Huge motor scrapers and bulldozers once rolled off the plant floor to make the nation's roads and highways. It was one of the leading companies in a road machinery industry that employed 5,000 and produced $52 million worth of equipment annually in Cedar Rapids, according to a  1948 Gazette article.

Established in 1911 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,  http://archives.hcea.net/?p=creators/creator&id=369" rel="nofollow - LaPlant-Choate  originally got its start in the construction industry by building house moving equipment. This expanded to the manufacture of rudimentary bulldozer blades by 1927 and then on to towed scrapers, compaction equipment and rippers.

By 1939 LaPlant-Choate was a thriving concern and a major supplier of equipment to Caterpillar, both cable and hydraulically operated. LaPlant-Choate’s hydraulic pumps were one of the most simple and therefore reliable of all the early hydraulic units available and employed gears rather than vanes to pump the oil under pressure through the system. Critically, they were equipped with a filter in the return line to the tank.

Rivalry exisited between LaPlant-Choate and LeTourneau as both companies had preferred supplier agreements with Caterpillar who sold both of their products through Cat’s extensive worldwide dealer network.

LaPlant-Choate, just like LeTourneau, was a victim of Caterpillar’s decision to develop and manufacture its own attachments. In 1944 Cat pulled the plug on both companies, collapsing LaPlant’s distributor network.

However, this setback did not deter the company from developing and marketing it’s first motor scraper, the 18 cubic yard Model TS-300 in 1946 followed in 1950 by the 13 cubic yard TS-200.

It should be noted here that LaPlant-Choate coined the trademark “Moto-Scraper”, later expanding it to “Motor Scraper” which has now become a generic term for all machines of this type!

Both the TS-300 and TS-200 were well accepted by contractors but sufficient operating capital was still a problem for the company. LaPlant-Choate also tried building a rubber tyred push tractor, the Model TD-300, but only manufactured a few before the type was withdrawn.

Finally, in September 1952, LaPlant-Choate ceased to exist when  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allis-Chalmers" rel="nofollow - Allis-Chalmers  bought the entire company, its manufacturing plant & tooling, patent rights, trademarks and unsold equipment. Allis-Chalmers had been investigating scraper manufacturers that could round out its own equipment line and LaPlant-Choate filled the bill nicely. From then on all former LaPlant-Choate products were painted Persian Orange and branded as Allis-Chalmers.