Albert Bates started out by building machinery for wire fencing, but soon became interested in tractors. Around 1915 he designed his first tractor, the "Bates Steel Mule", which was subsequently manufactured by the Joliet Oil Tractor Company of Illinois. At around the same time, another company called the Bates Tractor Co. of Lansing, Michigan were also producing tractors. In 1919, the two companies merged to form the Bates Machine and Tractor Co. of Joliet, Illinois. A range of half-track tractors were produced, with normal steel tractor wheels at the front and crawler tracks on the rear. Eventually though, competition forced the company to concentrate on purely tracked models, which they produced well into the 1930s.

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