extra counter- weight and forks to wheel loaders for sawmills. We made log loaders out of excavators. It’s all about innovation and meeting the customer’s need.”
CAT SKIDDERS Debut Model No. 1971 518
1973 528
1985 D4H 1985 D5H 1986 508 1990 D4H 1992 D5H 1994 525 1996 515 1996 527 1998 517 2000 545 2014 555D
CAT LOG LOADERS Debut ModelNo. 1986 228LL
1986 231LL
1992 325LL 1993 320LL 1993 322LL 1993 330LL 2011 568LL 2016 538LL 2016 558LL
S/N prefix
50S rubber-tired
51S rubber-tired
9DB custom high track 8RC custom high track 2HD rubber-tired, grapple 8ZF special track
7EG special track
1DN rubber-tired
4RL rubber-tired
3DS track (purpose-built) 5WW track (purpose-built) 2FZ rubber-tired PGYCat’slargestskidder
LOGGING MACHINE TIMELINE
1970 905Loader-Skidder(rubbertired)madeon950
loader — Buster Peterson US Patent 3508676
1971 Cat518rubbertiredskidder
1973 LogSkidder(track-type)—BusterPetersonUS
Patent 3762584
1983 FirstFellerBuncherwasaCat227
TSK Ser II TSK Ser II
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