LeTourneau Technologies

R. G. LeTourneau who worked as contractor for years figured out that the equipment he used were not efficient enough. To solve the problem he acquired land in Stockton, California to study and engineer the design of scraper to improve it alongside contracting. By 1933 he stopped taking contracts and focused mainly on manufacturing. Later he formed a venture with Caterpillar Tractor to develop a factory in Peoria, Illinois which would manufacture attachments, scrapers and wagons for use with Cat crawler tractors. As a result they managed to set up four factories two in America, one in Georgia and Australia to meet the demand after the Peoria one.

World War II

During World War II Caterpillar's relations with the US Defense Force helped Caterpillar to get huge orders for tractors which meant huge orders for LeTourneau attachments and accessories. LeTourneau supplied thousands of bulldozers, Carryalls (wagons to load and carry various equipment), sheepsfoot compactors, rooters, Tournapull (two wheeled tractors to pull Carryall wagons) and Tournacranes (pick and carry crane). The proximity of the Caterpillar Tractor Plant and LeTourneau plant in Peoria helped them become one of the biggest machinery suppliers of the US Military.

After the war in 1945 the joint venture contract between Caterpillar and LeTourneau ended but after that LeTourneau was one of the competitors for Caterpillar, so Caterpillar started to manufacture its own products which were earlier manufactured by LeTourneau. With wide dealership network Caterpillar dominated the segment which resulted in LeTourneau earth moving business being sold in 1953 to Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO), a Pennsylvania based brake manufacturer.

Earth Moving division

After the sale of the earth moving division to WABCO the company was renamed to LeTourneau-Westinghouse. At the time of sale the founder of the company entered into a five-year competitive clause which ended in 1957 the same year the founder R.G. LeTourneau re-entered into the segment of earthmoving equipments with new technology and products.

Dump Trucks

After the acquisition in 1953 the new company had only one mining dump truck the Tournarocker (worlds first articulated dump truck) from the previous company. To fill the gap the company hired Ralph Kress in 1955 to design new off-road dump trucks at their Peoria plant. In 1956 the company launched its first off-road dump truck LW-30 it was a 20 ton capacity rear dump truck next year in 1957 company came up with the Haulpak lineup of dump trucks which introduced as 35 ton dump trucks later grew to 65 tons very quickly. With high sales and demand for the Haulpak the company lost its focus on other products of the previous company like the loader and scraper.

In 1968 the company was acquired by American Standard Inc. which developed bigger versions of the truck lineup to 100 plus tons and even electric versions later in 1984 the Haulpak lineup was sold to Dresser Industries a Dallas based multinational corporation by 1988 Komatsu America Corp. and Dresser Industries went into a joint venture named Komatsu Dresser Company and by the 1994 Komatsu gained full control over the venture Haulpak branding lasted till 1999.

Heavy machinery division

During the five-year competitive clause from 1953-1957 LeTourneau focused on perfecting and implementing his diesel–electric powertrain for his multi wheeled heavy machinery which was similar to the setup seen on locomotives. The power was produced from a diesel combustion engine which would spin an electric generator transfers electric power to hub motors of each wheel. This setup was capable of powering multiple wheels without differentials, drive shafts, or the drivetrain which resulted in low energy loss in transfers. The design was considered generations ahead of the Thomas Poulter’s futuristic Antarctic Snow Cruiser.