This chromolithograph advertising poster for Buckeye Low Down grain drills was produced by Winters Print & Litho Co., Springfield, Ohio, in about 1880.
The central image shows a very spry team of horses after a full day’s work with the New Buckeye Low Down. The Low Down was designed to remove the weight of the machine from the horses’ necks. The driving wheels were placed near the front end of the frame and two trailing wheels were added to keep the machine in balance. This design feature was used on the company’s hoe and shoe grain drills until changes were made beginning in 1883.
In 1855, Phineas P. Mast, John H. Thomas and John M. Deardorff organized a factory in Springfield, Ohio, for the production of the Buckeye grain drill under the name of Thomas & Mast (thus the trade name “Buckeye” preceded the establishment of Ohio State University in 1870Â and the subsequent OSU Buckeye mascot.)
After Thomas retired in 1871, Buckeye Agricultural Works was incorporated as P.P. Mast & Co. The company also produced cider mills, broadcast seeders, cultivators, spring tooth sulky harrows, hay rakes, pulverizers, clod crushers and a sulky to attach to a walking plow. In 1903, the company joined with others to form American Seeding Machine Co., with the Mast and Buckeye brand names remaining before the public for some time to come. In 1929, American Seeding Machine Co. became a part of Oliver Farm Equipment Co. FC
Grateful acknowledgement is given to David Schnakenberg, who contributed this image from his collection of pre-1910 chromolithographs of farm machinery advertising. For more information, contact him at 10108 Tamarack Dr., Vienna, VA 22182; (703) 938-8606; dschnakenberg@verizon.net; view the Schnakenberg Collection at http://stores.ebay.com/Farm-Machinery-Advertising-Art.
To submit a vintage advertisement for publication, send it to: Iron Age Ads, Farm Collector, 1503 S.W. 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609; or submit high-quality digital images by e-mail: editor@farmcollector.com.
