He Had 299 Patents and Caterpillar Laughed At Him - R.G. LeTourneau

He dropped out of school in the sixth grade. He never completed a single engineering course. And by the time World War Two was over, R.G. LeTourneau had supplied seventy percent of all the earthmoving equipment the Allied forces used to win the war.This is the story of the machines that changed construction forever. From the first all-welded scraper built in a Stockton welding shop in 1921, to the Power Control Unit that cut crew costs by two thirds, to the rubber tires that let scrapers drive on public roads, to the Tournapull motor scraper that Caterpillar called "not feasible" and then copied within twenty years. And after selling everything to Westinghouse for $31 million in 1953, LeTourneau came back at age 70 with the Electric Wheel and built some of the largest machines the world has ever seen.299 patents. One man. And an engineering legacy that is still moving the earth today.TIMESTAMPS:0:00 — D-Day Bulldozers and the 70% Statistic1:22 — What Earthmoving Looked Like Before LeTourneau2:38 — The Welder From Stockton Who Changed Everything3:29 — The First All-Welded Scraper (1921)4:55 — Patent No. 1,470,853 and 299 More to Come5:23 — The Power Control Unit (1928)7:55 — Hoover Dam, Santiago Dam, and $100K in Debt9:09 — Rubber Tires on Heavy Equipment (1932)10:58 — The Caterpillar Partnership (1935)11:35 — Caterpillar Rejects the Tournapull (1937)12:44 — Model A, Model C, and the Widow Maker Super C15:56 — WWII: LeTourneau's Machines Go Everywhere17:30 — Armored Bulldozers on Omaha Beach18:43 — Pacific Island Airfields and the Seabees20:34 — The Alaska Highway in 8 Months22:03 — D4 Airborne Tournapull and Tournacranes23:35 — The $31 Million Westinghouse Sale (1953)24:25 — Jack-Up Rigs for George H.W. Bush25:28 — The Comeback at Age 70: The Electric Wheel26:36 — How Electric Wheel Drive Actually Works28:18 — The Electric Wheel Patent (1950)29:10 — The LT-360: Largest Scraper Ever Built30:34 — Tree Crushers and Vietnam31:41 — TC-497 Overland Train: Longest Vehicle Ever32:41 — LeTourneau's Hatred of Hydraulics33:26 — The L-2350 and Modern Mining Trucks34:42 — The Bigfoot 5 Connection36:17 — 299 Patents, A Sixth-Grade EducationSources and further reading:- LeTourneau University Museum & Archives, Longview, Texas- Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA), Bowling Green, Ohio- "Mover of Men and Mountains" — R.G. LeTourneau (autobiography)- "R.G. LeTourneau: The Man Who Moved the Earth" — Farm Collector- OEM Off-Highway / HCEA: "The Great Innovator R.G. LeTourneau"- OEM Off-Highway / HCEA: "The Electric Wheel"- Texas State Historical Association: LeTourneau entry- US Auto Industry in World War Two: LeTourneau wartime productionFair Use Notice: This video contains historical photographs and archival material used for educational and documentary purposes under Fair Use (17 U.S.C. § 107). No copyright infringement is intended.#RGLeTourneau #ConstructionHistory #HeavyEquipment #BeforeHydraulics #WWII #Caterpillar #Tournapull #ElectricWheel #Earthmoving #ConstructionLegendsSubscribe for more construction equipment history:youtube.com/@ConstructionLegends?sub_confirmation=1