1950
After the war, larger construction equipment was needed in order to reconstruct and cultivate devastated farmlands. At this point, Japan was developing equipment imitating what the U.S. army had brought in.
As for loading equipment, Komatsu had a bucket loader that was a bulldozer with a bucket attached to the front, however, its digging power was weak because the implement was a cable-operated design, which caused performance problems.
To improve digging and loading capability, a dozer shovel equipped with a high-pressure hydraulic pump was developed. Its bucket could scoop at a maximum of 40 degrees.
Weight: 10800kg
Bulldozer
Since its first emergence in 1951, it took only 50 years for the hydraulic shovel to establish its primary position on construction sites worldwide. Its size ranges from mini to super size depending on the scale of construction, and during the half century, it kept evolving by achieving a minimum rear-swing radius and adapting styles that would work with characteristics of each site. Mirroring the movement of a human hand, a hydraulic shovel will continue to evolve during the 21st century.