As history suggests, in the year 1958, in Gwinner, the brothers who were owners of Melroe Manufacturing Company bought the rights from the Kellers for their newly invented skid loader. They then hired Cyril and Louis and paid them to continue to refine their build. The partnership resulted in the M-200 Melroe self-propelled loader to come into existence. This occurred in the year 1958. One of the features of the new skid loader was the two front drive wheels which were completely independent of each other. It had a rear caster wheel. Its lift capacity was 750 lb and it had a 12.9 hp engine. A couple of years later, the M-400 were introduced. The change was that the caster wheel was replaced by the rear axle. This was therefore the first of its kind four wheeled skid loader. Soon, it was refined into the Melroe Bobcat, which had a 15.5 hp engine and an 1100 lb lift capacity. Finally, further improvements were made and the M600 loader was introduced into the markets.

A skid loader is a four wheeler with the left side drive wheels and the right side drive wheels independent of each other. With this special feature, the direction the loader will turn is determined by the wheel speed as well as the direction of rotation of the wheels. Skid steer loaders have small rigid frames and are sometimes equipped with tracks. They have engines installed in their bodies which provide power for the lift arms to work, the function of the arms being to help support the movement of labour saving tools and attachments.

Zero-radius pirouette turning is a movement easily facilitated by the construction of a skid steer loader. It gives agility and manouverability to the machine. A skid loader, unlike any other conventional front loader, has lift arms alongside the driver, the pivot points being behind the shoulders of the driver. The operator’s closeness to moving booms made these steer loaders less safe than the conventional machines during entry and exit of drivers. However, fully closed cabs and other features exist in modern skid loaders in order to enhance safety measures in these machines. It can perform a lot of functions, from pushing materials from one location to the other to carrying materials in its bucket to loading materials into a truck.

Differential velocity at opposite sides of the skid loader turns the skid steering vehicle. This fascinating machine has multiple uses, for example, it can be used to dig basements under houses. A skid loader can replace a large excavator by being able to dig a hole from the inside. A ramp which leads to the edges of the excavation to be carried out is first dug. The ramp is then used to carry materials away from the hole. Where overhead clearance does not allow a large excavator to operate, the skid loader is a highly useful machine to dig under structures, the final step in the process being the reshaping of the ramp, which becomes steeper and longer as and when the excavation deepens.