Hiram Avery Pitts

Background

He was born probably in 1800 in the United States. He was the son of Abial and Abiah Pitts. Soon after he was born his father moved to Winthrop, Kennebec County, Me. , where he worked as the village blacksmith for many years.

Education

Hiram attended the district school of Kennebec County, and in his father's blacksmith shop learned to make shoes for horses and oxen, sleds and ox yokes, hinges and latches for doors, andirons and tongs for fireplaces, and the other wrought-iron work needed to supply the rural community.

Career

After his father's death, probably in 1825, he and his brother carried on the business in Winthrop in partnership for upwards of two years; then Hiram retired to devote his whole time to invention.

He developed an improvement in the chain type of hand pump, and then turned his attention to the horse-power treadmill. With the help of his brother he worked on this problem for a number of years, and on August 15, 1834, they were granted a patent for the chain band for a horse-power. In their device hard maple rollers connected by an endless chain were substituted for the oldfashioned belt. Shortly after obtaining this patent, the Pitts brothers became partners for the purpose of manufacturing their improved power in Winthrop. Hiram took it upon himself to introduce the machines throughout the state of Maine and elsewhere in New England and met with considerable success, and the treadmill came to be widely used in connection with the "Ground Hog Thresher, " or open-cylinder threshing machine.

Dissatisfied with the work of the "Ground Hog, " Pitts gave considerable thought to the designing of a better thresher, and in 1834, with his brother, he built a combined threshing and fanning mill in portable form. In this machine, behind a cylinder similar to that of the "Ground Hog" was an endless apron conveyor, and over it a round beater armed with pegs to agitate the straws and a picker or rotary pitchfork to throw them off the end. The grain fell from the cylinder and conveyor into a trough which conducted it to the fanning mill mounted under the machine. A trough was arranged just behind the sieves to catch the heads of grain, allowing the chaff to blow over and away. These bits of grain, known as "tailings, " were conveyed to the sieves to be refanned. Patent No. 542, for their thresher and fanning mill, was awarded the brothers on December 29, 1837.

For the next ten years Pitts engaged in the successful manufacturing and marketing of his machines in Winthrop, the first three years in partnership with his brother and after 1840 alone. In 1847 Hiram moved to Alton, where he began the manufacture of threshers in the shops of a brother-in-law, improving and perfecting them from time to time. Four years later he removed to Chicago, and in 1852 there began the manufacture of these improved threshers.

He died in Chicago at the age of sixty.

Achievements

• Hiram Avery Pitts was the first man granted a patent for the chain band for a horse-power. He also combined threshing and fanning mill in portable form. Various minor improvements were made on the original Pitts machine, called the "Chicago-Pitts" threshers, but the principles of the original invention remained unchanged for over a half century. Besides these important inventions, Pitts is said to have devised a machine for breaking hemp and separating the stalk from the fiber, and also several corn and cob mills.

Connections

He married Leonora Hosley of Livermore, Maine, and was survived by four sons who carried on his business.

Father:

Abial Pitts

Mother:

Abiah Pitts

Spouse:

Leonora Hosley

twin brother:

John Avery