"W & N" wheel weights from Dakcub's find

[Steve K. CALIF]

Hi all. I made an inquiry of a local business that I thought might have ties to the old "W & N" foundry marks that were on the wheel weights found on one of the Cubs that Robert (Dakcub) had posted earlier.
The owner of the company responded with a very nice summary of the company from start to where it is today. I thought his reply would be of interest to some on the forum. Here is his reply to my question of the start of W & N in Fresno:

Hi Steve,
Yes, your wheel weights were made by my grandfather in his foundry which was located at 140 Callisch St. here in Fresno.

The foundry was originally Wilson & Nutwell. My grandfather, Goff Nutwell, was working for Lisenby Manufacturing (a printing press maker) in Fresno after WWI and eventually purchased their foundry operation, going into business for himself around 1928. He took on a partner by the name of Wilson and they became Wilson and Nutwell. (W-N) Later, upon Wilson's death, my grandfather took on another partner by the name of Wilkerson and they became Wilkerson and Nutwell sometime in the 40's or early 50's. (Still W-N)

Upon my grandfather's retirement in the late 50's the foundry was solely operated by his partner, Gus Wilkerson until it was sold in the early 60's due to a redevelopment project by the City of Fresno which included the land that the foundry was on.

The iron foundry operation was sold to a Mr. Colson, I believe, that moved it to the LA area and the bronze and aluminum portion of the foundry was sold to my dad in 1961 who had been working for W-N for several years previous. My father, Frank Willems, (Goff Nutwell's son-in-law) moved the foundry to a new location in Fresno and retained the W-N identity, but changed the name from Wilkerson & Nutwell to W-N Art Bronze Co.

It was W-N's practice to send their pattern maker out to measure each new tractor as they arrived from the various manufacturers so a master pattern could be made and the wheel weights for that particular model could be cast. I have no idea how many wheel weights were made to fit a '47 Cub. They made wheel weights for every model of tractor imaginable and they were shipped all over the country. It was a pretty large operation at the time.
I hope that helps. Feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. Thanks for your interest.

Tim Willems
W-N Art Bronze Co., Inc.
559-268-3426
559-268-4847 (fax)

[Bigdog]

Steve - that's a great historical article! Thanks for posting it.

[bear32055]

That is really cool to find out the history of the weights.If it were me i would most certainly bring the weights home.This may be a post Rudi will add to his book.

[Mr E]

Very interesting information. Thanks for posting it.

[Bigdog]

I see some inside wheel weights in that picture as well. Do you suppose they might have been made in the same foundry? If so, perhaps Tim has the prints for them or might even be able to produce some?????

[Song]

Thanks! I have been so very intrigued by those weights since I seen them on here and then again in Mr. Gary's book.

[Steve K. CALIF]

Bigdog, I believe in Tim's response, he stated the "iron" foundry was sold and moved to L.A. Most likely, the patterns for all the iron castings went with the sale.
Foundry patterns of the era were usually made of a wooden form. Usually, the form was in more than one piece depending on the part involved, so they were expensive to produce. I would guess the forms went to L.A. Maybe, I'll try to find out if this is the case, though. It will be interesting to see if the inside weights are regular cub or something else.

Also, there was another large foundry here in Fresno at the turn of the century. "Valley Foundry" was the name and they also made wheel weights. Anyone have a set of Valley Foundry weights? Another old name in this was "Fresno Agricultural Machinery". They also made the famous "Fresno Scraper" there.

Bigdog, thanks for all you do on this forum!

Steve K.

[Song]

They did make weights for others for sure

[Buzzard Wing]

That is cool.... Thanks for posting it.

[VinceD]

Very interesting, Steve, thanks for sharing.

[dakcub]

Way to go steve. That was very cool info. And I actually had something to do with it
Robert (done buying stuff for now)miller

[Former Member]

Thanks so much Steve. It is great info.

I do appreciate all the help identifying and rounding up history on them and a lot of the other stuff in the pictures. Looking forward to meeting you in April.

Dale

[CubitisNH]

Wilson&Nutwell also made rear weights with"IHC H-M" cast into them--I recently acquired an H that I'm fairly certain came from sunny Cal. originally and it wears them inside and out.

Mike

[Martinhamblin]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4eyyVkhhgg73B1G03

I found an old W&N wheel weight in the desert today and found this info on the foundary interesting.
It also says F-21, Ford and Fresno on it.
Just found the one but I'll keep a look out for the other.
It looks like a very old one. Any info would be appreciated.
I hope the photo shows up. I'm new to this site.

[CharlieK]

good job Martin---very good first post