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Katy Highnote

Litle

English

04 September 2022

Papa and the Motorcycle

“If you’re going to be successful, find a need and fill it.” This is a quote my

grandfather shared with me, and it perfectly captures his personal philosophy and

approach to life. He is a master problem solver, which is a trait I’ve admired forever. He

cares for his community in a nontraditional way through his inventions and all-around

craftsmanship, helping average (and not-so-average!) joes every single day indirectly

with his multiple patents.

My grandpa, Dr. Ron Highnote, is 79 years young, born on the anniversary of

Pearl Harbor in December of 1943. His once ginger hair is now peppered with gray. (He

attributes each gray strand to his grandchildren scaring him!) He has well-defined smile

lines which are indicative of his fun-loving countenance. Papa, as we refer to him, wears

golden rectangular-shaped glasses highlighting his thoughtful, sharp, blue eyes, and

resting on his prominent nose, which he would say stems from his Cherokee ancestry.

He’s often seen wearing his standard button-up with the must-have breast pocket for his

various pens and gadgets, and dark-wash Wranglers held up by suspenders.

Mechanical and electrical things have always intrigued my grandfather, thanks to

watching his dad fix up old cars from a young age. He continued his craft all through

grade school, learning about welding, soldering, construction, electrical wiring, drafting,
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and land surveying, to name a few. He studied radios and their electrical systems in his

spare time.

One of his first inventions was one that was widely adopted by the US Army in all

types of training programs; it involved the use of polarized light. He found that he could

use colored tape that would react to a rotating polarized lamp so that it appeared as if

there was movement in the tape. This method allowed him to show the flow of materials

in complex systems by automating the movements. Another project, one he invented at

the US Army Engineer School was a method of tracking students and their grades. Every

class had certain goals and objectives each student was required to meet to pass the

class’s conditions. He had read about the cataloging systems used by J Edgar Hover when

he worked in the Library of Congress. He used his cataloging method along with a card

punching system to sort the records as a database. This greatly improved the record

keeping, speed and accuracy of retrieving information and grades about each student.

Another great example of his problem solving that benefited his community came

to him while vacationing at the beach. He saw many beach goers get stuck in the sand

while trying to travel to remote locations. Recalling his experiences with traveling in sand

while living in New Mexico and Utah, he considered how they use large, wide tires to

travel in desert areas. He decided to use the problems with beach and desert travel to

invent a motorcycle for traveling in remote areas and sand, designing one with wide tires

and a low and high-speed transmission so it could be used in slow speed for rough terrain

and high speed for paved roads. His test on a steep hill in front of the factory where he

worked was witnessed by the company owner who approached him to ask where he had

bought the motorcycle. After learning my grandfather had built it, he asked to buy it so he
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could give it to his grandson for his upcoming birthday party. His grandson and guests

had so much fun that the factory owner asked the employees to start assembling them as a

product and that became the start of the production of my grandpa’s motorcycle, the Jeep

Cycle. He then developed a bracket to fit the motorcycles onto a car bumper with baskets

to hold the tires of the motorcycle and that resulted in his first patent. His bumper bracket

system evolved into many other applications that include a bumper hitch, bicycle carrier,

ski carrier, surfboard carrier, and luggage rack.

These examples are just a drop in the bucket of contributions my amazing

grandpa has made over the years. His creative innovations have benefited a wide variety

of audiences, including the military, NASA, educational institutions, not to mention his

friends, church, and of course family. I’m so proud to be his granddaughter and be able to

share his story.

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