Page 392 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

BUSTER’S QUAD D9S USED THREE PATENTS
Patent US 2,986,827
Bulldozer for Tandem Push Loading, filed April 10, 1958 / granted June 6, 1961.
Patent also covered the Cushion Push Dozer Blade, Inside Track Frame Push Arms, and Rear Cushion Pushing device.
Patent US 3,245,488
Control Arrangement and Steering of Tractors in Tandem, filed March 19, 1964 / granted April 12, 1966.
Patent US 3,266,816
Draft Assembly for Tandem Tractors, filed October 6, 1964 / granted Aug 16, 1966.
“The filing and granted dates on the Cushion Dozer patent are especially important,” explains Randy Krieg, Caterpillar test operator, who has done extensive research on the Quad D9s. “Some in the industry claim that Norman R. Hamm of Rockwell Manufacturing Co. invented it first. But Robert A. (Buster) Peterson’s patent precedes Hamm’s by three years. Buster used the Inside Push Arm mounting design, while Hamm’s design used the standard outside track frame trunnion mount. However, Buster’s Inside Push Arm design for cushion dozers is still
the standard used today by 99 percent of all scraper contractors.”
Today, there are two known restored Quad D9Gs: the Cat-original set Peterson bought from Gran- ite in 2012 and restored in 2014–16 (California); and the 2017 Quad restoration project by the Boston brothers of South Wales, UK, using an original Buster-built draft-assembly conversion kit with two vintage 66A D9Gs. And also a DD9H restored in 2001, owned by retired Kiewit execu- tive vice president, Dick Colf.
BRIDGING THE GAP
Buster Peterson sold thirty-four patents to Cater- pillar over his career. The Quad D9, however, was his biggest design success. At a doubled capacity of 770 hp, the Quad filled a big gap in the industry until 1980, when Caterpillar introduced its D9L with 460 hp. Buster’s original design was known by various names: Quad-Trac, Quad-Track, Dual D9s, Quad 9s, and Quad-Track D9G. Caterpil- lar retained the 66A prefix on roughly thirty-five (known) machines they converted at the factory between 1965–67. However, when Cat bought the patents from Buster and began producing them in earnest in January 1968, they officially renamed the tandem-machine the DD9G (or Dual D9G). And they assigned the new model a brand-new se- rial number prefix—90J (front unit) and 91J (back unit)—for their distinctness, along with its own Cat spec sheet. “Cat produced fifty-one DD9Gs from 1968–74 with serial number prefixes 90J/91J,” says Eric Orlemann, author of nineteen industry books, many about Caterpillar. “Between 1974 and 1980, they built seven DD9Hs (97V/98V) until the introduction of the D9L that replaced it.”
Buster also designed a lesser-known dozer called the side-by-side D9 (SxSD9) with a twenty-four- foot blade for mine stripping and reclamation. Cat produced eleven SxSD9Gs between 1969 and 1974 and thirteen SxSD9Hs between 1974 and 1977. The SxSD9H was discontinued in 1977 when Cat debuted its new D10.
390 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG