Filling a need

When brothers and business partners Louis and Cyril Keller were asked by a customer to build a compact machine to clean a barn, they could not have predicted the invention would lead to a multi-billion-dollar business.
Joe Keller has been collecting and preserving this history since 1997.
His dad, Louis, and uncle, Cyril, hold the original patent for what became the Bobcat skid loader.
“How many people have the honor to have something in their family’s history so well known that everybody else knows what it is?” Keller said. “Not many people have that opportunity. It’s significant enough that it needs to be preserved.”
Louis and Cyril grew up on a farm near Tintah, Minnesota.
“Instead of bringing machinery to town to get fixed, their dad and grandpa would fix it at home,” Keller said. “They learned the basic mechanics from them, and when they couldn’t buy what they needed to get the job done, they could make something.”
The brothers worked on the farm until World War II. Cyril joined the Navy, and Louis joined the Army. After returning home, they had intentions to farm but did not have the capital to start such a venture.
In 1947, Louis opened a welding and repair shop in Rothsay, Minnesota. By 1953, Louis had more business than he could handle, so he asked Cyril to work with him as an equal partner.
In the summer of 1956, a turkey farmer came to the Keller brothers and asked if they could build a small, light-weight machine that could turn in tight spaces and be used to clean his barns.
“Summers are the busy time for farmers and for farm mechanics, so they said they would think about it but wouldn’t have time until later in the fall to experiment with new ideas,” Keller said. “Anyone who invents stuff knows that once they get an idea in their head, they can’t get it out until they fix the problem.”
That fall, the brothers began sketching ideas. They came up with the idea of a three-wheeled machine — two drive wheels and a caster wheel — with control levers and a 6-horsepower engine. Six weeks later, the brothers had a prototype to test. After a few tweaks, the farmer purchased the machine in February 1957 for $1,360. The first Keller self-propelled loader was established.
“That $1,360 check turned into what the skid loader industry is today,” Keller said.
After building more machines and selling them, the brothers could not keep up with running the repair shop and building their loader machines.
In 1958, Les Melroe, of Melroe Manufacturing Company, heard of the Kellers’ invention and invited the brothers to bring their machine to the 1958 Minnesota State Fair.
Interest in the loader took off during the fair, and Melroe Manufacturing and the Kellers formed a contract shortly after. The brothers received a royalty from each loader sold, and they became employees of the company to develop more loaders.
Melroe Manufacturing Company already had a manufacturing plant in Gwinner, North Dakota. So, the brothers moved to North Dakota. After the first several loaders were built, Louis worked in the shop, helping build and create new loaders while Cyril worked in sales.
“In 1958 and 1959, trying to sell a machine without a steering wheel was a pretty difficult task,” Keller said.
Business was booming for the loaders until 1960, when the poultry industry declined.
“Sales got to the point where there were 200 M200 three-wheeled loaders on hand,” Keller said. “There was talk about stopping production of the loaders. Instead, another axle was added in the back of an M200, creating the first 4-wheel-drive skid steer, the M400.”
In 1962, the M440 was introduced. This became the first true skid loader with double-acting cylinders, 70/30 weight balance and chains running on oil. This also became the first machine to carry the Bobcat name.
Keller said, according to early employees, a box was placed in the lunchroom at Melroe Manufacturing Company for employees to offer name suggestions for the machine.
“When the marketing team drew the name Bobcat out of the box, they looked it up in the dictionary, and it said a tough, quick, agile animal,” Keller said. “That is what the machine was, so that became the name.”
The clutch drive system the Kellers invented was used from 1958 until 1981. After that, the machines transitioned to hydro-stat. Today, the Bobcat Company continues to make skid loaders and sell them around the world.
Keller has artifacts, memorabilia and original loaders on display at the Sargent County Museum in Forman, North Dakota.
“It’s been 27 years since I started collecting and trying to find a place to put the display, and now, we finally have a place,” Keller said.
Even though Louis and Cyril and the Melroe family members have died, their legacy lives on at the Sargent County Museum. The museum showcases Keller loaders, Melroe loaders, Bobcats and other projects the families invented.
“There is a replica of Louis’ first shop, a single-car garage, and within that is the third Keller loader made,” Keller said. “The shop is set up so it looks like they are still working the Keller loader. There are several tools, like the anvil and turning lathe that actually were in Louis’ shop in 1947.”
Keller said the highlights of the museum include Melroe family and Keller family products. The Bobcat display starts with the serial No. 1 Melroe loader. Early models, several successful prototypes and a couple of models that did not see production are also on display.
Louis and Cyril were inducted into the Association of Equipment Manufacturers Hall of Fame in 1999, the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame in 2004 and the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2023. The Melroe family was inducted into the Association of Equipment Manufacturers Hall of Fame in 2014.