Contested 'firsts', strand by strand — invented here, engineered here, merely built here

THREE CANDIDATE LINES TESTED · NO 'INVENTED HERE' STRAND SURVIVES

The truss strand. Triangle Truss's banked claim is a seating claim, not an invention claim: first manufacturer seated on this ground, making roof trusses at the present Big C site from 1972 to 1976. Separated into strands it reads — invented here: nothing, the gang-nail truss was a national technology a generation old by 1972; engineered here: nothing in the record credits the Granger shop with a design of its own; built here: yes, for four years, and that is the whole of it. The strand survives at "merely built here" strength and no higher.

The car-wash strand. Drive & Shine's equipment line separates the other way. Invented here: unproven — no patent, no dated design record reached. Engineered here: this is the strand the firm's own words support — it designs the equipment it builds, in Granger, for its own washes, which is engineering in the plain sense even without a patent face to grade it by. Built here: yes, on the same testimony. The honest print is a firm that engineers and builds its own machinery and has never patented or publicly dated any of it; any stronger "first" — first to build its own wash equipment, first of its kind in the region — appears in no source reached and is not printed.

The brewery strand. Bare Hands Brewery (12804 Sandy Court) opened in December 2011, founder Chris Gerard, brewing on site at taproom scale; its own description claims a mission — "handcrafting small batches of incredible beer" — and no first at all. Trade coverage of the opening called it one of Indiana's newest craft breweries, which is a date, not a priority claim.

Sources:

1. Businesses, as banked — Triangle Truss 1972–1976 at the present Big C site; Drive & Shine headquarters and equipment copy; Bare Hands Brewery, 12804 Sandy Ct, opened Dec 2011, founder Chris Gerard.
2. Bare Hands Brewery's own description (opened December 2011; all brewing on site in Granger); The Full Pint, "Introducing One of Indiana's Newest Craft Breweries: Bare Hands Brewery," 3 Oct 2012 — novelty claimed, priority not claimed.
3. The patent-record negative of the preceding article, which is what keeps the car-wash strand at "engineered here" rather than "invented here."