The Bobcat S130 is a skid-steer loader of the S series made by Bobcat Company, an American manufacturer of farm and construction equipment based in West Fargo, North Dakota. The S series is one of the families of compact loaders the company sells.
Bobcat S130 at a glance
| Maker | Bobcat Company |
|---|---|
| Type | skid-steer loader |
| Series | S |
| Company base | West Fargo, North Dakota |
| Brand origin | Melroe Manufacturing, Gwinner, North Dakota |
| First four-wheel skid-steer | Melroe M400, 1960 |
| Bobcat name | in use since 1962 |
| Owner | Doosan Group |
| Source | English Wikipedia, Bobcat Company |
Model-specific specifications are not covered by the available source, the English Wikipedia article on Bobcat Company; the page is based on that single source. The original video for this record is no longer available.
History of the Bobcat S130
The Keller brothers’ loader
Bobcat began in the 1950s with Louis and Cyril Keller, who ran Keller Welding and Repair near Rothsay, Minnesota. In 1956 a turkey farmer, Eddie Velo, asked them for a machine that could work inside a pole barn and on its upper floor; the three-wheeled, belt-driven answer was delivered on 4 February 1957, and the clutch-based transmission the brothers patented in 1958 became the basis of the Melroe M60 loader.
Melroe builds the skid-steer
Melroe Manufacturing of Gwinner, North Dakota, marketed the machine after the Kellers’ uncle, an equipment dealer, recommended it, and displayed it at the 1958 Minnesota State Fair. The four-wheeled M400 Skid-Steer Loader appeared in 1960; the Bobcat trade name was applied in 1962 to the 440 loader, with the slogan “tough, quick, and agile”. The S series, including the S130, is a later branch of the same family.
Clark, Ingersoll Rand, Doosan
Clark Equipment Company bought Melroe in 1969, Ingersoll Rand bought Clark in 1995, and in July 2007 the construction equipment group passed to the Doosan Group of South Korea for US$4.9 billion. Bobcat’s European headquarters moved from Waterloo, Belgium, to the Czech Republic in 2017.
Design and features
- Small format: the S130 is one of the smaller loaders in the S series.
- Skid-steer drive: it turns by driving its left and right wheels at different speeds, as Bobcat loaders have since 1960.
- Farm and site use: Bobcat sells its compact equipment for both farm and construction work.
- Brand heritage: the machine descends from the M400 and the 440 that made the Bobcat name.
Bobcat S130 versions
- Bobcat S175: the next size up in the S series.
- Bobcat S185: the middle model of the three.
- Bobcat S300: the largest S-series loader in this collection.
Compare the Bobcat S175 and the Bobcat S300, or see the Bobcat collection.
Sources
- Bobcat Company, English Wikipedia: company history, product range, ownership
