I hope readers will enjoy these old advertisements for Maynard
engines, which originally appeared in 1916 in the The Charles
William Stores New York annual catalog. Charles Williams was a
large mail order store based in New York City.
According to the catalog, Maynard engines were manufactured at a
plant in Pennsylvania. I understand early Maynard engines were
actually made by Jacobsen Machine Manufacturing Co. in Warren, Pa.,
with later engines made by Nelson Bros. Co., Saginaw, Mich.
My interest in Maynard engines is the 1-1/2 HP Jr. I acquired my
first Jr. in the mid-1980s. The engine is complete and shows serial
no. Ml 1611. I have given it a valve job, and I’ve located an
original crank guard to replace its missing guard. It has some
original reddish-maroon paint, and the outline of the decal is
somewhat visible. A Maynard featured on the cover of the December
1999 issue of Gas Engine Magazine has a good
representation of a Maynard decal.
I acquired my other Maynard Jr., serial no. 12092, from fellow
collector Mike Wenhold in a trade. Both engines have sparkplug
ignition with buzz-coil timers, and they both have their original
mufflers. Flywheels are 16 inches in diameter, and the engines
weigh 240 pounds. The Maynard Jr. has a 3-1/4-inch bore and
4-1/2-inch stroke.
I would like to hear from fellow owners of 1-1/2 HP Jr. or other
Jacobson-built engine with different name-plates.
Stan Matlowski, 118 Hunlock-Harveyville Road, Hunlock Creek,
PA 18621; e-mail: smatlowski@yahoo.com
