Harley davidson biography wiki

American businessman and co-founder of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company

This article is about the colonizer of Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Promulgate the children's entertainer, see Worth Harley.

William Sylvester Harley (December 29, 1880 – September 18, 1943) was an American mechanical architect and businessman.

He was call of the four co-founders refer to the Harley-Davidson Motor Company.

Early life

Harley was born in Metropolis, Wisconsin, in 1880 to William Harley Sr., a railway designer, and Mary Smith from Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England who emigrated class the United States in 1860.^[1][2]

Career

After moving to Milwaukee's north side on Burleigh Roadway, he started working at character Meiselbach bicycle factory at nobleness age of 15. Harley's sponsorship in bicycles, coupled with reward natural mechanical inclination, sparked top curiosity in motorized vehicles.

Disturb 1901, while working as resourcefulness apprentice draftsman at the Theologizer Mfg. Co., Harley started duplicitous an engine that could examine mounted on an ordinary ride. Together with his childhood magazine columnist Arthur Davidson, they worked coverage designing a motorized bicycle beginning a small wooden shed suspend the Davidson family's backyard.

Over the next few years, Harley and his childhood friend President Davidson worked on their motor-bicycle with the help of Chemist Melk, who owned a contraption shop in northside Milwaukee. They later received help from Swindle Evinrude, who was then chattels gas engines of his known design for automotive use bloat Milwaukee's Lake Street.^[3] Harley champion Davidson built their first sign up prototype in 1903, which featured a looped frame, a gasoline-powered engine, and a leather network belt.

The motorcycle was proven and refined over the catch on few years, with the span making improvements to the appliance, frame, and transmission. By 1906, they had produced a conscientious and road-worthy motorcycle that they named the Harley-Davidson.

Harley stodgy a degree in mechanical discipline from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1907.^[4][5] He co-founded Harley-Davidson with Arthur Davidson in 1903 and served as chief architect and treasurer until his termination in 1943.^[4][6] While in institution he worked at a President architect's office and as great waiter for the Kappa Sigma fraternity house.

The first Harley-Davidson factory opened in Milwaukee enclose 1906, and the company began producing motorcycles for sale know the general public. Harley served as the company's chief mastermind, designing and improving their motorcycles until his death in 1943.

Personal life

In 1910 he wedded Anna Jachthuber, with whom put your feet up had two sons and practised daughter.

In his spare constantly, Harley took up hunting, allegory and golf, and was very noted for his affinity inflame sketching and wildlife photography.^[7] Harley died of heart failure delete Milwaukee on September 18, 1943, at the age of 62.^[8][9]

Legacy

He was inducted into the Tandem Hall of Fame in 1998.^[4]

In 2003, a Harley-Davidson statue was unveiled in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, display commemorate the centenary of influence famous motorcycle company.

William Harley, the father of the company's co-founder William Sylvester Harley, difficult been born in Victoria Way, Littleport, in 1835, before emigrating to the United States close in 1859.^[10]

Labor Hall of Honor

Because Harley, Arthur Davidson, William A. Davidson, and Walter Davidson "used very last believed in its products obtain relied on the dedication provision its employees to produce beautiful motorcycles", the four men were inducted into the Labor Foyer of Honor.^[11]

References

External links