UPDATE VII: A set of NOS Free-Lock hubs included documentation stating that by December of 1973 Free-Lock had become a “Quality Division” of Dualmatic Products Company. So, I believe this suggests that Free-Lock was acquired by Dualmatic, so now the questions are 1) when did this happen and 2) why didn’t Dualmatic use the branding sooner than circa 1970 (there was a gap between the end of Free-Lock in 1959 and the re-emergence of the brand circa late 1960s or early 1970s).
UPDATE VI: I located a set of Free-Lock hub instructions that are a pre-view for a later set of near identical Dualmatic instructions. This is clear documentary evidence that Dualmatic was linked to Free-Lock.
UPDATE V: I recently packed many of my father’s tools to bring them back to Prosser. I was a regular user of them when working on my bicycles, then my jeeps. So, I thought I knew them pretty well. That is why I was so surprised and did a double take when I removed this tool from a drawer and read the name stamped on it: FREE-LOCK WRENCH …
What??? Where’d that come from? I once asked Dad about Free-Lock hubs, but he didn’t know anything about them. So, I don’t know how he obtained it.
Anyway, given the primitive nature of it, I’d have to guess it was a first generation version of the wrench. As seen below, a second, more elegant curved-design with a better branding stamp was likely introduced after this version.
Here’s a reminder of the other version of the Free Lock Wrench:
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UPDATE IV (From February 12, 2017): This page contains two later model Free-Lock hubs that resemble Selectro hubs. My theory is that Free-Lock might have evolved into the Selectro Company: http://www.ewillys.com/2019/07/08/selectro-husky-dualmatic-overview/
UPDATE III: Thanks to Steve, we’ve discovered an additional version. It is now number 5, which seems to be an evolutionary step between 4 & 6.
UPDATE II: Thanks to Frank Day and his grandfather Merton, who saved this rare piece, here is a scan of an eight page brochure related to the Free-Lock corporation.
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