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The F.L. Jacobs Company of Indianapolis, Indiana would have to be labeled the "dark horse" of machine manufacturers during the Golden Era. While not much is known about their pre-World War II existence, it is believed that the Jacobs Company ws one of a handful of manufacturers allowed to make Coke machines in limited quantities during the war years. Those machines, like their competitors', were large in vending capacity to serve the workers in war plants environments. An example was the J-144, a gargantuan machine weighing 580 pounds empty and measuring 34" wide x 35" deep x 65" high. Too big to fit through most doorways, routemen came to fear early versions of the J-144 with its chain driven bottle drum. Powerful enough to rotate a drum loaded with 144 bottles, this drive mechanism could also cut off a hand if activated accidentally during the loading process.

By comparison, two of their smaller, all mechanical, post war machines are prized by collectors today. The first, the J-26 (and its identical twin, the J-160) was featured as "comming soon" in trade publication advertising of July, 1947. Its dimensions were a mere 19" wide by 26" deep by 54" high and light weight at 235 pounds. At first glance, it's not immediately clear which is the front and which is the side on a 26. Actually, one "side" of the machine serves as the loading door and opening it reveals a light weight aluminum drum holding 26 bottles in nine pie-shaped compartments, with enough room to pre-cool and additional 41 bottles. One crank of the handle dispenses a bottle through a chute on the skinny side. Identical in size and operation, the Model J-35 came shortly after the 26. A slightly modified drum and delivery chute allowed for 4 bottles in each drum compartment, instead of three for the Model 26. All Model 35's came equipped with Frigidaire compressors similar to those in the Model 26. For those who are detail oriented, J-26 models with the suffix "B" on the cabinet serial number came equipped with 1/6 HP Blissfield refrigeration units, while the suffix "F" indicated those were equipped with 1/8 HP Frigidaire units.

The F.L. Jacobs company produced two vendors for the Pepsi Cola Company. The J56 and the J50 were released in two tone Blue. These two machines were loaded and they vended from the rounded arched side of the cabinet, unlike the J26, J35, and J144, ( J160 ). Both machines used a gravity rack mechanism to vend Pepsi Cola's 8oz glass bottle. The J56 Pepsi Cola is really the king of the hill of all the Vendor's produced by F.L. Jacobs, sometimes selling for as much as $10,000.00 dollars for models sporting extreme restorations. Unrestored Jacobs J56's usually fetch a minimum of $2500.00 depending on condition. The J56 incorporates a Pepsi Cola plastic reverse etched lighted lens to attract customers. This lens usually shows up cracked or melted by the two bulbs that back light the lens. You may wish to consider the condition of this lens when selecting a J56 as a restoraton project, however beggers cannot be choosers since any J56 is close to impossible to find. This same plastic lens was used to illuminate the front of a few Pepsi Cola Mills 120's. These lighted Mills 120 machines are also rare and hard to find. The J50 was branded on the arched side by a serrigated Pepsi Crown decal which can be easily reproduced for restoring the machine. When selecting any Jacobs machine for restoration - pick a machine that is complete and not missing parts. I would estimate based on the many phone calls our company takes concerning the Jacobs line - that 8 out of every 10 Jacobs are missing the inside drum or coin mechanism or both. Missing parts are impossible to find for this line of vendors and can reduce the value of a 1200.00 unrestored J26 to $400 or even less depending on the condition of the Blissfield refrigeration system. Both the J56 and the J50 also have a red and green lighted lens display. The J56 uses a mechanical coin mechanism to vend the 8oz bottle and the J50 uses an electric mechanism to vend the glass Pepsi bottle - being minus a crank handle. The back of the swinging door of a J56 is gray plastic and the swinging door of a J50 is metal.

I want to say a little about the J-160. Jacobs machines were named after the number of bottles they housed. The J26 accomidates 26 bottles. The J35 accomidates 35 bottles and the J144 accomidates 144 bottles. From time to time you may find a J26 or a J144 with an identification tag that reads J160. It is assumed that Jacobs had these left-over tags for a machine that was never produced, and instead of throwing them away - they used them on J26's and J144's. It is not known if these 160 tags were used on J35's - and if they were we have never run accross an example we can lay our hands on. We do have a J144 and J26 in the museum with J160 tags on them from the factory. It is clear the model J26 will not hold 160 bottles, so we guess these J160 tags were being used up to save Jacobs the expence of creating more tags.

The Jacobs Company moved to Traverse City, Michigan sometime around 1950. Before ceasing the manufacture of Coke machines in the early 50's, the company added one more model to the existing three. Jacobs labeled the new Model 108 as the "fastest loading medium cooler made." It measured 27" wide by 35" deep by 54" high and had the characteristic "mailbox" shape of the other models. This unique shape is the reason the Jacobs is rarely found without dents in its sides and top, as the lack of hand-holds made it a difficult machine to move without rolling over on its top. Above Description Courtesy Steve Ebner ~ Fun Tronics.

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