Smallest Caterpillar machine in the smallest town in the world

Smallest Caterpillar machine in the smallest town in the world

Smallest Caterpillar machine in the smallest town in the world




Hum in Istria is known as the smallest town in the world. It is settled in central part of Istria, 14 kilometers south-east from Buzet and it’s been there for centuries (first written trails date from year 1102). Inside preserved city walls there are two small streets and two churches – parish church of Assumption of Virgin Mary built in 1802 and Romanesque church of St. Jerome from 12th century. According to the census from 2011, Hum has 30 inhabitants, which shows significant increase in population in relation to the 2001 where there was only 17 inhabitants. Through the history it used to have more inhabitants, but rarely more than 100.

Several years ago, Dean Stanić settled there. Dean ran away from city crowd and fast urban life and decided to live peacefully and closer to the nature. He sold his company and flat, and bought big land just few steps away from the smallest town in the world. He decided to make and arrange his new home himself for a pleasant life. As construction works he plans to do are not that easy, Dean considered of hiring assistants to help him. After analysis of what he really needs, he decided to hire an assistant in form of working machine – Caterpillar 300.9D. It is the smallest machine in Caterpillar’s offer so in May 2014 the smallest Caterpillar arrived in the world’s smallest town.

Caterpillar 300.9D, with only 730 mm of width and 1000 kg of weight, is ideal machine for work in a confined space. Dean’s property is just several hundreds of meters from Hum and the job he originally intended for this machine, demands more broaching the trees in the forest on his property than broaching between two small streets of Hum. However, in small communities as this one, people stick together so when Dean bought the machine, he counted on helping neighbors. People of Hum and nearby places cherish a special kind of communion and good part of private projects soon become a joint venture and very often they work on improving the infrastructure of the city. Some of them help with a machine, some with a truck and some with their hands. Hum is a real example of high functional small community where small 300.9D will soon find its place.

Its ability to act in very cramped places Cat 300.9D proved when Dean drove it through the town for photo shooting. Without any problem he entered in and passed through famous Alley of Glagolitic on city gate. As we were passing through the town at speed of 1,8 km per hour, Dean and his machine were gathering more and more curios people around them, not only from Hum but also tourists, which are plenty in the spring days. Dean played his operator role perfectly although his experience was only few working hours on this just delivered machine. Cat 300.9D is designed and made so managing it is easy even for operators without any working experience.

 

“Managing this machine is so intuitive and simple and I expect to be building walking paths on my property in just few days as this was the main reason why I bought it”- said Dean.

During joyful conversation and telling jokes with neighbors, some new plans came out regarding town landscaping and surroundings, planning who will be working on these jobs and planning big party, which is always a part of these kind of works. Some new plans were made to remove stones and for that Dean will probably get some extra tools for Cat 300.9.D, and during the time spent together this happy owner of the smallest Cat machine told us that he doesn’t plan to stop on this small 300.9D machine and in the future he will buy few more Caterpillar machines. He is thrilled about helpful sales staff and services guaranteed by authorized sales and service network of Caterpillar company through Teknoxgroup Hrvatska d.o.o. Exactly for this level of quality, Caterpillar products have this honor to be part of the works that improve quality of life in town of Hum and, in this way, get at least part of merits for preserving life in this smallest town in the world.