That Old Cat 2-Ton.
Hi, Folks.
The wavy Caterpillar logo is a carry-over from Holt from just about the first crawlers Holt ever built and derived from a comment made by a photographer who reckoned the upper track undulating over the carrier rollers looked like a caterpillar. When Holt and Best merged to form Caterpillar in August, 1925, they kep that logo for a while.
That model started as the Holt 2-Ton several years before the merger and was one of only 3 Holt models continued after the merger. The other two, the 5-Ton and the 10-Ton were dis-continued quite quickly and replaced with newer models but the 2-Ton continued for, I think, about 3 years after the merger.
To the best of my knowledge, ALL Cat crawlers except the track loaders had a live equaliser spring or bar right up until they started fitting inside mounted dozer blades to the smaller models. As far as I know, any Cat crawlers that still have an outside mounted blade still also have an equaliser bar too. They definitely ride smoother that way.
Jeff D, Cat kept that style of radiator cap for many years. They were still using it with the last of the Cat 22's in 1938 and I seem to remember that the early D2's and D4's also had it.
As for why it didn't have a blade, crawlers, just like wheeled tractors were originally designed for farm work, pulling various implements. Blades and other attachments came later. If my memory serves me right, R. G. LeTourneau built the first successful power cable control in about 1929 and this made dozer blades much more practical and useful.
Hope this helps.