The Economy Cream Separator represented the first major
brand-name product promotion for Sears, Roebuck and Co. Sears
eventually put the Economy brand name on iceboxes, fountain
pens, a sewing machine cabinet, gasoline engines, portable saw
rigs, and a variety of farm equipment. It was the cream
separator, however, that became the product most identified with
The cream separator, invented in 1890 by C.G.P. Delavai, was
an ingenious mechanical device for separating the cream from
milk. In the late 19th century, milk cows produced on average
5,500 pounds of milk containing 200 pounds of cream each year.
Before the invention of the cream separator, there were mostly
unsatisfactory and unhealthy—not to mention
expensive—methods for separating the cream from the whole
Cream separators first appeared in the Sears catalog in 1896.
Legend has it that while on a hunting trip in North Dakota with
other company officials, founder Richard W. Sears stopped at a
dairy farm and noticed a man using one of the new centrifugal
cream separators. Sears spoke with the farmer and found out that
the machine worked very well, but that it cost him more than
$100. Richard Sears knew he could sell one for less.
He rushed back to Chicago to look for a manufacturer. In
1902, Sears introduced the line of "Economy Cream
Separators," with the least-expensive model priced at
$24.95. To promote the new Economy Cream Separators, Richard
Sears proclaimed, "We will give $1,000.00 in Gold to the
separator manufacturer who can produce a machine that will
outskim the Improved Economy." No one accepted the
The Economy Cream Separator quickly became one of Sears'
best-selling products. The simple, efficient, and affordable
Economy Cream Separator remained a mainstay of the Sears product
mix until 1947.