Models
Model |
Configuration |
Years |
# Produced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40-70 (Three-cylinder) | 1910 |
||
| 40-70 | 1920 |
Old Iron Database
Buffalo-Pitts Co.
In 1910, the Thresherman’s Review Magazine contained a photograph showing the rear view of the 40-70 Buffalo Pitts tractor. The 40-70 was a very capable machine but was built for only a short time. Tractor plowing in those times was a far cry from today’s hydraulic plows with fingertip operation from an air-conditioned cab. Buffalo Pitts came out with a unique tractor in 1910. Rated as a 40-70, it used a three-cylinder engine. The fuel tank and radiator were placed above the massive reduction gears and differential. A roller chain drive connected the rear wheels to the bull pinions. With all its weight, the single front wheel must have been almost impossible to handle. The tractor directories fail to show the Buffalo Pitts 40-70 model listed in 1920, either in prior or later years. The specifications are sketchy. Further information regarding this tractor is unknown.
history
John A. and Hiram Pitts were twin brothers born at Winthrop, Maine in 1799. It was Hiram Pitts who conceived the idea of coupling a fanning mill with a “groundhog” thresher in 1834. By 1837 this arrangement was granted a patent, thus making the Pitts brothers the oldest of all the thresher manufacturers. Threshers were continually improved, and steam traction engines were eventually added to the line. A three-cylinder tractor was introduced in 1910. The company went into receivership in 1914. Apparently, it was reorganized and operated for a time, since an improved tractor was listed in the 1920 directories.
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