The History of Jacobsen Mowers

[Two-Stroke]

I found a picture of a relatively recent Jacobsen two-stroke. I'm excited about this one because the mower is powered by the same series Suzuki engine that's mounted on my 1987 Toro mower that I've been talking about in this thread.

Here's the Jacobsen, powered by Suzuki! :thumbsup:

Does anybody know the model number of this mower?

On the front of the deck I think it says: "Commercial 20".

 

[bwdbrn1]

I've got three old Jacobsen Reel mowers myself. A 1949 Bantam 18", a 1949 Lawn King 26" and a 1952 Lawn Queen 20". The Bantam and Lawn Queen both have the 321 engine, which was probably the most widely used of all Jake engines. The Lawn King's engine is larger. All of them are amazingly quiet when running! And all are a work out to keep up with, even at idle!

If you have the serial number on a pre 1975 Jake, you can look up the year of manufacture on this site;

Hit & Miss Model's Jacobsen serial number lookup for products made before 1975


It seems a lot of manufactures put a third wheel on their larger reels mowers like you see on the Lawn King back in the day. It did make them much easier to handle and turn. Many of them were outfitted to easily hitch up a sulky, which probably had something to do with the choice of a third wheel instead of rollers.

 

[bwdbrn1]

I don't think that one in the earlier video is a 1937. Jacobsen didn't start with rotary mowers until the 50's when they acquired The Standard Manufacturing Company of Lebanon, Indiana in 1948. They bought them out specifically for their pioneering work in rotary mowers. Look at the similarities to the mower pictured in this patent issued to Jacobsen in 1956 for the forerunner of their Turbo Cut system.
Patent US2737772 - JACOBSEN - Google Patents
The deck also looks quite a bit like this Johnston in this 1954 ad. Johnston was a subsidiary of Jacobsen. A company they acquired for their steel push reel mowers, which they later motorized as well.
1954 JOHNSTON LAWN MOWER CORP. JOAN TUBY AD ART | eBay
This short little article gives a brief history of the company.
http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/groot/article/1986sep19.pdf

 

[Two-Stroke]

I don't think that one in the earlier video is a 1937. Jacobsen didn't start with rotary mowers until the 50's when they acquired The Standard Manufacturing Company of Lebanon, Indiana in 1948. They bought them out specifically for their pioneering work in rotary mowers. Look at the similarities to the mower pictured in this patent issued to Jacobsen in 1956 for the forerunner of their Turbo Cut system.
Patent US2737772 - JACOBSEN - Google Patents
The deck also looks quite a bit like this Johnston in this 1954 ad. Johnston was a subsidiary of Jacobsen. A company they acquired for their steel push reel mowers, which they later motorized as well.
1954 JOHNSTON LAWN MOWER CORP. JOAN TUBY AD ART | eBay
This short little article gives a brief history of the company.
http://archive.lib.msu.edu/tic/groot/article/1986sep19.pdf

Thank you for an excellent post, bwdbrn1.

I haven't read the history article but it seens to be exactly what I've been looking for. It's funny but I tried searching many keywords on different search engines but never found that link. :confused2:

 

[bwdbrn1]

Interesting that Jacobsen's buddy, Dremel, (recognize the name?), who was working in Jacobsen's shop, was the one who suggested the notion of motorizing the mower. From that the 4 acre mower was born, and the Jacobsen lawn care equipment business took off. Dremel of course went on to create more wonders. How many of us have one of his little rotary tools in our shops?

 

[Two-Stroke]

Interesting that Jacobsen's buddy, Dremel, (recognize the name?), who was working in Jacobsen's shop, was the one who suggested the notion of motorizing the mower. From that the 4 acre mower was born, and the Jacobsen lawn care equipment business took off. Dremel of course went on to create more wonders. How many of us have one of his little rotary tools in our shops?

I've been a hard-core fan of Dremel moto-tools for longer than I care to admit. I currently have two - one is a dedicated chain saw sharpening tool.

 

[fredsluck]

I have a Jacobsen 50 mower. A heavy walk behind with Honda engine that I bought new in the early 90s. Still use but need to find a source for the blades. It has two and takes a 50 inch cut.

 

[George Newton]

That 50" mower may be an Exmark. In the early days of their attempt to market that size mower they bought Exmark's and repainted and put their own decals on them. As for the early days (50's and 60's), they had a couple of 2 cycle engines. There was a "J125", a "J175" and finally, the workhorse, the "321" (as in 32:1 gas/oil mix). The 321 was used on all their production of mowers that used a 2 cycle engine from about 1962 to about 1975. They then changed to a 501 (50:1 gas/oil mix) about 1975 until about 1988. All the parts were the same, just less smoke. As for the Park 30 mower, it had a Wisconsin engine on it. In those days, Wisconsin was the industry's "Cadillac" of engines. All cast iron and lasted forever if taken care of. I was in the parts business for Jacobsen for 30 years. There wasn't much I didn't see. By the way, the "F10" golf tractor was also the top of the line when it came to large area mowing. My company sold a ton of them.

 

[fredsluck]

The Jacobsen 50 has a Peerless transmission with 5 forward and one reverse. It is heavy. The weigh listed in manual is 424 lb. for the 11 hp option. I have a Honda engine. The blade is similar to those I have seen on smaller Jacobsen Mowers with a keyed cutting bar adaptor that bolts to the blade with two bolts at 2 7/8 or 2 13/16 center distance. The blade part number in the manual is 390481. It does not look like any of the Xmark machines I have seen but that does not mean a lot since I am not very well versed in the available equipment.

 

[George Newton]

I checked with a friend at Jacobsen and he said the mower was probably an Encore, not an Exmark. If you can find an Encore dealer (don't tell them it's a Jacobsen), and just take the blade to them, they might be able to help you. Sorry about the mixup. You might also try a Tractor Supply Co. store, as they have some "replacement" blades that might fit. Good luck.