Florenz Kitten: Full Steam Ahead

parents dreamed of a great future for him. Ferdinand, Indiana, was
born from the perseverance of Fr. Joseph Kundek and there is no
doubt he dreamed of great things for his brainchild.

Political upheaval in Prussia began that same year, with the
death of King Frederick William III. His son and successor,
Frederick William IV, lacked a practical nature and so Florenz
Kitten’s first eight years of life were marked by economic
depression and capped by political revolution. A working class
uprising in June was crushed by frightful bloodshed. Politics, war
and poverty in the home land a chance for democracy, peace and
prosperity in a new land. This the Kittens must have considered
before deciding to emigrate to the United States, the land of milk
and honey where all the streets were paved in gold.

Henry Kitten was a wooden shoe maker; places to ply that
particular trade were probably limited, even in the mid-nineteenth
century. Somehow the family arrived in Ferdinand where Henry had
ready-made good German customers for his wooden shoes.

Employees of the Ferdinand Foundry and Machine Works pose for a
picture with founder Florenz Kitten, seated at front right, who
boasted a white beard.

Young Florenz was probably 10 years old. Although he attended
school and worked on a farm, by all accounts Kitten was a forward
thinker more interested in evolving technology than in the usual
childhood pursuits.

An avid tinkerer, Florenz spent much of his time trying to
re-invent the wheel. He was not alone it seems all over the world
men were harnessing energy in new ways.

In 1712 Englishman Thomas New comen invented the steam engine.
His newfangled piece of machinery was used to drive pumps that
would clear ground water from mine shafts in Great Britain’s
coal mining countryside.

It wasn’t until the early nineteenth century that James Watt
developed the double-acting steam engine. A new industry was born.
Steam power competed with waterpower and the great minds of that
age invented everything from the steam turbine to the
internal-combustion engine.

As the Industrial Revolution gained steam in Europe and the
United States, young Florenz tinkered. But tinkering wasn’t a
trade and so he learned carpentry and farming. These were
practical, honorable professions. Florenz helped on the family farm
until he was 19 and then switched to carpentry for the next six
years. Without this background in carpentry and farming it is
unlikely Florenz Kitten would have changed the course of local
history.

Meanwhile Florenz met Miss Katherine Luegers, ten years his
junior. The couple married in 1868 and built a home at the corner
of Tenth and Virginia Streets. It was here that Florenz began to
seriously explore the powers of steam, in a second-floor
workshop.

Using his knowledge of farming and carpentry combined with an
inventor’s intuition, Florenz began building steam engines and
threshers in his workshop around 1880. How could he adapt the
marvels of steam to the rugged hillsides of southern Indiana? The
first horse-drawn engines used an upright boiler but Florenz soon
switched to a short, squat, horizontal boiler in place of the
elongated version favored by engine designers in flatter terrains.
Kitten’s engine used a 24 horsepower boiler with a return flue
design. The cylinder was mounted on the right side with the
flywheel/belt pulley on the left.

Area farmers were overjoyed! At last, something to make their
jobs easier.

Florenz Kitten needed to expand his growing industry. He built a
two-story factory and foundry adjoining his home and dubbed the
business the Ferdinand Foundry and Machine Works.

In 1879, Florenz obtained a patent for an improvement in
threshing machine straw carriers. After perfecting his designs,
Kitten filed an application with the United States Patent Office on
May 29, 1889 to receive patent rights for his steam engine. Patent
number 409,594 was granted on August 20, 1889.

Two horse driven steam engines were used to move this house at
Dubois. The drivers would have needed a high level of skill to pull
off this feat, since just a slight error would have pulled the
house apart.

He began building traction engines. This was one of the biggest
improvements since the engines could now motivate without
‘horse’ power, pulling their machinery from farm to farm.
Fully loaded with water, tools and coal, a Kitten engine tipped the
scales at 17,025 pounds, which is probably the reason most were
sold within a 100 mile radius of Ferdinand.

Florenz’s inventions did not lack distinguishing features.
The steam engines were generally painted yellow and red while all
threshing machines featured yellow wheels. Even water wagons were
painted to match and sometimes decorated with more intricate
designs. Whimsical flowers added a festive touch. Ben Weaver
dedicated his life’s work to painting Kitten equipment.

Ferdinand Foundry and Machine Works completed its last steam
engine in 1940. During the intervening years, 224 were built. A
wooden pattern was cut for each piece and thousands of pieces were
joined to form a finished engine. With each engine a water wagon
would be built. Approximately 200 threshing machines were also
constructed at the plant.

Yellow poplar was used for many pieces on a Kitten engine,
although Florenz favored oak for the beams. Wednesday was
designated steel pouring day at the foundry and would probably have
been the day that attracted the most attention from outsiders.

The foundry was by far the largest employer in town. An excerpt
from the June 22, 1888 Jasper Courier reads
‘FERDINAND: If you pass by the new large machine shop of
Florenz Kitten and see the many machines there for repairing and
even new ones and the full set of hands so busy at work, it would
remind you of some large city machine works. His business is
booming.’

Florenz apparently provided other services as well. With Daniel
Miller of Jasper, Kitten was awarded the contract to install steam
heat at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Jasper. The total
project would cost $2,200.

Ferdinand was running at full steam during Florenz Kitten’s
heyday!