Bulldozers – Oddly Named But Powerfully Brutal

Bulldozers – here is some trivia for you. How did a bulldozer get its name? According to About.com,

“Around 1880, the common usage of ‘bull-dose’ in the United States meant administering a large and efficient dose of any sort of medicine or punishment. If you ‘bull-dosed’ someone, you gave him a severe whipping or coerced or intimidated him in some other way, such as by holding a gun to his head… In 1886, with a slight variation in spelling, a ‘bulldozer’ had come to mean both a large-caliber pistol and the person who wielded it… By the late 1800s, ‘bulldozing’ came to mean using brawny force to push over, or through, any obstacle.”

Technically, the term “bulldozer” only refers to the blade, not the powerhouse that pushes it around. These days we refer to the whole vehicle as a bulldozer and when they say it uses “brawny force to push over, or through, any obstacle”, they are not wrong. Pound for pound, bulldozers are one of the most powerful units of heavy equipment used and they have to be given the work they are required to do.

Because of the power and brute force required, bulldozers have long been a favorite of men (and women) of all ages. Little children start with a bulldozer in their sand pits and grow into adults playing in adult sand pits (well construction sites anyway). If you enjoyed playing with your bulldozer as a child, perhaps you should consider a career as a bulldozer operator.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can have you trained and ready for employment as a bulldozer operator in as little as three weeks. Bulldozers, they are big brutes that move mountains of earth and, just like the toys from our childhood, can be fun to work with. Contact us for more information on our heavy equipment training programs – you too could be a bulldozer operator.