Harley Davidson: Indian Rivalry

Harley-Davidson/Indian Rivalry
Did Indian sue Harley-Davidson in the mid 1900’s and why or was it just a rumor?
Indian did sue Harley-Davidson in the mid 1900’s because Indian saw that on Harleys new model was a carburetor of his design and Indian accused Harley of plagiarizing their design of a the carburetor so Indian sued them for steeling their carburetor design. In court Harley won because Indian did not have any contract our paper work that would secure their design.
A hundred years ago, Harley-Davidson and Indian staged a fierce rivalry on deadly, steep-banked board tracks. After the board track era ended, the two American icons continued their rivalry on dirt ovals. Indian won its last “National” and its last Class C championship in

By 1911 Harley had 150 at least of other brands of motorcycles competing for their share of the market.
The public liked the Davidson cruiser but the cruiser did not have a racing past.

Harley Davidson Timeline
In 1901 William S. Harley completes a blueprint drawing of an engine designed to fit into a bicycle.
In 1903 Harley and Arthur Davidson made available to the public the first production of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The bike was built with a 3 by 1/8 inch bore and a 3by ½ inch stroke. The factory in which they worked was a 10 by 15 foot shed with the words “Harley-Davidson Motor Company” scrawled on the door. Arthur’s brother Walter joins in on there efforts.
Henry Myer of Milwaukee a schoolyard pal of William Harley and Arthur buys one of the 1903 models straight from the founders.
In 1904 the first Harley-Davidson Dealer C.H Lang of Chicago, IL opened for business and sells one of the first three productions Harley motors ever made.

In 1905 on July 4th a H-D motorcycle wins a 15-mile race in Chicago with a time of 19:02. In Milwaukee, the first full time employee was

Until dismissed in 1953.

Indian Motors Timeline In 1897 George M Hendee founded a bicycle production company called Hendee Manufacturing Company. The bicycles carried brand names such as Silver King Silver Queen and American Indian, which was shortened to Indian and became Hendees primary brand name.

In 1901 bicycle promoter and former champion George Hendee hired Oscar Hedstrom to build a gasoline engine powered bicycle to pace bicycle races. In February, Oscar began work on the motorized pacing bike in a shop in Middle town Connecticut. He completed the first motorized bike in May and shipped it 38 miles to Hendee in Springfield, Massachusetts. The machine and other two bikes proved to be powerful and reliable, establishing the company’s reputation for outstanding performance. Later that year the company’s first factory was established on Worthington Street in downtown Springfield.

1902 the first Indian Motorcycle was sold to a retail customer. It had a chain drive and a single cylinder engine built by the Aura Automatic Machinery Company. The company with who George and Oscar contracted for engine