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Open Technology and the Early

Airplane Industry

by Peter B. Meyer,

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics(Findings and views are those of the author, not the BLS)

Oct 9, 2012 At Vinnova, Stockholm

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Pre-history of the airplane

1860s Clubs and journals incorporate fixed-wing designsIt’s a niche activity – maybe hopeless, useless, dangerous

1890s Public glider flights (especially Lilienthal)Survey books (esp. Chanute)

1903-6 Powered glider flights (esp. Wright brothers)1908-10 Big exhibitions; new industry

My conclusion: “Open source innovation”� Networking� Sharing designs, Copying� Intellectual property idea ignored

� these practices led to technological success & new industry

Databases of pre-history of airplane

� Publications– 13,600 from Brockett’s 1910 Bibliography of Aeronautics

� Citations by Chanute’s 1894 Progress in Flying Machines (190)

� and byHistorical accounts (indexes of books)

� Clubs and societies to 1910 (hundreds)

� Letters between experimenters (>400)

� Patents(>1500)

� Firms (>600)

� Individuals – from the above, thousands

There are many written sources for this innovation history� Because it wasslow and done by dispersed literate people

Ballooning is central – aeronautics joins that infrastructure

From 1860s societies in Paris, London, Berlin include “aerial navigation”

Exhibitions & conferences: 1868, 1885, 1893, 1904, many after 1907• 78 exhibitors in 1868 Crystal Palace, organized by Aero Society of GB

Relevant clubs and societies

Aeronautics-related clubs and societies

Exploring “aerial navigation”

Flapping wings

Fixed wings, SoaringKites & gliders

Hargrave 1891 Frost 1902

Cayley 1799-1801 Le Bris 1868

Mouillard 1881

Maxim’s motorized aeroplane 1894

Exploring aerial navigation (2)

Tail

Stacked wings

Penaud 1872

Stringfellow 1868 Hargrave 1893

Phillips 1904Langley 1901

Cayley 1799-1801

Exploring aerial navigation (3)

Curved (“cambered”)wings

Balloonsand dirigibles

. . . And more technologies:

engines, helicopters,

rockets, parachutes, propellers, . . .

Diverse creative exploratory “production” took effort

Lilienthal, 1889

Phillips 1884, 1891

Santos-Dumont, 1901

Wind tunnels

Wright wing models, 1902

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Getting in the air: Otto Lilienthal

Otto Lilienthal studied wing shapes in experiments on lift

Published book: Birdflight as the basis for aviation

1890s: Flew inspirational hang gliders in public (no secrets)– tried to control in air Why? “. . . to soar upward and to glide, free as the bird” -- Otto Lilienthal, 1889

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Octave Chanute

Retiring engineer focuses on “aerial navigation” issue.

His 1894 book Progress in Flying Machines surveyed experiments, devices, theories

Communicated with many experimenters, held conferences, visited experimenters a lot

Chanute wrote Langley, 1895: “I propose to let you avail of whatever novelty and value there may be in my own models or ideas. I should expect in return a like frank access to your results . . .”(Short, p208)

1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910

Wrights to Chanute 7 28 29 22 24 24 33 16 7 3 4

Chanute to Wrights 5 30 34 25 29 37 37 19 9 4 2

Letters and telegrams between Octave Chanute and the Wright brothers

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Motivations of experimenters

Why do this?

� Would like to fly� Curiosity, interest in the problem� Prestige, recognition� Belief in making world a better place� Make one nation safer� Nobody refers to expected profits

� “. . . A desire takes possession of man. He longs to soar upward and to glide, free as the bird . . .” -- Otto Lilienthal 1889

� “The glory of a great discovery or an invention which is destined to benefit humanity [seemed] dazzling. . . . Enthusiasm seized [us] at an early age.”- Gustav Lilienthal

Data on publications

� Bibliography of Aeronauticsby Brockett / Smithsonian Institution (1910)

� Much cleanup necessary� Data: title, author, language,

year, journal, some key subject words – not standardized� Ballooning, scientific

measurement, clubs/societies

Source: Brockett bibliography (1910)

Dip at end is because only first half of 1909 is included; another volume goes further

from Mouillard’s L’empire de l’air, 1881 The next five from L’Aerophile, 1893-1905

Wilbur Wright’s first letter to Chanute in 1900 says “the apparatus I intend to employ . . . is very similar to [your] "double-deck" machine [of] 1896-7 . . .”

“. . . I make no secret of my plansfor the reason that I believe no financial profit will accrue to the inventor of the first flying machine, and that only those who are willing to give as well as to receive suggestions can hope to link their names with the honor of its discovery. The problem is too greatfor one man alone and unaided to solve in secret.”

In response to uncertainty: isomorphism14

Open source practice: imitation

Chanute-Herring glider, 1896

Wright brothers 1900 kite, 1901-2 glider

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Pratt truss

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Imitation (2)

Voisin-Farman winning prize, 1908

Farman, 1909-10

Ferber, 1902, copies Wright design based on report from Chanute

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Santos-Dumont 1906, 1st airplane flight in Europe

Fuller story: Gibbs-Smith’s Rebirth of European Aviation

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Parallels to open source software

� Autonomous innovators (not hierarchy, not cult)� with various goals: Want to fly! ; Hope for recognition; Curious, interested in the

problem ; Bring peace / make nation safe

� who share their work with public

� They don’t enforce patents (Hargrave & Santos-Dumont don’t patent)

� They collaborate across distances and organizations

� Authors, evangelists, organizers have valuable role� They create and manage clubs / journals

� They encourage

� They reduce duplication, via standards and specialization

� emergent (opportunistic) progress

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Open source technology practices (2)

� Phrased for both open source software developers and airplane experimenters� And rationalizable in a model

� Individuals choose what to make. They buy-in. � They start small� Community of practice/interest evolves, along with work groups.

� They learn, copy, and often contribute to pool of knowledge� They accept empiricism

� Hands-on imperative � Learning from experience� The product evolves by iteration (not big plan)� Variants appear

� Developers specialize (Projects are modular)

Modeling open source innovation

� Like user innovation (von Hippel)& collective invention(R Allen)

� But no central organization; few rules� Copying actual designs

� Not like R&D; nor “race” to the finish

� Can be modeled micro-economically� Open-source behavior (giving design or implementation) is self-

interestedly rational if � Instrinsically or altruistically self-motivated� Trying to make progress on a technical project� Not much in competition with the others

(micro model Meyer 2007 “Network of tinkerers”)

Transition to industry

� Wilbur and Orville Wright ran bicycle shop

� They were “open sourcers” in aviation field 1900-1902

� They have big technological successes in (1) control system for gliders, (2) wing and propeller design

� 1902-3 They pull back from “open-source” involvement� File for patent in 1903; it’s granted in 1906

� They plan to enforcetheir patent and manufacture airplanes

Transition and paradigm shift

Octave Chanute:

An open-technology person

Wright brothers

It’s an industry now

• Wrights enforce their 1906 patent and sue a lot especially in U.S.

• In Europe they license more -- patent is interpreted more narrowly there

Startup industry and patents

In 1907-1909� Publications increase

� Patents do too

� Big public exhibitions, 1908-1909� 100,000s people see

� Huge prizes� Some exhibitions are very

profitable

� “Legitimate” to start firm (Hannan, Carroll et al 1995)

Startup industry

1908: Flow of new firms startsSample of early investors, founders, and designers suggest less

than 20% overlap with earlier experimenters

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1900 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916

Nu

mber o

f e

ntran

ts

Number of entrant firms by year of first investment(Sources: Gunston 1993 and 2005; Smithsonian Directory)

Britain

France

Germany

US

Italy

Russia

Austria-Hungary

All others

Conclusions

Leading experimenters followed open source practices� They publish, and moderate/edit publications

� share information ; meet ; write letters

� and copy technology

� No firms do this “research” (technological uncertainty)� motivation mostly intrinsic or altruistic (to fly! change world! Attempt challenge)

� Communication � imitation, progress � 1890s standard glider

� The new industry starts from this information

� Entrepreneurial people and era was very different� Experts of 1899 did not become industrialists ten years later

How can we make use of this story?

(1) Watch new fields, knowing what "prehistories of invention" look like

• In the air: quadrocopters, personal flight

• biotech, nanotech• hacker spaces, maker faires

• are open source behaviors visible? suggests opportunity for improvement

• can identify innovative persons?

• askexperimenters what constrains them from progress

• help with open-source copying of institutions, legal documents, taxes, informational infrastructure

(2) Apply open-source practices in government

What would help us innovate in governance?

• wikis to read, share & copy efficiently in govt (Intellipedia, Diplopedia, Statipedia, Eurostat's, OECD, Canada's, Britain's)

• search enginesfor our own pooled content• source code control systemsto share & co-

develop tools in public/nonprofit sector

• try those that we might recommend ; empower our staff with permission to use outside platforms

• open data (for use in government)• link to WikiData?• share source code examples across

government• model good practices enable copying of

them• thus create new Chanutes (and Einsteins!)