Perfect celebrates wheel weight milestone

Dec. 1, 2012

December 3rd, 2012, is the 80th anniversary of the clip-on wheel balance weight and Perfect Equipment, the oldest wheel weight manufacturer in North America, is celebrating the milestone.

“The first patent for a clip-on wheel balance weight that attached to a wheel flange was applied for on December 3rd, 1932,” says Gregory Parker, Perfect Equipment marketing manager.

“Before this invention there were all kinds of crazy patents for ways to cure wheel imbalance but none of them really addressed the efficiency requirements that budding OEMs required for their new assembly line process.”

Parker says the clip-on weight, patented by James W. Hume from Jackson, Mich., was quick and easy to install on the rim flange without removing the tire.

“It could fix an imbalance in seconds,” says Parker.

Since that first patent for clip-on wheel weights was granted, there have been hundreds of subsequent patents on many different types of wheel balance weights. Many of them reference the first Hume patent (#2,036,757) as the father of the rim flange, clip-on design.

“Perfect Equipment began operations in 1939, only a few years after the original clip-on weight was first invented,” adds Parker. “The clip-on wheel balance weight has helped to provide millions of vehicles and millions of families with a safe and comfortable ride for more than three generations.”

To learn more about Perfect Equipment, visit www.perfectequipment.com.