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Article selected from our quarterly magazine dedicated to the largest
and most luxurious boats with information, interviews, technical
articles, images and yachting news
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CATERPILLAR
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The story of the United States company, Caterpillar, began in 1890
when Benjamin Holt and Daniel Best started experimenting on
various kinds of tractors for agricultural use. After about 14
years their research resulted in the company's first steam engine
tractor and two years later the first tractor with an internal
combustion engine. During the First World War tractors by Holt and
Best were widely used by the military forces. From this moment on
the company grew at a dizzy rate, from the production of farm
machinery it expanded to include that of land vehicles for
professional use and included special engines tailor-made for type
M4 armoured tanks used in the Second World War by United States troops.
n 1925 Caterpillar was founded, following fusion of the
energies of the two families, Holt and Best. The post-war period
represented a very important phase for the company, during which
its first European base, the Caterpillar Tractor Co. Ltd, was set
up in Great Britain, the first of a long series. In 1963 the
United States company signed a joint venture with the Japanese
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. In over 70 years of history
Caterpillar has managed to develop engines designed specifically
for various applications, achieving considerable international
success and widening its commercial horizons. From 1985 to date,
the Caterpillar range of products has been widely diversified to
meet the needs of a great variety of clients, with over 300
products in its catalogue. Caterpillar has recently acquired the
English Perkins Engines and has continued to expand, also
acquiring the German MaK Motoren, thus becoming one of the most
impressive industrial giants on the international engine panorama.
Working on different fronts, Caterpillar has over time developed
engines for the nautical world, making its mark with reliable
products, effective in terms of performance, weight and size.
Caterpillar currently makes over 100,000 engines, used all over
the world in the widest range of applications, with power ranging
from 10 HP to 6,598 HP. Nautical products range from 350 to 3,000
HP and currently represent the world's best selling range of
marine engines over 250 HP. As well as engines, Caterpillar also
produces compact electrical generators known for their size and
reliability, the latter due to the use of tried and tested but
evolved thermal units. There is no doubt that this company's
important design and production know-how for engines and work
instruments is the reason why boatyards and owners worldwide rely
upon its quality engines. Caterpillar marine propulsion systems
efficiently meet exhaust fume limits set by IMO regulations and in
addition are produced in factories with ISO9001 certification. All
this plus the presence of over 1,800 dealers and assistance
centres all over the world.
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