So it’s the company, not the engine that’s spotless, or so they would like their customers to believe. Spotless was a regional competitor to Sears and Roebuck that served the greater southeast. One advertisement features a map that shows shipping available to Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. Like Sears, they sold almost anything that could be packed up and hauled to your location. The list of their inventory included such diverse items as: farm implements and buggies, barbed wire fence and rubber roofing material, stoves, ranges, sewing machines and organs.
And engines. In 1912 they offered: 1 ½ hp, 2 ½ , 3 ½ , 4 ½ , 5, 7, 9, 12, 13 and 16 hp. Models. The 5 hp model sold for $115, the 7 hp version brought $146.50. Every engine came with a 5 year guarantee. You had a 30 day trial period to return the engine if you were not satisfied.
Spotless sold engines but they didn’t make them, like Sears they contracted with a manufacturer to build engines for their house brand. Spotless engines were produced by the Jacobson Machine Manufacturing Co. located in Warren, Pa. They also made engines that were sold under the trade names: Bullseye, Maynard, Moody, Unito and Sturdy Jack Jr.
An advertisement that ran in a 1914 issue of Tractor and Gas Engine Review boasted that Jacobson made an engine of every type and for every service. Air cooled, oil cooled and water cooled. Hit and miss, throttling and automatic. Stationary and portable engines. Jacobson had you covered no matter what your power needs.
The 1912 Jacobson / Spotless engine shown here was exhibited at the Western North Carolina Fall Harvest Days Antique Engine and Tractor Show 2018. For information about the 2019 event visit: www.applecountry.org .
Sources:
www.jacobsonengines.com
https://books.google.com Tractor and Gas Engine Review 1914
www.smokstak.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143185
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