What companies did James Yeikichi Sakuyama work for from his arrival in the US in 1908 until his death in 1948? These include Premier Motor Corp., Allison Experimental, Coats Steamers, Chevrolet Bros., Tucker Aviation.

JYS arrived in the US in 1908. I have no leads on his work before 1914. His interest was clearly in automotive design and Indianapolis was the center of racing development. Who did he work for there until his joining Premier which is shown on his draft registration? What did he do at Premier? Are there archive drawings?

1914 Indianapolis City Directory

Sakuyama, Y K draftsman, r 1132 N Illinois

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Name:  James Y Sakuyama

City:       Indianapolis

County:                Marion

State:    Indiana

Birth Date:          24 Nov 1885

Premier Motor Corp, Indianapolis

Indianapolis News, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 October 1918

Third District Appeal Board

Names of selective service registrants whose appeal cases have beendecided by the Third district appeal board, in session at the statehouse. weremade public today. In the following list the number after the name representsthe class, and the letter the division to which each was assigned:

. . . James Sakuyama. 2—D; . . .

SAE Journal December 1918. Applicant for Membership, Sakuyama, Yeikich,Designer, Premier Motor Corp., Indianapolis, Indiana.

SAE Journal February 1919. Sakuyama, James Yeikichi (M) enginedesigner, Allison Experimental Co., Speedway, Indianapolis, Ind.

JYS was an early member of the SAE. His middle name shows up with two spellings. 

1920 US Census, Indianapolis, Indiana. 129 East Ohio Street

James Sakuyama Head R M Jp 34 single arr 1908 alien Designer Gas EngineWorks

Was he still working at Allison in 1920? What kind of work did Allison do other than the gearboxes, and did JYS do gearboxes? Are there archive drawings?

1921 Left Allison Experimental Co., Speedway, Indianapolis for CoatsSteamer, Indianapolis.

George A. Coats was a promoter who had possibly made a prototype to the design of a "Norwegian engineer" but then, when getting a corporation together, needed something more substantial. Did JYS have prior experience in steam? The new design used a high speed single acting steam engine and gearbox, more like automotive practice than anything in steam at that time. The design quickly changed from a V-3 to a inline-3, laid on its side to reduce powerplant bulk. These drawings were all in the same style and very fine technical illustrations. This is presumed to be the work of JYS. 

Within a few months, Coats hired a successful steam vehicle engineer from International Harvester and it is not known if JYS stayed on, but the next drawings were either drafted by JYS or over top of his inline-3 chassis drawings. The Coats company soon folded. 

Nothing more is known of JYS until he showed up at the Chevrolet Bros development company, still in Indianapolis, in 1927

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