Black Smoke and Hot Water: The Kitten Steam Engine

It all started in a small workshop in Ferdinand, Indiana, in
1868. Florenz Kitten was a 28-year-old carpenter with a knack for
tinkering. He was fascinated by the potential uses of steam power
and soon began designing and building steam engines in his home
workshop. Several years later in 1889, Florenz was granted his
first patent for the design of his Kitten steam traction
engine.

Over the years, Kitten’s company grew into a booming
enterprise, manufacturing steam engines, threshing machines, saw
mills, and several other types of agricultural equipment. In 1906,
Florenz turned the company over to his son, Joseph F. Kitten, who
changed the name to the Joseph F. Kitten Foundry and Machine Works.
Throughout the next four decades, the Kitten empire changed
ownership and names several times, but through it all continued to
produce the same steam-powered machinery.

By the late 1930s, steam traction engines had become obsolete,
so in 1940, after manufacturing 224 machines, the company ceased
production.

Thirty-nine years later, in 1979, Jerry Kitten tracked down #224
and purchased it from Joseph Lueken, a former Kitten employee and
longtime Ferdinand resident. It took Jerry almost three years to
restore the engine back to its original condition. Jerry’s
engine is not only the last one manufactured by Kitten, but the
last steam traction engine ever produced in the United States. He
also owns two threshing machines built by Kitten in the 1920s and a
Kitten-built sawmill.

Florenz Kitten’s steam engines were colossal pieces of
machinery made of wood and cast iron, weighing over 17,000 pounds.
They were characterized by their red, green and yellow color
schemes and ornate decorations. Jerry explained that the engines
were designed to be flashy because they caused quite a spectacle
chugging through farm fields back in the days of horse-drawn
equipment. His engine still draws a crowd when he exhibits it every
year at the Farmer-Stockman Show.

‘I get a real kick out of seeing people gaze in wonder at
the engine when we run it at the show,’ Jerry said.

Just like his ancestors, Jerry Kitten is carrying on the family
tradition of designing and building new creations. In addition to
owning and operating Kitten Fertilizer Company, Jerry holds two
patents for his inventions, which include a Kitten steam engine
replica barbecue pit and an innovative cotton module hauler, which
can carry modules or cotton burs. He builds and sells both products
at his shop in Slaton. Still awaiting patent approval is a
pesticide Jerry developed that he calls Aphid Proof. The chemical
employs fertilizer to kill aphids on cotton plants.

‘It’s a safe and inexpensive chemical that knocks the
aphids right off the plant. We’re really excited about it,’
Jerry said.

Jerry Kitten comes from a long line of inventors and innovators
and claims that he is not about to drop the family tradition.

‘I guess it runs in the blood because I’m always
dreaming up new ideas or trying to improve existing ones,’ he
said.