Blaine found a set of NOS Perfect Circle hubs, which look to be private-labeled versions of the Selectro hub manufactured by Dualmatic. Unfamilar with Perfect Circle, I wondered why the company would private label a set of hubs.

It turns out that Perfect Circle had been a leader in the development of piston rings for several decades. In 1963, the company was purchased by the Dana Corporation. It’s possible that relationship led to the private labeling of the hubs. (Read the whole Perfect Circle history here)

These particular hubs should fit the Dana 27 axles, as that was the standard axle on early Scouts (but I’m not expert on the Scouts).

We’ve seen the above hubs branded under multiple names, including Dualmatic, Selectro, Perfect Circle, Free-Lock, and others. But, where did the hubs originate?

Unfortunately, as this point I only have theories rather than actual answers. One theory is that they were developed by Free-Lock, but not patented, prior to Free-Lock’s demise. Somehow, Dualamatic/Husky ended up with the hubs (probably purchased Free-Lock’s assets) and then Dualmatic manufacturing them under the Free-Lock brand, then other brands.

My second theory is that the hub is based on this hub patent from Clark Peterson in 1955.

It has the spring system and It appears the entire top of the hub twists. But, there are some differences. The central bolt does not exist to hold the hub in place, instead side bolds secure the top. Maybe someone who has a set of these hubs can compare it to the hub design above? Below is a schematic of a Dualmatic hub for comparison.

UPDATE V: This post has a comparison of Husky hub backsides.

UPDATE IV: With this ad August 1973 ad in Four Wheeler Magazine, Husky seemed to want to make it clear that Selectro hubs were Husky products, even though some Selectro stuff had been marked with Dualmatic references over the years.

This is the first full page ad for hubs that I had seen in years from Husky or Dualmatic. Perhaps they were struggling with a branding issue (seems likely to me), so this was the company’s answer.

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UPDATE III: You can find a closer look at the Dualmatic hub-with-levers variations on this post.

UPDATE II: Here’s an example of a more standard Selectro-style hub with the Free-Lock branding. It’s the first example I’ve been able to document. It looks more like the heavy duty kind of Selectro. 

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UPDATE: For more information on the twin-lever Dualmatic designs, check out this post.

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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 8, 2019: Once again, this is more a working post than a polished one. And, it’s a long one. It kept growing and growing as I learned more (and became more confused).Of course, I am left with more answers than questions.

Essentially, I’m trying to figure out when Selectro hubs popped onto the 4WD scene, who controlled them, and how they evolved. That led to looking at Husky, Dualmatic, Watson and FreeLock hubs. I don’t have all the answers just yet … here we go …

Map of companies related to Jeep products in the 1950s-1970s. You can learn more about Thor and White Automotive here.and Free-Lock here.

TIMELINE & DiSCUSSION: 

1959/1960?: The Husky Company launches it’s line of Husky Hubs out of Aurora, Colorado. This hub one of two pieces of evidence of the Husky Company’s existence in Aurora; it has the Husky Company name and location on it:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/early-hub-depository.825602/

A second piece of evidence was uncovered on a document found by Maury; the Husky Company was located originally in Aurora, Colorado.

From this website: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/early-hub-depository.825602/

Based on the information on the hub, the Husky company already had a patent awarded (not just filed, but awarded). So, which patent was that? My best guess at the moment is that this 1958 patent awarded to Clark Peterson has the most elements in common with the Husky Hub.

Given there were a couple intervening years between the patent (awarded in 1958) and Husky Hub (unclear when it was brought to market, but I’m guessing 1959/1960), it seems possible that the company altered the design before manufacturing it, which could explain the differences between the patent and the finished hub. The biggest reason I think the two are related is that both the patent and the Husky Hub have a narrow bolt down the center, a unique design not seen in another other hubs.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US2844238

1961: In 1961 a new name was associated with the Husky Hub: Trade Winds, Inc, out of Boulder, Colorado. My best guess is that the Husky Hub company lacked capital, so it turned to Trade Winds (perhaps which bought a controlling stake in the Husky Company?) to re-introduce the Husky Hubs.

Continue reading →

I spend the last couple days driving to, then back from Seattle. Dad’s been saying a few odd things, so I wanted to see how he was doing at his new Rehab facility. He may have the start of some dementia … on the joys of aging.

Because of my drive over on Sunday, I lost out on the chance to get this Dualmatic Sales Demo hub. But, I did score some cool wagon/truck/jeepster brochures fairly inexpensively. So, I’ll be sharing those at some point.

Here’s the demo hub. There’s not a good pic of it, but there’s plastic around the edge so viewers can watch how the levers engage/disengage the hubs.