He served in World War I in France with the US Army Signal Corps, where he learned about the first generations of electronics and radio.
The famous author and sportsman Zane Grey once came to his shop to have a large salt water fishing reel repaired.
Grey decided that the young Harry Vickers was a man with a future, and offered to arrange for him to be tutored in calculus and other engineering disciplines at night by professors from the University of Southern California.
[3] He went on to invent numerous key components fundamental to the rapid growth of the fluid power industry, including his most famous innovation, the balanced vane pump.
Vickers Inc. grew steadily, eventually moving its headquarters to Detroit to be closer to its major automotive and industrial customers.