Jones Dolly Wheels (Kingsgrove, NSW)

[googles114477]

My father with Herb Jones designed and manufactured this dolly wheel from about 1958. There maybe some info I could pass on if any one want's to know.

Regards to all .    googles114477 [Greg]

[cobber]

G'day Greg,

Have you noticed the thread we have on Dolly wheels ? Click here


Including a link to the patent application in 1957 Click here

The coupling (not a dolly wheel) shown in this application Click here is particularly interesting because I don't think we have seen an example of it in real life.. can you find out if it went into production ?

If you have any further information to add to that thread we'd love to hear of it. Do you know if there were earlier versions of the dolly wheel pre 1957 ? We also believe they were manufactured up to the 1980s, can you confirm that ?

Any other involvement you dad had in the caravan industry would be good to hear about too.

Thanks for getting in touch 

Cobber.

P.S. After looking just a little bit harder I found an example of the 'Jones Tow Coupling' in our...... tow coupling thread  .
You can see it Here ..... so it certainly did go into production 

And while I was looking.... I found another example of a 'Jones Coupling' that looks like a different design to the first one due to be marketed in 1962. 

Cobber.

[cobber]

I have made contact with Greg and we've had a couple of interesting talks.

His father knew Herbert Jones and had the expertise to advise Herb regarding the specification required to construct the dolly wheel and was able to do the technical drawings for the patent application.
He later joined the company and worked for Herb Jones for some time.

At the time Greg was married in 1968 he remembers production of the Jones Dolly Wheel had already ceased, a couple of years previously he thinks, because at the price they were able to sell them, about 85 pounds in 1959, they were not making a profit on them.
Greg is fairly certain only 73 were made during those 9 or 10 years. This conflicts with previous estimates so.... we'll see what happens

He knew the name of the welder who was working there at the time and he has just done a search for him in the 'white pages', and came up with an address that he fed into 'google maps' street view. Can you believe ........ there's a trailer parked out the front with a Jones Dolly Wheel fitted to it



There were a few questions I had for Greg he wasn't sure about so... he intends contacting the welder and see what he remembers.

Cobber.

[humpty2]

When you do contact them Cobber....try to find out the source of their trailing arm pins and bushes

[cobber]

G'day humpty,

Would that be 8 & 9  and 12 & 13 as shown on the patent application ?

Are they bronze bushes ?  Blackwoods have more bushes  than ya can poke a stick at.

But I'll ask anyway.

Cobber.

[humpty2]

It's the pins I am interested in.....but that's about 3 months down the track yet.....still working on the body.

[Don Ricardo]

HISTORY OF THE JONES DOLLY WHEEL & COUPLINGS documented by Boblor (part 1)

Hi all,

Boblor has provided us with his detailed research on the Jones Dolly Wheel and couplings, based on his interviews with Ray Bartlett who managed the business after the death of Herb Jones. The documentation Boblor has sent consists of many pages, and includes a number of wonderful photos of caravans equipped with the Jones Dolly Wheel, so I will post the information (including some additional details from me) in several parts so I don't swamp the forum.  Some of the caravans shown in the photos provided by Boblor are also quite rare, so I will also post those photos on the relevant DHL threads.

Some of the documentation has already been posted in different places on the forum, but it is very valuable to have it all posted together on the one thread.

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Photos of the two couplings referred to by Boblor above (see reference to 'reply # 28')

Early coupling: The photos are of the wheel fitted to Seeshell's 'Blue Flyer' caravan, which uses two nuts and bolts and split pins to secure the coupling to the ball:





Later coupling: Photos posted by Humpty2 - this version of the wheel uses two knurled knobs held in place by a spring loaded arm to secure the coupling to the ball:







This photo provided by Jennison shows how the knurled knobs were attached to the plate which kept the tow ball in place:

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Patent granted for the Jones Dolly Wheel:











As always, thanks to Boblor for the massive effort he has put in to assemble this information, and his willingness to share it with us.

[Don Ricardo]

HISTORY OF THE JONES DOLLY WHEEL & COUPLINGS documented by Boblor (part 2)

Fitting instructions for the Jones Dolly Wheel:



Advertisement for the wheel showing the later coupling:



Price lists for 1974 and 1977:





Herb Jones and staff outside the Kingsgrove factory:



Note the Kingsgrove address on the nameplate.

Thanks to Boblor for providing this wonderful information.

[Don Ricardo]

HISTORY OF THE JONES DOLLY WHEEL & COUPLINGS documented by Boblor (part 3)

List of the owners of the first fifteen caravans fitted with Jones Dolly Wheels:



Interesting to read the caravans to which the wheels were fitted. Numbers 1 and 2 were fitted to Cruisemasters as indicated, but it looks as if number 3 may also have been fitted to a Cruisemaster. Numbers 4 and 8 were fitted to Hunters (Caraparks presumably), and numbers 5 and 9 to Jennisons.

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As shown by Boblor, the first fifteen wheels were fitted to caravans at the Chippendale factory. Following is a photo of the nameplate on Seeshell's home-built 1951 Blue Flyer caravan, showing the Chippendale address:



The Blue Flyer was built by Arthur Conrick, and reference to the list shows that Arthur's van was the tenth to have the Dones Jolly Wheel fitted to it.

One of the questions Seeshell has attempted to answer about her van here is whether the dolly wheel was fitted to the caravan when it was being built in 1951/2 or fitted later. Since Herb Jones didn't start manufacturing the wheel until 1956, this document tells us that the wheel must have been fitted to the Blue Flyer some five years after it was built and wasn't 'original equipment' as such.

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Photos of Jones Dolly Wheel No 1, fitted to Herb Jones own Cruisemaster caravan:







Dolly wheel No 7 fitted to a van owned by Lance Treloar (on the left in the first photo):





Dolly wheel fitted to Viscount caravan no 2:







Dolly wheel fitted to a Jennison Pathfinder:







Dolly wheel fitted to an aluminium caravan of as yet unknown make - can anyone identify it?





Dolly wheel fitted to a Country Club Royal:



Dolly wheel fitted to a 30 ft Jennison Pathfinder mobile home:



The cover of Winser's 1960 manual is shown below.  (Note - I think the vehicle is a Ford Customline, not a Fairlane?)


(Source: K Winser, Australian Caravan and Touring Manual, 1960 edition, front cover)

Jones Dolly Wheel advertisement published in a special supplement in the Sydney Daily Telegraph on Friday, 22 May 1959 celebrating the 25th anniversary of Jennison Pathfinder:



To see the full Jennison Pathfinder supplement click here

Dolly wheel fitted to a Jones Trailers tilt trailer:









Great photos! Thanks to Boblor for sharing his information with us.

[seeshell]

Feb 15, 2016 10:02:18 GMT 10 Don Ricardo said:

List of the owners of the first fifteen caravans fitted with Jones Dolly Wheels:

---

 Following is a photo of the nameplate on Seeshell's home-built 1951 Blue Flyer caravan, showing the Chippendale address:



The Blue Flyer was built by Arthur Conrick, and reference to the list shows that Arthur's van was the tenth to have the Dones Jolly Wheel fitted to it.

Hi Don -

How very exciting to see this information confirming both that the wheel was a very early example, and that there is a record of it being one of the first installed.  From many conversations with the Conrick Family, they certainly say that Arthur was interested in all kinds of advancements - a very early adopter of any improvements that could be made.

It was interesting to see in Bob Taylor's documents, the instructions for retrofitting a Jones Wheel to the A-frame.  It looks exactly like our own and now I know why - factory work!

Thanks for recording all this, and thanks to Bob for his usual meticulous detective work.

Cheers
Seeshell

[boblor]

Hi All
I contacted Ray and Merle Barlett today, in order to clarify a couple of areas in my report.
Harvel Caravans, these vans were built by Harvel Furniture down a laneway next door to the Jones Springs factory. They only built 6 caravans. Here I have to correct my report where I stated all were fitted with the Jones Dolley Wheel. This is incorrect only one was fitted with the Wheel.There is another peace of info here Jones made all the chassis for the Harvel caravans.Perhaps these vans were built for private clients of Harvel Furniture factory .
None of the surf boat trailer were fitted with Jones Dolly Wheels, and there were many sent all over Australia.
The early model Dolly Wheels can be identified by a tear drop gusset stiffener near the axle nut.
Cobber's post 24/7/2014 showing the tandem trailer fitted with the Jones Dolly Wheel,it is in fact Ray Bartlett's outside his home, and it is still there today.It has three boat trailer wrapped up on top.
I hope this clarifies a couple of areas of doubt/history.
Thanks Don Ricardo for the posting of my research/ history,very much appreciated. I feel it is best to do it whilst I am able or it may end up too late.
By the way in the next little while I will be sending you further reports on other subjects/research for publishing on the forum.
Cheers boblor

[Don Ricardo]

HISTORY OF THE JONES DOLLY WHEEL & COUPLINGS documented by Boblor (part 4)

As noted in Boblor's history of the Jones Dolly Wheel (see part 1 above), Ray Bartlett commenced working for Herb Jones as a young lad, and then took over the management of the business when Herb Jones died in 1964.

Below Boblor has provided some photos of Ray and his wife, Merle, with their caravans, beginning with their little Supalite Atom.  Note the size of the wheels!



And photos of their current rig taken over the years - a Viscount van fitted with a Jones Dolly Wheel:



Extract from The Pummeroy Post newsletter from 16 November 2007:
























Thanks to Boblor once again for the detail he has captured for us on the development of this fascinating piece of caravan equipment.

[Don Ricardo]

HISTORY OF THE JONES DOLLY WHEEL & COUPLINGS documented by Boblor (part 5)

Jones Dolly Wheels is known in vintage caravan circles for the development and sale of the Jones Dolly Wheel. However, Herb Jones also developed and patented several caravan/trailer couplings. This final part of Boblor's documentation of the history of Jones Dolly Wheel provides information about those couplings.

Improved coupling for trailer vehicles - 1957/58

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An example of this coupling fitted to a caravan of unknown origins belonging to forum member Abernathy and posted in January 2008:



Further photos of this caravan can be seen here.

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Trailer coupling without ball joint - 1961



According to Cobber here, this coupling never went into production, although the article states that "Marketing will commence later this year".  If anyone has seen - or has photos - of this coupling in use, it would be great to hear about it.

Thanks once again to Boblor for sharing his comprehensive research into the history of the Jones Dolly Wheel with us all. I think many of us regard Boblor as a 'vintage caravan treasure'.

Don Ricardo