Your Webmaster Wishes To Thank...
...the following people for making this website possible and for making it better. This site wouldn’t be possible without all of you. Your support is always welcome and appreciated.
-Sincerely, Brian Szafranski, Webmaster
My immediate family for your support and for doing what you do to help me out with the day-to-day issues I face.
My extended family for your loyal support and kind comments about this website.
My friends, former co-workers and former college classmates for your positive comments on this website, for keeping in touch with me, and for allowing me to send you my verbose e-mail letters.
All the many, many Buffalo Pitts owners and fans of the company for your positive comments on this website and for your generous donations of materials for this site, be they related to Buffalo Pitts or any of the other companies that I’ve added to this website. Plus too and also, thanks for buying Buffalo Pitts Tractor Club t-shirts and logo items. I’d name you all, but I’d probably forget one or two of you and I’d hate to do that. You see, I’m a bit forgetful, so please allow me to not list all of you because I’d hate to make a single one of you feel badly by omitting your name. Oh, what the heck... here're a few names in (possibly) alphabetical order (all are USA unless otherwise mentioned) of owners and fans of Buffalo Pitts:
Andrew Albrecht of Ohio (seller of C. Wendell books)
Craig Detwiler of Indiana (Banting Greyhound owner)
Craig Jackson of Victoria, Australia (BP owner)
Ron Jackson of Australia (first website contact)
Pete LaBelle & Son of Michigan (BP owner - thumbnail pics at left)
Tim Langely of New South Wales, Australia (BP owner)
Dick Morris, Anchorage, Alaska (descendent of Hiram A. Pitts)
Denny Pastega of Oregon (BP owner)
Nick & Betty Werth of North Dakota (former BP owners)
Jesse Bieber, Town Historian of Royalton, NY, and Lynford Strong of Newfane, NY USA for the materials on Gasport Tractors, etc. Lynford wrote the article on Gasport Tractors which was featured in an issue of "Antique Power" magazine.
Thomas Berry, Archivist at the Historical Construction Equipment Association, for providing scans from original catalogs from the Buffalo Steamroller Company.
Professor Garrett Olmsted, grandson of Dr. Charles Morgan Olmsted (the physicist who was developing an advanced airplane for the Buffalo Pitts Company until financing ran out), for sharing details of his Grandfather’s aviation history (your webmaster has an interest in aviation from having worked at a firm that made aviation equipment).
John Spalding of “Spalding’s Corner” who writes for “Engineers & Engines Magazine” for mentioning this website in his column and for a bag of his cashew brittle (which this nerdmaster actually liked, even though he’s never liked peanut brittle in the past, so try some because it’s better than any brittle ever tried in the past by your webmaster).
Stephen Smith of Canberra Australia, a professional photographer, for allowing his excellent photographs of an 1899 Buffalo Pitts threshing machine to be added to the website. Good photos of these machines are hard to come by.
Jim Battaglia of Williamsville, NY for sharing an old image of the Pitts Agricultural Works with me (to be added to the website at a later time because the image requires restoration and publishing in other mediums first).
Dave Cellino and Darlene Taylor at Al Ross in West Seneca, NY for help with the designing and silk-screening of the club t-shirts and Bic pens.
Susan Eck of Western New York USA for allowing links from webpages of the Western New York Heritage magazine to this website. Susan has an awesome website devoted to the 1901 Buffalo Pan-American Exposition (see the "Links" webpage on this website). Buffalo Pitts had a major display in the Mission Building at the Expo. Susan's website has a rare copy of the Buffalo Pitts handout from the Expo (again, see the "Links" webpage). Don't miss a chance to view that handout.
Brad Fischer of S. Wales, NY USA for Buffalo Pitts information and images, including an "ad copy" of the rare Buffalo Pitts "Steam Wagon" (basically a steam-powered dump truck) which once hung on the wall in an office of Buffalo Pitts early in the 1900's. Brad's Grandfather once worked at Buffalo Pitts for a short time. Brad has several Ford Model A cars and trucks, as well as other Ford cars, trucks and tractors. Brad worked at the Ford Stamping Plant in Woodlawn, NY.
Paul E. Deo of Snover Michigan USA for donating images from a complete 1915 Buffalo Pitts general catalog. Paul owns a beautiful 1906 Buffalo Pitts 18 Horse Power "Double" steam traction engine (thumbnail pic at left). Paul also teaches at a "Steam School" that he and another steam enthusiast run every other year (donating the use of his Buffalo Pitts engine, of course).
A Family in Texas who discovered one of the oldest Pitts artifacts known to the webmaster. Their ancestors farmed land for many generations and may have had an original John A. Pitts Company Horse Power. To be specific, they owned the "Sweep" type of Horse Power. We've added a new webpage titled "Artifacts" to the website to cover this artifact and any others that may be brought to the attention of the webmaster. This family performed a search-engine search (yeah, a search-engine search, now that makes sense) on "John Pitts" and found this website. Because of this artifact, your webmaster found a very old John A. Pitts patent from 1846. The patent date was cast into this artifact, but the patent wasn't originally assigned to John Pitts. But, John Pitts was listed as a witness on the patent, and the patent's inventor was from upstate New York USA. This patent (#4595) for a sweep horse power may have been licensed by John Pitts from the original inventor for manufacture by John Pitts' company. While wishing to remain anonymous, the family did agree to allow us to share their find through a generous donation of a photo and set of specifications. It's donations like this that'll make this website even better than your humble nerdmaster... uh, make that webmaster... even envisioned when he took out the rights to the name of this website.
All the viewers of the BuffaloPitts.com website who make all the work and expense worthwhile.
Finally, my next-door neighbors, Jim & Cindi Ringo III, who essentially inspired me to create this website. FYI, Jim’s dad held various coaching positions with the Buffalo Bills (of the National Football League in the United states), including head coach, and was a Hall-Of-Fame center who played with Green Bay and Philly. Click HERE for a to biographical info and statistics on Jim’s dad from the NFL Pro Football Hall Of Fame.
