Alex O. Jutila
Roofer. Inventor. Manufacturer. In 1964 a licensed roofer in San Diego patented a machine that let one man coat a whole roof. This is what his family has pieced together about him and the Jetspray.
A roofer's invention
Every Jetspray mailer carried the same line, underlined: "Invented, designed and built by a licensed roofer." It was a selling point, and it was true. Alex knew roof coating from the roof up.
In the early 1960s, putting a cement-based coating on a gravel roof took a crew. As Alex described it in his patent, one or more men mixed the coating on the ground and loaded it into bucket elevators. Two or more men on the roof then spread it with swabs and buckets.
His idea was to put the whole operation in one portable steel unit. A gasoline engine kept a full tank of coating stirred and pushed it through a single long hose to one man on the roof, who controlled it with a valve at the nozzle. His patent says that with it, "one man can perform an entire roof coating operation."
The part he patented was a small, clever detail. Rubber wipers on the agitator blades sweep the tank bottom and the screen over the outlet on every turn. Abrasive cement mix never got the chance to clog the line.
He filed for the patent on May 18, 1964. It was granted as U.S. Patent 3,203,631 on August 31, 1965, under the title Abrasive Type Roof Coating Apparatus. The engineering is explained in detail here, and you can download the original patent.
Jetspray Products, Inc.
Pieced together from dates, addresses and phone numbers on the surviving paperwork.
- 1964
Patent filed
May 18. Alex O. Jutila of San Diego files serial no. 368,155, "Abrasive Type Roof Coating Apparatus," through his attorneys Hansen and Lane. His patent drawings show a box-shaped prototype holding 60–75 gallons.
- 1965
Patent granted
August 31. U.S. Patent 3,203,631 is issued with three claims.
- 1966
On the market
The July 1966 price list from Jetspray Products, Inc., 2223 El Cajon Blvd., offers a complete unit for $1,260. That includes a 4 HP Briggs & Stratton engine, helical pump, tank and agitator, relief valve, spray gun and 50 feet of hose. The first brochure carries testimonials from roofers in La Mesa and San Diego; one says it coated over 200 roofs in 18 months.
- 1967
The "New 1967 Model"
A mailer announces the 1967 model: a 130-gallon tank, adjustable pressure up to 250 psi and up to 7 gallons a minute. It is signed "Alex Jutila, Mgr."
- Late 1960s – 70s
Growing up
Brochures from this period describe the improved machine: a 5 HP engine, a 125-gallon tank, 150 feet of ¾-inch hose and four stainless nozzles. They list new uses too, from hydroseeding and pesticides to reflective roofing. The company moves to 6308 Riverdale Street, San Diego.
- 1977
Still building
A Robbins & Myers Moyno pump manual dated August 1977 is in the files. It is annotated by hand with the engine serial number and rotor sizes for the standard and heavy-duty pumps.
- 1980s
P.O. Box 28591
The last letterhead gives a post office box and a 619 phone number. San Diego only got the 619 area code in 1982, so Jetspray Products was still in business after that.
Shop notes
Polaroid build guide
Shop Polaroids
Service leafletHow they were made
Jetspray machines weren't mass-produced. Each one was put together in the shop from a steel tank, an angle-iron frame, a Briggs & Stratton engine, a Moyno pump and parts from local suppliers.
Some of the best records we have are Bob Ruth's assembly notes. He wrote them step by step, mostly in pencil on Winn Supply Co. notepads. There is also a notebook of build instructions with Polaroid photos taped onto the pages. They record the details that never made it into a brochure: which bolts, which drill, "Fafnir bearing — NO SUBSTITUTE," and how to set the home-made relief valve "until valve just rattles."
Those notes are why the 3D model and the scale model plans on this site are as accurate as they are.
What we don't know yet
No Jetspray machine is known to survive, and much of the company's story lives only in family memory. If you know something, please tell the family so it can be added here.
- When Alex started roofing, and when he first built a Jetspray.
- How many machines were built, and where they went.
- When Jetspray Products closed.
- Who David Eliason was. He signed one letter as Sales Manager.
- Whether the roofer on the brochure covers is Alex himself.
- Where and when the booth 437 trade-show photo was taken.
- Whether a machine, or any part of one, still exists anywhere.
About this site
This site is kept by Alex's grandson. Everything on it comes from the family's own box of papers: brochures, mailers, a price list, letters, shop notes, Polaroids and the patent. They were scanned and transcribed in 2026.
The 3D model was rebuilt from those documents, because there was no machine to measure. Wherever we had to estimate a size, the engineering page says so.