McLaughlin questions

[Oldtech]

Taking apart parts cars and parts pieces I have 5 different types of rim wedges. Does anyone have an idea which might be the right ones for a D-35?

Obviously the one with built in nut  and the Baker aren't right. . I think they all work.

 

Second: Have an odd hubcap. It is made of steel instead of aluminum and just says McLaughlin instead of McLaughlin Buick. It looks like it was once nickel plated.  Anyone know what it came off. 

 

 

 

[1912Staver]

I think Pearlman rims were only used for a short time , possibly 1918 only. There was a scandal involving Pearlman trying to fraudulently claim patent infringement against other rim manufacturers . It ended up in a big court case with Pearlman's claims of being the inventor of detachable rims being revealed as a fraud. There is a great article about it all in one of the older issues of the Horseless Carriage Club's " Gazette " magazine.

 

Greg

[Terry Wiegand]

The D-Series Buicks were introduced in 1915.  These cars used BAKER wheels.  The cast steel rim wedges had 'Baker' cast into them.  These wheels used wood felloes.  My 1920 K-46 Buick also has wooden-felloed wheels, but they are JAXON wheels.  I am not sure when the switch to Jaxon wheels took place.  My 1922 Model 48 Buick has Jaxon wheels, the felloes are steel.  I have heard of these Pearlman rims but I have never seen one up close and personal.  The cast steel rim wedges for the 1920 and 1922 wheels have BUICK cast into them.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

[Oldtech]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I only have 1 baker wedge so guessing that wasn't it.  I have a dozen pearlman but not a full set. Might be a good thing that you can only see one side of the car at a time. 

This was our family car and Dad had a parts car that I suspect was an E  so i'm never sure what is original and what came from the E,  Mostly the same tho.  And yes. 30 x 3.5 clinchers. 

[1912Staver]

My 1918 E - 6 - 45 McLaughlin has Pearlman 34 x 4 rims and clamps. I think they are nearly identical to  K series Jaxon rims except the E series cars are 26" { 34 x 4 tire } and the K series rims are 25 ". Durant bought Pearlman for GM just before the legal troubles began . I expect the scandal led to the rapid dropping of the Pearlman name. I am not sure if Jaxon was part of GM or not but if so it was possibly the Pearlman rim with a quick name change. The clamps are identical except the cast in name.

 

Greg

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by 1912Staver (see edit history)

[Bloo]

As I understand it, The disappearance of true 30x3-1/2 tires, and 31x4 clinchers, was part of the standardization for the war effort in WW1.

 

Under the new system, Tires marked 30x3-1/2 were clincher tires, but measured 31x4. Tires marked 31x4 were 31x4 straight sided tires, not clinchers.

 

After WW1 the true 30x3-1/2 never resurfaced, and probably not anything marked 31x4 clincher either,  only "30x3-1/2 oversize" clincher tires that really measure 31x4.

 

If Buick had been selling cars that took 31x4 clinchers before WW1, they might have updated their books to reflect that the tires that had been called 31x4 clincher were now called 30x3-1/2. It's not just something close that fits.... It's the same size.

 

.

Edited January 8, 2021 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Terry Wiegand]

Bloo,

Are these clincher rims on Ben's 1915 Buick the same as what was on T Model Fords?  I am going to have to plead ignorance here.  This is the first that I have heard of this style rim on middle teens Buicks.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

[Bloo]

I have a 1913 Studebaker that takes 30x3-1/2 tires. My wheels are Stanweld, and while searching for wheel wedges I learned that in this size (only), Stanweld, Perlman, and Jaxon are all almost the same thing and the parts interchange. There was a big lawsuit, I am not sure if it is the same lawsuit referred to in this thread, but it rendered Stanweld more or less unavailable by 1914.

 

My Stanweld wedges look almost exactly like Ben P.'s Perlman wedge pictured a few posts back. A couple of them have the name "Stanweld" where Ben P.'s say Perlman, but most are blank. Jaxon wedges for this size are narrower and do not have a captured nut but are physically interchangeable. The rims are physically interchangeable too. Jaxon rims have the block that keeps the rim from rotating on the wheel embossed, while Stanweld (and probably Perlman) have it tack welded on, but that makes no difference in actual use. I believe Chevrolet used Jaxon 30x3-1/2" around 1918, so those parts may be easier to find. Tires would have been 30x3-1/2 that actually measure 31x4 at that time.

 

There is a bunch of wedge information in this thread, as well as a pic of one of my Stanweld wedges.

 

.

 

 

[Bloo]

4 minutes ago, Terry Wiegand said:

Bloo,

Are these clincher rims on Ben's 1915 Buick the same as what was on T Model Fords?  I am going to have to plead ignorance here.  This is the first that I have heard of this style rim on middle teens Buicks.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

 

It's the same tire size 30x3-1/2, but Ford, as far as I know, never used the setup pictured in this thread from the factory.

 

On a Ford, if you had wooden felloes the rims were not demountable, USA Fords had 30x3-1/2" only on the back (all 4 were 30x3-1/2" in Canada).

 

If the Ford had factory Demountable rims, they were 30x3-1/2 all the way around but the felloes were steel, and the parts do not quite interchange with any wood felloe Stanweld/Perlman/Jaxon stuff. There were at least 4 demountable rim suppliers to Ford, and the parts did not even interchange with each other until Ford standardized it sometime in the 20s.

 

Stanweld however, like many other wheel builders offered aftermarket demountable rim kits for Fords. It is likely that Perlman and Jaxon would have as well. Model T collectors are a good place to start looking for anything 30x3-1/2, even if it isn't Ford.

 

 

 

 

[1912Staver]

I should also mention my experience with hubcaps. Most of the 1916 - 17 cars I have seen have the " McLaughlin " hubcaps. Usually aluminum, but I have seen a couple of steel ones as shown at the beginning of the thread. And 1918 and up ; including my unrestored 6 - 45 are usually the " McLaughlin Buick " type.

 

Greg

[Larry Schramm]

I have looked in my parts book and it does not call out a particular named wedge. 

 

I have looked in my stash of wedges and found that the BUICK & PERLMAN wedges are identical except for the name on the wedge. BUT.............

 

As shown in the picture below, the first row of wedges I have a plain PERLMAN and a plain BUICK.  

 

The second row of wedges show WM on either side of the bolt hole.  This would stand for Weston-Mott axle company which supplied axles to Buick.  This makes sense. 

 

I do not know what the smaller letters below WM are for on the Perlman wedge mean.  Maybe they were used for another manufacturer like Oakland or could be a date code. 

 

The BM on the third BUICK wedge could be axles built after 1913 when GM bought Weston-Mott to designate Buick-Mott axle, but I do not know.  I would think either PERLMAN or BUICK wedges would be fine, but BUICK might be a later addition to axles only used by Buick or a difference for model year change.

 

Just my thoughts. 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[Oldtech]

Hmmm. Haven't seen one that says Buick up here yet. There may be some, just haven't seen them. 

Lots of interesting trivia here. Thanks everyone.

[dibarlaw]

Larry:

 I know that the 1924-1925 Buick wedges are stamped BUICK.

 The other Larry

[Larry Schramm]

That could make sense.   That is what I kind of remember also.

 

Model change.

Edited January 9, 2021 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[rjp]

Do happen to know what the 1920  should have on them?

[Oldtech]

I think the Perlman would be correct on a 20.  I looked at a 20 on the weekend and some had the name and some not, but they looked the same.