Harry A. Miller
| Harold Arminius Miller | |
|---|---|
Miller in 1932
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| Born |
December 9, 1875 Menomonie, Wisconsin |
| Died | May 3, 1943 (aged 67) Detroit, Michigan |
| Spouse(s) | Edna Inez Lewis |
Harold Arminius Miller (December 9, 1875 – May 3, 1943), commonly called Harry, was an American race car designer and builder who was most active in the 1920s and 1930s. Griffith Borgeson called him "the greatest creative figure in the history of the American racing car". Cars built by Miller won the Indianapolis 500 nine times, and other cars using his engines won three more. Millers accounted for 83% of the Indy 500 fields between 1923 and 1928.
Miller was born on December 9, 1875 in Menomonie, Wisconsin to Jacob Miller (1833–1900) and Martha Ann (Tuttle) Miller (c1835–1922).
Miller's first work in the automotive business was with the short-lived Yale Automobile Company. From Yale he moved to Lansing, Michigan to work for motoring pioneer Ransom E. Olds at Oldsmobile, where he was employed as a race mechanic during the early Vanderbilt cup races. After a poor 1906 race season, Miller left for Los Angeles, California, to open a small machine shop specializing in carburetor production.
Among Miller's innovations include perhaps the first engine mounted on a bicycle and the first outboard motor. Miller built a 4 cylinder engine and mounted it on a boat. His neighbor, Ole Evinrude, removed two cylinders and patented the first outboard motor. Miller also produced the first aluminum pistons, developed the aluminum alloys still used in engine development today, and the first carburetors and induction system to use Helmholtz resonators.
Miller also produced the first front drive race cars and the first 4 wheel drive car.
His involvement with the racing side of his carburetor business led first to repairing and then building race cars. In the 1910s, Miller was making $1 million per year through sales of his carburetors. In the early 1920s, he built his own 3.0 litre (183 in³) engine. Inspired by multiple engine designs including Duesenberg and Peugeot engines which had been serviced in his shop. It had 4 cylinders, dual overhead camshafts and 4 valves per cylinder. Tommy Milton supplied the financial backing to produce this engine but it was Jimmy Murphy who first won with it. It powered Jimmy Murphy's Duesenberg to victory in the 1922 Indianapolis 500. Miller then progressed to making Miller single-seater race cars that used supercharged versions of his 2.0 and 1.5 liter (122 and 91 in³) engines. The engines took four more wins in the 500 up to 1929, twice (1926 and 1928) in Miller chassis, and won the race another seven times between 1929 and 1938 (twice again, in 1930 and 1932, in Miller chassis).
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