The Force Behind the Wright Brothers

Many of us have had the time saving privilege of boarding a plane and arriving at our destination in a fraction of the time it took our ancestors. We owe our gratitude to the Wright family. The brothers were often ridiculed for their persistence, and if they had listened to the naysayers, they would have never made the history that they did. Those of us who are fortunate enough to be parents should take a page from Bishop Milton Wright and his wife Susan who encouraged their children to experiment and believe anything is possible.

“The Wright Brothers -
A pair of self-taught engineers working in a bicycle shop, they made the world a forever smaller place.” - Bill Gates as quoted in Time Magazine

Fascinated with the idea of flight from 1878 when their father brought them home a flying toy constructed of cork and bamboo designed by the scientist Alphonse Penaud. It is thought that this may have triggered the boys' interest or perhaps it was after the death of the German glider pilot.

Nancy Robinson Masters made observations in her book that were astute and inspiring, as she advised the reader of the persistence and intelligence shown by the Wright family. The bishop Milton Wright humbly credited his wife, Susan with her mechanical and mathematical intelligence and his sons, who he claims inherited it from her. Their mother left bits and pieces of machinery that she worked on laying around their two story home and welcomed their curious play with the parts. They enjoyed many hours of assembling and disassembling parts with her.

Four years before they made history at Kitty Hawk they had built their first flying machine, which consisted of a 5-ft. wingspan, made of wire, wood and cloth.

For more information consult: www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/wright

The brothers, aged 18 and 22 paid the bills initially with their own printing firm became known as "the Wright Brothers". They created a printing press from an old tombstone and some buggy parts and then with their bicycle shop which they opened in 1892. They made their own bicycles called Van Cleves and St. Clairs.

In their hearts they firmly clung to the idea that men could fly. It was their undying passion which enabled them to harness all of the technologies needed to create the airplane. It was on May 30, 1889 that Wilbur, after reading about the death of a German glider pilot wrote to the Smithsonian Institution for information on aeronautical research. He also wrote to a scientist named Octave Chanute who had been compiling data about flight. Chanute wrote a book Progress in Flying Machines in 1894, which the brothers read avidly. Several of Leonardo daVinci's more than 100 drawings were within this book.

Picture from The Airplane by Nancy Robinson Masters.

Shortly after reading everything available, Wilbur determined the elements needed were: wings for lift, a power source for propulsion, and a system for control. Wilbur recognized the need to control the flying structure during it's "three axes of motion: pitch, roll, and yaw." Using a small kite he tested his theory that the surface of the wings needs change position in relation to the oncoming wind, and he twisted an empty bicycle tube over the wing's surface.

When they travelled to Kitty Hawk to perform tests on their flying machine their lives were very simple.

Pictures taken from http://wright.nasa.gov/wilbur.htm

• The aeronautical data available proved to be faulty, so they created their own wind tunnel
• They determined that a long narrow wing was ideal for flight
• They discovered how to make the plane move freely so it would be able to use air as a cushion while moving across and up and down
• They also invented rudders to stop the plane from swaying uncontrollably and a pulley system that warped the shape of the wings during flight to steady the plane
• They carved the first pair of 8 foot propellers from laminated spruce and realized they needed to turn in opposite directions
• They designed their own lightweight gas-powered engine which produced 12 horsepower with a weight of just 152 lbs
• They used their wind tunnel to compile vast amounts of charts and tables to better understand the science of wind
• They had to calculate their “lift” formulas using pencil, paper, trigonometry, algebra, geometry without benefit of a calculator. In accessing inventor Otto Lilienthal's figures they found some of the figures faulty.
• They carefully photographed and dated every step of the way, which proved useful in their defense of their patent

The historical flight on 12/17/1903 at 1035 a.m. Picture from Time Magazine

In 1903 they developed a flying machine from spruce, ash and muslin. It weighed 600 lbs. and had a wingspan of 40 ft. On Dec. 17, 1903 it flew 120 feet.