Melroe® M970 [Bobcat]

The Melroe M970 [Bobcat®] was manufactured by Melroe Manufacturing Company beginning in 1970.
The Melroe M970 – nicknamed ‘Big Bob’ – is the largest skid-steer ever built at the time and is the world’s first to utilize a hydrostatic drive system — giving it tremendous pushing and digging power.

The Melroe M970 is also the first-ever Skid-Steer Loader to incorporate a lever-actuated attachment mounting device (which would be called the Bob-Tach® system when it is patented in 1972) — instead of pin-on mounting attachments — which allows operators to more easily switch attachments. It is a defining moment, a change that spawns the attachment industry and makes the skid-steer loader what some call the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of construction equipment.

The Melroe M970 also featured the first-ever use of a rollover protective structure (ROPS). In 1971, Melroe incorporates the ROPS in the M371 [Bobcat].
By 1972, the ROPS is incorporated in the rest of the line [M610 and M700].
By 1974, the ROPS is adopted by the entire skid-steer loader industry.

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