LeTourneau Technologies

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File:LeTourneau tree crusher, September 1967.png, South Vietnam 27 September 1967]]

R. G. LeTourneau founded R.G. LeTourneau, Inc. in California in 1929, as a contractor of earthmoving equipment, which manufactured products in Longview, Texas.{{cite web | url=https://mining.komatsu/company/our-company/who-we-are/our-brands/our-other-great-brands | title=Komatsu: Who We Are | publisher=Komatsu Limited}}{{better source|date = July 2024}}

During World War II, the company provided nearly 75% of the Allies' earthmoving equipment.{{cite journal|last1=Karwatka|first1=Dennis|title=Technology's Past: R. G. LeTourneau and His Massive Earth-Moving Equipment|journal=Tech Directions|date=2006|volume=65|issue=10|page=8 | url= https://archive.org/details/sim_tech-directions_2006-05_65_10/page/8/mode/2up?view=theater | access-date= 9 July 2024 | url-access = registration}} In 1954, it built the first jack-up drilling rig.{{fact|date = July 2024}} In 1955, it made the first log-stacker machine.{{fact|date = July 2024}} In 1965, the company made the first straddle carrier.{{fact|date = July 2024}}{{clarify|reason=Wasn't this invented by H.B. Ross in 1913?|date=October 2020}}

LeTourneau had spent the early 1950s perfecting a diesel-electric drivetrain for multi-wheeled heavy-machinery.{{fact|date = July 2024}} The system—somewhat similar in concept to the sort used on many locomotives –used a diesel combustion engine to spin an electric generator, which would send its power to hub motors mounted to each wheel of the vehicle. This allowed for multi-wheel-drive without differentials, driveshafts, or the drivetrain losses associated with them.{{fact|date = July 2024}}

For the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW line) project, Western Electric and Alaska Freightlines, with the help of TRADCOM (U.S. Army Transportation Research and Development Command), contracted to have a pair of off-road over-land trains, the TC-264 Sno-Buggy, designed specifically for Arctic conditions, to be built by LeTourneau Technologies. The TC-264 Sno-Buggy was the longest off-road vehicle ever built at the time, with its six cars (including the locomotive) measuring a total of 274 feet. Each car was driven by four 7.3 foot-tall wheels and tires. The 24-wheel-drive was powered by two 400 horsepower Cummins diesel engines connected to a hub motor. It had a payload capacity of 150 tons, and could traverse nearly any terrain. It had a very successful first season hauling freight to the DEW Line.{{cite web |last1=Holderith |first1=Peter |title=The Incredible Story of the US Army's Earth-Shaking, Off-Road Land Trains |url=https://www.thedrive.com/news/33645/the-incredible-story-of-the-us-armys-earth-shaking-off-road-land-trains |website=the drive.com |date=25 May 2020 |accessdate=30 May 2020}}

LeTourneau sold most of his company to Westinghouse Air Brake Company in 1953, for US$ 31M. In 1970, just after the death of the founder, the company{{what|date = July 2024}} was sold to Marathon Manufacturing Company and was renamed Marathon LeTourneau Company.{{fact|date = July 2024}}

In 1994, Rowan (now Valaris Limited), which had used the company to manufacture its drilling rigs, acquired the company from General Cable for $50 million.{{cite web | url=http://edgar.secdatabase.com/2367/95012905002524/filing-main.htm | title=ROWAN COMPANIES INC, Form 10-K, Annual Report, Filing Date Mar 16, 2005 | publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission}}{{cite news | url=https://www.apnews.com/dbaed5efbaff07b6b3dce3ff403fefa9 | title=Rowan Buys Marathon LeTourneau From General Cable | work=AP News | date=November 10, 1993 | access-date=August 1, 2019 | archive-date=August 1, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801225104/https://www.apnews.com/dbaed5efbaff07b6b3dce3ff403fefa9 | url-status=dead }}

In 2011, Rowan (now Valaris Limited) sold LeTourneau Technologies to Joy Global.{{cite press release | url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rowan-announces-agreement-to-sell-letourneau-technologies-inc-121881168.html | title=Rowan Announces Agreement to Sell LeTourneau Technologies, Inc. | publisher=PR Newswire | date=May 16, 2011}} Joy Global subsequently sold LeTourneau's Drilling, Marine, and Power divisions to Cameron International.{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/joyglobal-idUSL4E7JV1XK20110831 | title=Joy Global sells LeTourneau's drilling unit; shares up | first=Bijoy | last=Koyitty | work=Reuters | date=August 31, 2011}}

In 2016, Keppel Corporation acquired LeTourneau Offshore Products (jackups, cranes, and elevating units) from Cameron, while Cameron retained the LeTourneau Drilling Products division.{{cite news | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2015/08/31/cameron-sells-offshore-rig-business.html | title=Cameron sells offshore rig business | first=Laura | last=Furr | work=American City Business Journals | date=August 31, 2015}}

{{Reflist|1}}

• {{cite book | title=LeTourneau Earthmovers | first=Eric C. | last=Orlemann | location=St. Paul, Minnesota | publisher=Motorbooks International, MBI | year=2001 | isbn=9780760308400 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/letourneauearthm00eric }}
• {{cite book | title=A History of R.G. LeTourneau's Earliest Scrapers: Culminating in the 1922 Mountain Mover | first1=John H. | last1=Niemela | first2=Dale | last2=Hardy | s2cid=162762371 | url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/18b1/646907ce46fca88edc56f8ace67b829a0eb2.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801225106/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/18b1/646907ce46fca88edc56f8ace67b829a0eb2.pdf | url-status=dead | archive-date=2019-08-01 }}
• LeTourneau, R.G. Mover of Men and Mountains, Autobiography (Prentice-Hall 1960, 1967; Reprint Moody Press 1967, 1972), {{ISBN|0-8024-3818-0}}
• "The LeTourneau Legend", Equipment history, {{ISBN|0-646-27692-1}} (Global General Publishing Pty Ltd; 1995, 1998, 3rd revised edition 2007)
• "The LeTourneau Archive", Equipment history, {{ISBN|0-9585608-0-3}} (Global General Publishing Pty Ltd; 2005)
• "WABCO Australia", LeTourneau Australia history, {{ISBN|0-9585608-1-1}} (Global General Publishing Pty Ltd; 2007)
• "The WABCO Archive Wheel-Tractor Scrapers", Letourneau-Westinghouse scraper history, {{ISBN|978-0-9871503-0-1}} (Global General Publishing Pty Ltd; 2011)

• {{cite web |url=http://keppelletourneau.com/en/content.aspx?sid=6472 |title=History |publisher=Keppel LeTourneau |access-date=June 1, 2022}}
• {{cite web |url=http://keppelletourneau.com/en/content.aspx?sid=6471 |title=Milestones in Rig design |publisher=Keppel LeTourneau |access-date=June 1, 2022}}

Category:1929 establishments in California

Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in California