The Smith Manufacturing Company of Chicago was founded by Frank S. Smith and began operations in 1890. Frank Smith was the son of Marvin Smith, the owner of the once famous Folding Saw Mfg Co and also the Marvin Smith Company of Chicago. Marvin had invented a simple one person drag saw for felling large trees - Patent #266,650 on October 31, 1882, which became enormously successful. Marvin would die in 1894. Frank Smith lived in Chicago and later Oak Park during his years as President of the Smith Mfg. Co. Ashley C. Smith, the brother of Frank, was an active owner and officer in the company. Ashley died February 18, 1910 at the age of 42 a well respected business owner. Frank probably did not continue to run the operations much longer after his brothers death, because he ended up selling his successful "Great Western" farm machinery line to the Rock Island Plow Co. of Rock Island, Illinois on October 1, 1911. It is interesting to note that Ashley recieved a patent for a "tripping device" used on the Smith Mfg.'s litter carrier farm machines after his death on August 16, 1910 Patent #967,846. This patent had been applied for on December 13, 1909 just two months before his death.
According to C. H. Wendell, Smith Mfg. Co. began
manufacturing their engines under the name Chicago Gasoline Engine Co. It seems possible the Marvin Smith Co. and the Smith Mfg Co. may have worked together in marketing some of their wares. Smith's offices in Chicago were located
at 55-59 N. Jefferson St. in 1903, 16-18 S. Clinton St. in 1904 and
158-164 E. Harrison St. in 1910. The 1907 catalog for the company offered an engine line called
"The Smith." The 1908 brochures offered engines with the more famous "Great
Western" line of equipment. This "Great Western" line included cream separators, manure
spreaders, manure carriers (sometimes called: litter carriers) and gas engines
ranging up from 1.5 to 10 horsepower. A few of Smith's early brochures included
pictures of what was described as "their factory", which actually was Haish's factory in DeKalb.
Moreover Smith's factory photos are basically mirror images of Haish's facility
based on the their respective brochures. However, Smith's brochures never
seem to elude to the specific connection to Haish. Jacob Haish, in 1912, described in his equipment
catalog that he was the exclusive manufacturer of the "Great Western" line. It
is assumed that Jacob Haish Mfg Co. was the jobber for Smith and later for Rock
Island, but the legal business records to definitely prove this, are not located.
The Rock Island Plow Co. of Rock Island, Illinois acquired the rights to the
"Great Western" line from Smith on October 1, 1911. However, by 1912, Rock
Island stopped marketing the "Great Western" engine line and began offering Haish's
"Chanticleer" line. Rock Island later dropped the "Chanticleer" line and offered
the "Alamo" line. It is interesting to note that
Rock Island continued to
market the "Great Western" manure spreader and cream separator at least into the early 1920s.
