Article about the "First Harley"

[Chris Haynes]

Oh and does anybody know anything about this machine? In the book I found it in, it says it's an '09, but we all know that's incorrect now don't we?

I'll bet the book was by a British author.

[c.o.]

In re-reading through the thread exeric mentioned a machine that was pale green and owned by Lonnie. Is this it?

[c.o.]

Oh and does anybody know anything about this machine? In the book I found it in, it says it's an '09, but we all know that's incorrect now don't we?

[c.o.]

Here's another shot of a test run up Chestnut St. Man I wish I had a time machine!!!

[c.o.]

It's thought provoking stuff for sure sveger.........

Here's a shot with Ole in it. The times must surely have been exciting!

[sveger]

Porto outboard vs. Harley Davidson

Hi folks,
beeing back from work offshore I found the book Norwegian inventors and it is written by Gunnar Jerman, published in 2001 by Schibsted, Isbn no:
978-82-516-1878-6.
Heck I thought, I would just as well Google Gunnar Jerman, and I found that this guy had written many books on company history and other, I even found his phone number.
I called the number and soon was speaking to Gunnar Jerman. He was a very nice guy, 78 years young and his light was definetively on and shining bright.
I just whish my own light will be as bright when I reach 78.
Oh well, he could inform me that all that where written in the chapter on Ole Evinrude was based on stuff he had written as early as mid sixties. He had then been working as an executive advicer in the Norwegian export Council spending much of his time in the US.
He had back then allready had great interest in Norwegian Inventors, and he had made an article on Ole Evinrude in a Norwegian magazine. This article was what had been used when writing the Ole Evinrude chapter in this book. His source of information was several personal interviews with Ole`s son Ralph Evinrude that was done in the sixties and that he was given accses to personal papers of Ole`s that had been found archived at the Evinrudes headquarters back then.
Gunnar allso refeered to an anniversary book on the Evinrude Company that was from the time when Ole was still allive.
When I asked Gunnar on where he had got the information that the first 25 Porto outboards where made by Harley he couldnt tell else than that it had to be from either of the above mentioned sources, most likely Ralph Evinrude. As Gunnar said he new nothing about Harley and why should he write this if he was not told so or had read this in some of the old files he where given accses to?
And that is about as far as I can possibly get in solving this mystery. Ralph Evinrude is by long gone and will not be able to throw any light on this issue. Maybe evinrude still have any of Oles paperwork?
Personally all of this was very interesting and I learned alot from it.

By the way, Gunnar is at this very moment working with a new book on Norwegian bussiness women that succseded overseas in the 1800`s.
He could tell me that one of those that I had never heard of came from only a short drive from where I live!
I just wish there where 36 hours in a day!

Sverre

[Earl]

Just a little more info, the son that survives is Arthur Davidson, i talked to Jean Davidson yesterday and asked her what her take on 1903-1904 , which did she think was the first? this is what she told me, she has a wedding invitation sent to Walter Davidson (her grand dad) dated March 1903, he was working out of town at the time asking him to come home for the wedding and on that invitation was a note that the other brothers wanted him to be the first to take a ride on the new motorcycle they built, as he got home the bike was unassembled and he had to finish putting the bike together to ride it, her take on this knowing her grandfather, is being how this was in March 1903 he would not have taken him until 1904 to complete the bike,she said he was always working non stop on a project until it was done and did not like things laying around uncompleted, so she believes that the first bike was made in 1903.
Also she says that the bike was first worked on in the family basement but Grandma wanted it out of the house because of the mess so that is why the shed in the backyard was built as we know it to be the first "factory"
hope some of this helps or does it make it all more confusing?
Tim

I'd say that the information that came from Jean Davidson falls in line with all the research that became input for Herbert Wagner's book, "At The Creation".

Let me reference chapter 4 of "At The Creation", where the advance bulletin for the 1908 model presents the earliest known origin history of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

"In the summer of 1903 we brought out our first Motorcycle, a 1-3/4 horse power, and, although none of this size were ever marketed, it served its purpose by proving that a successful Motorcycle must embody the following features:......"

The advance bulletin's reference to a "1-3/4 horse power" vehicle almost certainly describes the small bicycle-motor that would have been attached to a standard bicycle. You have to get the book, so you know what little motor we're talking about.

So when Walter came home for his brother's wedding, he diligently worked from April on, to complete the little motor by the summer of 1903 when it was installed and tested in an ordinary bicycle frame.

No picture of this bicycle-motor powered vehicle is known to exist.

Through this bicycle-motor project's shortcomings, they learned what was needed to be successful, and went back to the drawing board, and proceeded to design/build a completely new larger motor, and a completely new loop frame.

There is also no evidence that the completion of this new motor & frame occurred in 1903.

[jurassic]

waterman

also from hunns book,presumably a 1907 waterman

[jurassic]

american

i found this in the old outboard book {peter hunn 1991} . the book has alot of folk lore and legends,so i dont take much stock in its historical accuracy.

[Chris Haynes]

I was told, by a former MoCo archivist, that 1907 was the last year of Marine Motor production. Also 1907 was the year the MoCo incorporated. Curiously, I have been told, that Evanrude officially started in 1907.

[sveger]

More Ole Evinrude

I did a check on google myself and find that there is an article in our national library called Ole Evinrude and the Outboard motor.
This was originally printed in, quote; Northfield, Minn., vol. 12 (1941), s. 167 - 177 by Bjork, Kenneth O.
I did another google and found this text online at;
http://www.naha.stolaf.edu/pubs/nas/...12/vol12_9.htm
In this text the Porto is described too, but there is no link to Harley tough.

I then googled Waterman and found, quote;
1905: Waterman constructs the first outboard motor out of a Curtis motorcycle engine, fitted it with a chain drive. Later, in his memoirs, he confesses to inventing the outboard because "rowing sucks."
This is from;
http://www.boatinglifemag.com/articl...t.jsp?ID=38107
Curtiss engine, hmm doesnt sound that god!

Then I find another article on Waterman in this link;
http://www.acbs.ca/magazine_articles...ne&articleid=7
Here is even pictures of the 1907/8 Waterman outboard. I think the lower part of the engine looks pretty much like a early motorcycle cranck case. The article does mention those 25 motors from 1907 as;
Waterman and his partners asked Oliver E. Barthel to draw the plans and they contracted with Caille Brothers Co. to build 25 motors.

Loads of pics and info on the Porto can be found here;
http://www.antiqueoutboardmotor.info...ter_index.html
Scroll down to Waterman

Found a part of an article written by Waterman himself in 1916 where he say;
"The first germ of the portable marine motor idea came to me in the year 1903 while I was a law student at New Haven. That was the year when motor-cycles first came out, and I was among the first to procure one. After the fashion of those early vehicles, my motor-cycle refused to work properly one day, so I lugged it up to my room to examine it and discovered the cause of the trouble. While taking it apart and overhauling it, the idea occurred to me that such a motor might possibly be used on my rowboat when I went on fishing trips. Every summer I spent a part of my vacation at Spruce Harbor on the north shore of Lake Superior, and from there I had a very strenuous row of about five miles to my favorite fishing grounds. It seemed to me that if this motor would run a bicycle, a similar motor could be rigged up with a propeller and rudder to run my rowboat".
See more at;
http://www.aomci.org/oldarticles/

Well, any of this have not brought light to why the Norwegian book say Harley did those 25 motors in 1907? Maybe Caille Brothers Co. outsourced the job to Harley??

All of this just make me more confused.

Regards for now
Sverre K. Gerber

[c.o.]

definitely fascinating, thanks for giving this thread a kickstart sveger!

Here's another link to that motor Herb, looks like it's for sale. I guess motorcycle stuff isn't the only thing that's expensive....

http://www.kevinscatalog.com/prodinf...number=99-9019

[sveger]

Ole Evinrude and early outboard motors

Hi guys, glad to see that other than me got facinated by this early stuff from the Ole Evinrude chapter in the "Norwegian Inventors" book.
I am currently offshore working and didnt bring my notes and copy of book with me. Will try to e-mail a friend to see if he can get the ISBN no. and other relevant info for us.

Regards
Sverre

[HarleyCreation]

Yep, Chris found another point of evidence on the marine motor angle. Obviously it existed.

I googled "1906 porto waterman" and lots of hits come up. One such engine is supposed to exist. A photo of it is supposed to be at the following URL but it crashed my old Mac (bomb error!) when I tried to open it. I'm afraid to try again and lose the story I'm working on. It might be other places online too. It's hard to believe it could be a Harley engine and we don't know about it, but it's good to keep an open mind on this subject of which there is more to learn. The 25 Porto engine production in 1906 is mentioned but I'm not finding a Harley connection.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2472...91848696lsfAql

[Chris Haynes]

In the 1907 Milwaukee City Directory you will find;
Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Manufacturer of Motorcycle and Marine Motors.