WRIGHT BROTHERS

peret

The story of the invention of the airplane is a Puritan fairy tale. It is the story of how two honest, straightforward, hard-working Americans accomplished something fantastic and magical -- creating a craft of stick and fabric that mounted the air like the chariots of the gods, opening the skies to all humankind. Their success came so suddenly and from such an unexpected quarter that their contemporaries could not believe the Wrights had done what they claimed. After all, if prominent scientists and engineers the world over had been confounded in their efforts to invent the airplane, how could two common men from rustic America have succeeded?

Around the turn of the century, dozens of people were working to invent the airplane. The period of active experimentation begins in 1891, when noted German engineer Otto Lilienthal began experimenting with hang gliders. Lilienthal took seriously the ideas advocated by Sir George Cayley almost a hundred years earlier. Through an extensive study of birds and bird flight, Cayley realized that the lift function and the thrust function of bird wings were separate and distinct, and could be imitated by different systems on a fixed-wing craft. Lilienthal began his work on heavier-than-air craft not by developing a complete airplane, but instead by focusing his efforts on a fixed-wing glider.

Lilienthal brought a much-needed respectability to the enterprise of inventing an airplane. Up to that point, efforts to invent airplanes were considered to be the province of crackpots and wild-eyed dreamers. But when a hard-headed German engineer entered the game, other respectable people were soon to follow.

In addition to the respectability he brought to the field, Lilienthal made two more important contributions to the nascent field of airplane invention: the style of perfecting a glider before attempting powered flight (which Gibbs-Smith refers to as the 'airman' approach), and a table of the lift provided by curved wings. Lilienthal was killed in a gliding accident August 10, 1896.
The Wrights began their efforts to invent the airplane by carefully studying what others had done before. They read everything they could get their hands on, including Octave Chanute's Progress in Flying Machines, the 1895, 1896, and 1897 volumes of the Aeronautical Annual, and popular articles in newspapers and magazines. It seems obvious to begin with a systematic study of past efforts, especially trying to understand the failures and limitations of previous work. Still, many never bothered to put in the effort; by ignoring the lessons of the past, they frequently suffered greatly. The Wrights took the time to do their homework. The brothers exhibited an unusual ability to judge the worth of ideas they read, discarding as useless some widely-held superstitions in the field, identifying the hard facts, and carefully integrating bits and fragments of knowledge scattered through the literature.



The Wrights followed the example set by Lilienthal and continued by Chanute of beginning with the glider. Only after they solved the problems of gliding flight did they feel it worthwhile to tackle the more difficult challenge of building a powered airplane. This decision was doubtless influenced by Chanute's arguments in Progress in Flying Machines, but Lilienthal and others also advocated the same approach. The Wrights also chose to pattern their aircraft after the Chanute-Herring biplane, a sturdy and relatively successful biplane glider. Lilienthal's data on the lift of wing surfaces were used in their design of the 1900 and 1901 gliders.

By careful study, the Wrights identified the best features of past aircraft and employed aeronautical theory about the lift of wings to design their first craft. Although it did not perform as expected, it was among the best gliders that had ever been built.



The 1900 glider did not produce as much lift as the Wrights predicted, on the basis of Lilienthal's tables, that it would. Unfortunately, they had designed the craft to be 18 feet wide, but were only able to find 16 foot spars at Norfolk, Virginia, on their way to Kitty Hawk, so they were unsure about whether the problem was the original design, or because they had to substitute shorter spars than their design called for. The two brothers built a new glider in 1901, this time obtaining the long spars in advance of their journey. The two brothers also realized they could not rely on the Kitty Hawk weather station for accurate statistics about wind velocity at their site, and so brought along an anemometer, so they could measure wind speed and the angle of attack of their craft, and obtain a reasonably- accurate estimate of the lift of the airplane.

Orville stands aside the upended 1901 glider.



The 1902 glider in flight



First Flight, December 17, 1903

sephia_liza

Bishop Milton Wright and Susan Catharine Wright had four sons, Reuchlin, Lorin, Wilbur, and Orville, and one daughter Katharine. Wilbur, their third son, was born on a small farm near Millville, Indiana April 16, 1867, while Orville (1871-1948) and later Katharine were born at 7 Hawthorn Street in Dayton. Bishop Wright moved frequently from job to job, so the Wrights shifted houses frequently, though the house on 7 Hawthorn Street remained long in the family's possession.

The Wright household was a stimulating place for the children. Orville wrote of his childhood: "We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity." The house had two libraries: Books on theology were kept in the bishop's study, while the downstairs library had a large and diverse collection. Although Bishop Wright was a firm disciplinarian, both parents were loving and the family was a close one.


WILBUR WRIGHT

The family moved from Richmond, Indiana back to Dayton in June of 1884, the month Wilbur was to have graduated from high school. Wilbur left Richmond without receiving his diploma, and returned to Central High School the next year for further studies in Greek and trigonometry.

Probably during the winter of 1885-1886, Wilbur was hit with in the face with a bat while playing an ice-skating game. The injury at first did not seem serious. In the Bishop's words, "In his nineteenth year when playing a game on skates at an artificial lake at the Soldier's Home near Dayton, Ohio, a bat accidentally flew out of the hand of a young man... and struck Wilbur, knocking him down, but not injuring him much. A few weeks later, he began to be affected with nervous palpitations of the heart which precluded the realization of the former idea of his parents, of giving him a course in Yale College." For the next four years, Wilbur remained homebound, suffering perhaps as much from depression as from his vaguely-defined heart disorder. During this period, Wilbur cared for his mother Susan, who was dying from tuberculosis.


ORVILLE WRIGHT

During the years 1900, 1901, 1902, and 1903, the two brothers developed the first effective airplane.

Wilbur describes his airplane to a fascinated King Alfonso XIII of Spain.


Preparing the plane for takeoff.


Camp d'Auvours, September 21, 1908. Wilbur's record flight of 1 hr 31 min 25 4/5 sec.


[ Last edited by  sephia_liza at 11-6-2006 11:50 AM ]

sephia_liza

In 1900, the Wright brothers decided to try their hand at building an airplane. At the time, it seemed a great deal of skill would be necessary to fly, so they sought an arrangement where practice would be easy. Wilbur initially proposed to build a 150 foot tower with a pulley at the top. A rope, attached to the glider, would pass over the pulley and be tied to a counterweight, supporting part of the weight of the craft. Wilbur believed this arrangement would permit the pilot to practice the skills needed to fly even if the craft was not yet fully airworthy. Octave Chanute wisely recommended against this course of action, instead encouraging the brothers to find a place with lots of sand (for soft landings) and strong prevailing winds, to minimize the effort in moving the glider from the point of landing back to the point of takeoff.

Wilbur also felt it important to find a remote place where their experiments could be conducted without a great deal of fanfare, mindful of the media circus that had plagued Chanute during his experiments in the dunes of Indiana. Wilbur found the perfect spot in Kitty Hawk on the outer banks of North Carolina.

After carefully studying the literature, the brothers designed a biplane glider. They patterned their glider after the sturdy Chanute/Herring craft, including the Pratt trussing, a lightweight means to strengthen the wings of the glider. The glider was designed with a wingspan of 20 feet. Wilbur was unable to find adequate spars for the wings, so the actual dimensions of the craft were: 17' 5" wingspan; 5' chord; total surface area of 177 feet including the forward rudder. The wing camber was 1/23, with the peak of curvature only 3-4 inches from the front of the wing. The craft weighed only 50 lbs.

Wilbur arrived in Kitty Hawk on September 13, 1900, while Orville followed on September 27. The two brothers camped in a tent close to Kitty Hawk. The glider was finished during the first week in October. Initially it was tested as a manned kite, where one brother and Bill Tate held the ropes while the other brother lay onboard, manipulating the controls. Later, it was tested as an unmanned kite, with chains being used for ballast.



The longest glides of the season were made on Saturday, October 19th from Big Kill Devil Hill. No precise records of these glides were kept, but they appear to have been at least partially assisted by the ground crew, who would run alongside the glider and hold down a wing if the machine turned upwards. The longest glides were between 300 and 400 feet in length.

Only four pictures were taken of the 1900 glider. Two show the glider being flown as a kite. One shows an early view of the glider on the ground, with Tom Tate holding a drumfish in the foreground. The final picture shows the glider after an accident. The Wright brothers took several photographs of Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, commensurate with their attitude that the trip to Kitty Hawk was partly a vacation as well as a serious and thoughtful effort to develop a heavier-than-air craft.

"Although the hours and hours of practice we had hoped to obtain finally dwindled down to about two minutes, we were very much pleased with the general results of the trip, for setting out as we did, with almost revolutionary theories on many points, and an entirely untried form of machine, we considered it quite a point to be able to return without having our pet theories knocked in the head by the hard logic of experience, and out own brains dashed out in the bargain."

sephia_liza

The Wright brothers returned to North Carolina in July, 1901. They made their camp in Kill Devil Hills, rather than Kitty Hawk, as they found the large hills there more congenial to flight tests than the beaches of Kitty Hawk. The glider was an enlarged version of the 1900 glider. The wings were 22' wide and 7' deep, and offered more than 300 square feet of lifting surface to the stiff Outer Bank winds.

Unfortunately, the 1901 glider still did not have adequate lift. Various attempts at free flight were made, the longest flight on August 8 covered a distance of 389 feet. The Wrights often tested their glider as a kite, in an effort to better understand how much lift the craft produced. It was clear that some error had crept into the formula they used to compute lift. The Wrights suspected the measurements of lift made by Lilienthal, although they also were aware that the Coefficient of Lift ("Smeaton's coefficient") could be wrong.


A high glide

Still, the results of 1901 were discouraging. Wilbur wrote:
"When we left Kitty Hawk at the end of 1901, we doubted that we would ever resume our experiments. Although we had broken the record for distance in gliding, and although Mr. Chanute, who was present at that time, assured us that our results were better than had ever before been attained, yet when we looked at the time and money which we had expended, and considered the progress made and the distance yet to go, we considered our experiments a failure. At this time I made the prediction that men would sometime fly, but that it would not be within our lifetime."

Phrases, like fish that get away, have an odd habit of growing larger over time. Orville later remember that Wilbur had remarked "Not within a thousand years would man ever fly!" Fortunately the two brothers proved Wilbur wrong the very next year.


The 1901 glider flies low over the ground

The longest distance for this glider is sometimes reported as 335 feet in length, a distance mentioned in the Chanute/Huffaker diary for August 9, 1901. However, Table "No. 2" on page 158 of the Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright indicates that glide number 7 on August 8 covered a distance of 389 feet.

sephia_liza

"Let us remark how fruitful is the method of personal trial which we have always advised in preference to any calculation. This year, with his fourth apparatus, Bl閞iot has not met with any damage to his aeroplane. [Well, not much anyway.] He made the trials himself and they quickly led to results, because each trial gave him an exact idea of what was to be corrected. That is the condition of success." Capt. Ferdinarnd Ferber, 1907

In this quote, Ferber managed to identify precisely the right conditions for success, and precisely the wrong method to obtain them. To succeed in inventing the airplane, you need to determine exactly what must be corrected with your current design. Building airplanes and then testing them in the field is the exactly the wrong method to do this.

At the end of their gliding experiments in 1901, the Wrights knew there was something wrong with their lift calculations. The 1901 glider had not generated the lift they computed it would. The two brothers considered testing another different glider, perhaps one of the Lilienthal gliders or the Chanute-Herring biplane. But they knew the information they could glean from such a crude test would not be sufficient. Soon, the Wrights turned to the wind tunnel to help them resolve the problem of lift.



The Wrights were the first to make precise and accurate measurements of lift and drag in a wind tunnel. In the process, they discovered that the coefficient of lift that was commonly accepted was too high, and were able to identify a long and narrow wing shape that was far more efficient than the short stubby wing employed in their 1901 glider. The 1902 glider was the first aircraft that solved the fundamental problems of flight: lift and three-axis control. The pictures of the 1902 glider are unusually beautiful because they show humankind, for the first time, in sustained and controlled flight.

By calculation, not by field tests, the Wrights were able to realize an ageless dream. Bl閞iot was able to succeed later only because the Wrights solved the fundamental problems, and left only the need for modest refinements. In 1903 the Wrights constructed a larger version of their 1902 glider, added a power plant, and made the first self-powered journeys into the sky.

sephia_liza

Although the 1902 flyer was the first truly-effective heavier-than-air craft, it didn't have a propulsion system, and so counts only as a glider, not as an airplane. The problem for the Wrights in 1903 was to develop a powered machine.

They had to make one more breakthrough to be successful here: understand how propellers work. This was harder than it seems, as no one really understood that a propeller was nothing more than a wing that rotates on its axis, and lifts the plane forward. So, the Wrights turned to the ship-building literature and discovered that empirical principles were used, but there was no theory of propulsion. They then reasoned out the basic mental model of the propeller as a moveable wing. This allowed them to test propeller shapes in their wind tunnel, discovering an efficient shape. For their 1903 plane, they needed all the efficiency they could get.

To drive a propeller, you need a powerplant. The Wrights wanted a lightweight gasoline engine that would provide the necessary oomph. They tried to buy an engine, but no one was willing to build one to their specs. So, with the able assistance of Charles Taylor, they built their own. It was a state-of-the-art four-cylinder model. Taylor hand-tooled the crankshaft on the Wright shop lathe. Its power-to-weight ratio was better than anything around. Even still, in the words of Charles Taylor, "It weren't much of an engine." There was no carburator. The raw gas was just dumped into the cylinders. It was air-cooled, without even the benefit of fins. To control the engine speed, the spark could be advanced or retarded. It had the horsepower -- barely -- to drag the 1903 machine into the dense December ocean air. As the engine broke in the next year, it began to produce more horsepower, and better flights.


Kitty Hawk, NC (North Carolina), December 17, 1903.
Orville Wright's famous first airplane flight.

On Monday, December 14, 1903, when both the Wright flyer and the wind were ready, the brothers decided that Wilbur would take the first turn as pilot. Some readers might suppose that this was because Wilbur was older, or because he had taken the early lead in the project (though later there was an equalization), or perhaps because of some difference in piloting skills. It was none of these. It was decided by flipping a coin. They and the ground crew (5 lifeguards from the beach) had lugged the plane weighing six hundred pounds 1/4 mile to the big hill, laid out the 60-foot monorail, and were ready to go. After an initial problem getting it unhooked because of the slope (and the force from the propellers), the plane accelerated down the track so fast that Orville, running alongside to steady the wing by holding on to an upright, couldn't keep up. Wilbur turned the sensitive rudder up too sharply, the flying machine nosed up, slowed, came down in that position, and the left wing hit the sandy hillside and swung the plane around, breaking several parts. Although they didn't consider this a real flight, they now knew it would work.

Two days later, repairs had been completed, but the wind wasn't right. The following day, Thursday, December 17, 1903, would be the historic day. They realized it would be better to lay the track on flat ground. That and the strong (22-27 m.p.h.) winds meant that Orville (whose turn it was to pilot) was riding the plane along the track, at a speed that allowed Wilbur to keep up easily, steadying the right wing as Orville had done 3 days earlier. Just after the Wright flyer lifted off the monorail, the famous picture was taken, possibly the most reproduced photograph ever, which Orville had set up (having asked one of the men simply to squeeze the shutter bulb after takeoff). The flight wasn't much--12 seconds, 120 feet. But it was the first controlled, sustained flight in a heavier-than-air craft, one of the great moments of the century.

The brothers flew 3 more times that day, covering more distance as they got used to the way the large front rudder responded in flight. Orville's second flight was 200 feet, and Wilbur's before it nearly as long. But the final flight of the day carried Wilbur 852 feet in 59 seconds.

sephia_liza

Wilbur and Orville Wright grew up in a firm but loving household. Their parents and grandparents were active in the abolition of slavery and women's rights. The boys were encouraged from childhood to pursue intellectual interests and the family kept an extensive library for pursuits of study. Interestingly enough, it was Susan Wright their mother who was the mechanically adept of their parents. The daughter of a carriage maker, Susan taught her children to make all types of things and encouraged creative thought. In 1878, their father Milton Wright brought home a rubber band powered helicopter from one of his trips, and the boys began to build models of it.

Wright Brothers

In 1890, Wilbur and Orville started their own printing firm building their own press from damaged buggy parts and a tombstone but they soon got caught up in the bicycling craze. In 1893, In order to supplement their income, the boys began to sell and repair bicycles.

In 1899 Wilbur expressed his opinion that human flight was possible, in a letter he wrote to the Smithsonian Institution. He assured them that he was "an enthusiast but not a crank", and asked for whatever publications that they could send to him to help in this endeavor. Within a few months he had read all there was to read about flying.

Finding published data to be unreliable, the Wright brothers built their own wind tunnel to test and measure how to life a flying machine up into the air. They were the first to realize that a long, slender wing shape is the ideal structural design for flying.

Wilbur devised a control system of wing warping by twisting an empty bicycle tub box with the ends removed by using pulleys. This system essentially twisted the wings of a biplane allowing it to roll to the left or to the right and change its position in relation to oncoming wind. The brothers then adopted this system for a kite and eventually for a glider.



In 1900 the boys made their first trip to Kitty Hawk, NC for experimental flights and Wilbur built his first glider. This remote area was chosen because of the strong winds that blew over the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the tall sand dunes and the soft sands to cushion falling.

On December 17, 1903, working in winds 27 mph, Orville made the first heavier than air, machine powered flightin the world. The flight was a short 120 feet and lasted for only 12 seconds but it changed the way that we travel forever.



You can see where this great human accomplishment took place by visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial. A 60 foot granite monument sits on top of a 90 foot sand dune named Kill Devil Hill, commemorating the achievement of these two celebrated brothers from Dayton Ohio.

sephia_liza

The January 15, 1905, issue of Gleanings in Bee Culture, like two previous issues that mention the Wrights' earliest accomplishments, has become an historic relic

sephia_liza

Bishop Milton Wright, at the age of 47, and five of his children on April 1876 (lc); Wilbur Wright, nine years old, April 1876 (tl); Orville Wright, four years old, April 1876 (tr); Katharine Wright, four years old, 1878 [?] (center); Reuchlin Wright, fifteen years old, April 1876 (ll); Lorin, thirteen years old, April 1876 (lr).

[ Last edited by  sephia_liza at 19-6-2006 11:37 AM ]

sephia_liza

The demand for a daily newspaper on the West Side has become so strong that we have decided to begin about the 25th of April the publication of the EVENING ITEM a daily paper which will represent the interests of that part of Dayton lying west of the Miami River.

[ Last edited by  sephia_liza at 19-6-2006 11:36 AM ]

sephia_liza

Orville And Wilbur Wright Build an airship that Makes Three Successful Trials-Tests Held in Secret on the Carolina Coast.

[ Last edited by  sephia_liza at 19-6-2006 11:35 AM ]

sephia_liza

North Pole Can Not Be Reached. With Any of the Balloons or Airships That Up to This Time Have Been Constructed.


They even question that one will ever be devised that can accomplished the feat.


THEY TALK INTERESTINGLY ON WELLMAN PROJECT.
One of the most difficult tasks ever assigned a newspaper man, predicting his failure.
TAKING UP THEIR OWN FLYING MACHINE INVENTION
They talk modestly, and assert "We are not yet ready to send it to the North Pole..."

[ Last edited by  sephia_liza at 19-6-2006 11:35 AM ]

sephia_liza

Two Dayton Inventors, After Ten Years of Study and Experimenting Perfect a Flying Machine, Utilizing the Wing Principle.
Over in Dayton, Ohio, two young men confidently believe that they have solved the problem of aerial flight. Their friends and neighbors share this belief, for they have had the evidence of their eyes. Students of aerostatics in different parts of the world, who have an inkling of what these two men have been working upon, also have faith in their claims.

[ Last edited by  sephia_liza at 19-6-2006 11:34 AM ]

sephia_liza

....Both of the brothers are unmarried. As one of them remarked: "One cannot support a flying machine and a wife at the same time." Wilbur, the elder, is a man of great reserve, deliberate in his speech, nonmagnetic in his address, ascetic in his appearance and in every way a man of science whose pursuits have made of him a recluse.
The younger brother, Orville, is quite different in every way from his brother. His manners are kindly and gentle, his conversation courteous and engaging, and there is a sympathetic quality in his pearing toward others. The contour of his head and his sensitive features are those of a poet, and his eyes those of a dreamer of dreams, even if his dreams be of such stuff as cold, hard scientific facts.

sephia_liza

Aeroplane Drops to Earth, One Killed, Another Injured
The Wright Flyer, "Dayton Pride," Meets With an Accident at Ft. Myer.

LIEUTENANT SELFRIDGE DIES FROM INJURIES
Orville Wright, the Operator Hurled to the Ground and Seriously Hurt.
RECOVERY CERTAIN
But He will be in hospital for six weeks or longer....

Sept. 18, 1909.

sephia_liza

The Wright Brothers and Their Aeroplane
The World's Two Greatest Aeronauts Have a Remarkable Ancestry
Professor A. W. Drury, D.D., of Union Biblical Seminary Dayton, Gives a History of the Conquerors of the Air.

... a heavier-than-air machine safely navigating the air is more revolutionary than was the application of steam by Fulton to transportation up on the water. Wright brothers have achieved the initial step in the conquest of the air, the world in naturally interested in them, and in all that has led up to their success.
Long and Noble Ancestry...
Editor of This Paper...
Future Aeronautics in High School...