Born in 1893, Louie H. Ponnequin, a veteran of WWI, was fifty-five years old when he filed a patent in January 1948 for what appears to be the Clary Hubs. At the time, he was living in Hawaii, so it’s possible that being around the military bases there he saw a need for a simple free-spinning jeep hub. Though Arthur Warn invented his standard spinning hub cap a year earlier in 1947, there’s no evidence that Warn ever patented his “summer hub”.
The Clary Flange (a couple of these pics are seen in this thread, but I don’t know the original source):
Perhaps lacking a manufacturing source in Hawaii, Louie left for California to locate a production facility. He eventually partnered with Cam Tools, Inc., a business founded in 1937 and, by 1948, may have been principally owned Richard S. Simon. Cam Tools specialized in automotive tools, equipment, and portable truck and warehouse cranes. One of their inventions was a tire bead breaker.
When Cam Tools began manufacturing and selling the Clary Hubs (or why they are called Clary hubs) isn’t altogether clear, but there is evidence that there were two types of hubs, one intended for 1/4 ton jeeps and a larger size for M-37s. In addition, Cam Tools fulfilled at least one government contract for both sets of hubs in November of 1955. Specifically, according to this G503 thread, “CLARY FLANGES were manufactured under Gov’t Contract DA-04-200-ORD-448 by the CAM TOOL CO. Oakland CA … during 11/55.”
The hubs were also sold to civilians through Mongomery Ward, as this literature that was enclosed in a Cary Flange box indicates:
Louie Ponnequin, who remained in Hawaii at least until 1952, as a 1952 patent lists that as his place of residence, must have had some kind of ongoing relationship with Cam Tools, because Louie also developed a fork lift, which seems a good fit for Cam Tools’ portfolio.
Louie passed away in Fresno in 1960. In 1962, Cam tools was sold by Richard S. Simon to Bruce H. Wallace, a manufacturing and consulting engineer.
July 23, 1962, Daily Independent Journal, San Rafael, California.
As always, if anyone has more information or correction, let me know, especially the root of the name. I can find no reason for labeling them Clary.
Interesting. Thank you Dave for doing all this research on the hubs and for being an awesome jeep guy 😉
“The Clary Flange (a couple of these pics are seen in this thread, but I don’t know the original source):”
Nice post, Dave. The last two photos were from my eBay auction months ago.
Dexter
When I was a kid, we had a 51 Willys 4WD pickup that had two sets of hubs. One set was the factory set with the axle splines in in them. The other set had what appeared to be the factory hubs, but with the splines machined out. It was a simple matter to change them out, only taking a few minutes. We didn’t use the non-spline hubs much as we needed the 4 WD on the ranch up in the mountains. Don’t know what happened to them when Dad sold the truck.
Interestingly, I have a pair of these as well. Not sure where they came from, dad must have pulled them off something at some point and saved them.
I’d like to drop by and see those Mitch. I haven’t seen a set in person.
BTW: I’ll be around mom’s place from Sept 1 – Sept 16, as she’ll be away. So I’ll try to get over to see the hubs (We are making preparations for selling the house next spring).
I have the original patent for the Hub Structure.
Hi Jackie,
That’s a neat bit of rare info! I am currently in the process of handing off the site to a new owner, but, if you are willing, I’d be interested in getting a e-copy of that patent and any other history so we can add it to this post for readers.
Feel free to email me directly at d@deilers.com.
Thanks and Merry Christmas,
– Dave