Bobcat in new National Inventors Hall of Fame exhibit

One of the Keller brothers’ original three-wheeled loaders of the type on display at the museum (Image: Bobcat)

The history of US-based compact construction equipment manufacturer Bobcat is on display in a new exhibit at the National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum in Alexandria, VA.

The opening of the museum exhibit follows an announcement from earlier this year that Cyril and Louis Keller, the brothers who invented the world’s first compact loader (later named the Bobcat skid-steer loader), have been selected as 2023 inductees for the National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF).

The museum exhibit features one of the Keller brothers’ original three-wheel loaders, along with a timeline of Bobcat’s history and a video display highlighting various aspects of Bobcat’s products, people and initiatives.

The loader on display in the exhibit was one of the first 10 compact loaders built in the late 1950s by the Keller brothers.

The Keller family has offered the loader on loan for the exhibit. Joe Keller, son of the late Louis Keller, transported this family heirloom nearly 1,400 miles from North Dakota to Virginia to be exhibited in the museum. Along his journey, he visited several Bobcat dealerships to showcase the loader to staff, customers and fans.

The Bobcat exhibit will be on display through April 2024. The NIHF Museum is located inside the US Patent and Trademark Office, 600 Dulany St., Alexandria, VA.

It is free and open to the public Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and the first Saturday of every month from 11am to 3pm. It is closed on Sundays and federal holidays.

Cyril and Louis Keller will be inducted posthumously into NIHF on 26 October.