Benjamin Leroy Holt was an American businessman and inventor who patented and manufactured the first practical crawler-type tread tractor.
21 Facts About Benjamin Holt
2.
Benjamin Holt founded with his brothers the Holt Manufacturing Company.
3.
William Knox Benjamin Holt owned a sawmill that made hardwood for wagon and coach construction.
4.
Benjamin Holt produced wooden wheels for wagons and, later on, steel streetcar wheels.
5.
Benjamin Holt sold hardwood, lumber, wagon, and carriage materials, primarily manufacturing wagon axles, wheels, and frames.
6.
In 1869, Benjamin Holt went to work in his father's sawmill, readying hardwoods for shipping to his brothers in San Francisco.
7.
Benjamin Holt's mother died in 1875 and his father died eight years later in 1883.
8.
The Benjamin Holt brothers formed the Stockton Wheel Company to season woods in a way that would prepare them for use in the arid valleys of California and deserts of the West.
9.
Benjamin Holt was acknowledged by his family as an entrepreneurial and mechanical genius.
10.
In 1890, Benjamin Holt built his first experimental steam traction engine, nicknamed "Old Betsy".
11.
Benjamin Holt became president that year and the company was incorporated as the Holt Manufacturing Company.
12.
Benjamin Holt added two separate wooden frames which allowed the drive wheels to be raised or lowered independent of each other.
13.
Benjamin's brother Ames Frank Holt died on October 7,1889.
14.
In 1890, Benjamin Holt married Anne Brown, daughter of Stockton pioneer Benjamin Holt Eseck Brown and Lucy May Dean.
15.
The center of innovation was in England, and in 1903 Benjamin Holt traveled to England to learn more about ongoing development, though all those he saw failed field tests.
16.
Benjamin Holt returned to Stockton and utilizing his knowledge and his company metallurgical capabilities he became the first to design and manufacture a practical continuous tracks for use in tractors.
17.
Benjamin Holt tractors were the inspiration for the development of the British and French tanks, which profoundly altered ground warfare tactics.
18.
On December 5,1920,71-year-old Benjamin Holt died after a month-long illness.
19.
Benjamin Holt's wife Anna Brown Holt was a Regent of the University of the Pacific in Stockton for twenty five years.
20.
Benjamin Holt is best known as the owner of the five-time NBA champion San Antonio Spurs, the WNBA's San Antonio Stars, the AHL's San Antonio Rampage, and the NBA Development League's Austin Toros.
21.
Benjamin Holt is buried at Stockton Rural Cemetery in Stockton, California.