This May 1957 Willys News article provides some interesting history about the Warn Manufacturing Company. Apparently there was some early resistance to using the first generation of the warn hubs, because jeep owners felt they’d purchased their jeeps for the four wheel drive capability. The initial hubs turned the jeeps into two wheel drive, which some owners felt defeated the whole point of owning a jeep. However, through education and marketing, the Warn folks slowly turned naysayers into advocates.
From a 1995 Field & Stream Magazine article:
These were the first locking/unlocking hubs Warn developed. These were advertised as early as October of 1953 in the Popular Mechanics: