Those Magnificent Men and their Flying Machine

or, why the Wright Brothers succeeded when nobody before them did.

What Was Life Likeat the Turn of the Last Century?

United States, 1900

United States, 1900

• 45 States in the Union

• Population was 76 million

Life in 1900

• Nearly half of U. S. households had 6 or more people

• Only 1 home in 7 had a bathtub

• 25% of Americans lived in a metropolitan area

Life in 1900

• Telephone was a recent invention (Alexander Graham Bell, 1876)

• Only 1 house in 13 had one

• 1 marriage in 13 ended in divorce• Coincidence?

Life in 1900

• Life expectancy was 47 years

• Infant mortality was high -- 1 in 10

• Average weekly wage was $10

Life in 1900

• Long-distance travel was by train or boat• Internal Combustion Engine was a recent invention (Nicolaus Otto, 1876)

• First practical automobile (Karl Benz, 1885)– 8000 “Horseless Carriages” in the United States

– Only10 miles of paved roads

Life in 1900

• 8 years before Ford produced the Model T

• 12 years before the Titanic sank

• 18 years before time zones were standardized

• 25 years before the invention of television

• 42 years before the first electronic computer

• 80 years before the Internet

United States, 1900

“Safety” bicycles were the latest thing

Early Ideas on Flying Machines

Besnier, 1678

Bourcart, 1866

Butler & Edwards, 1867

Stringfellow, 1868

Pénaud, 1870

DeGroof, 1874

Ader, 1891

Lilienthal, 1891

Maxim, 1892

Lilienthal, 1893

What was Known in 1900?

• Progress in Flying Machines

• Wing loading

• Power to weight ratio• Man was not capable of producing enough power to lift himself by flapping wings

Samuel Pierpont Langley

• Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

• Flew into the Potomac River “like a handful of mortar.”

• In 1896, developed unmanned flying model

• $73,000 budget for full-sized model

• No means of steering the craft

• Catapult launched from a houseboat

Langley “Aerodrome”

Octave Chanute

Octave Chanute

• Repository of information

• Experimented with gliders

• Reciprocating Motion to Rotary Motion

– Steamships– Locomotives

– Propeller-driven

So, Why Did the Wright Brothers Succeed?

• They did their research– Wrote to the Smithsonian– Corresponded with Octave Chanute

– Chose the correct path– Wind tunnel experiments

Choosing the Correct Path

• Imitating Birds in Flight– Flapping wings (ornithopter)

– Soaring birds

• Patents issued to– W. F. Quimby, 1869– A. P. Keith, 1870– F. X. Lamboley, 1876– M. H. Murrell, 1877– I. M. Wheeler, 1887

Choosing the Correct Path

Powered Flight or Controlled Flight?

Choosing the Correct Path“In the field of aviation there were two schools. The first,represented by such men as Professor Langley and Sir HiramMaxim, gave chief attention to power flight; the second,represented by Lilienthal, Mouillard, and Chanute, to soaring flight. Our sympathies were with the latter school, partly fromimpatience at the wasteful extravagance of mounting delicate and costly machinery on wings which no one knew how to manage, andpartly, no doubt, from the extraordinary charm and enthusiasm withwhich the apostles of soaring flight set forth the beauties of sailing through the air on fixed wings, deriving the motive power from thewind itself.”

Orville Wright, Century Magazine, September 1908

Controllability, then Power

• First experiments were with gliders• Existing tables of air pressures were unreliable

• Wind tunnel research

Controllability, then Power

1900 Glider being flown as a kite

Controllability, then Power

1901 Glider being launched

Controllability, then Power

1902 Glider turning

Controllability, then Power

1903 Flyer

Success!

Controllable Flight

• Deliberately Unstable

• Discovered Adverse Yaw

• The need for a Rudder

• The purpose of the Rudder

• The need for a Movable Rudder

• Three Axis control

Patent No. 821,393

Patent No. 821,393

• Patented a system of control– Horizontal rudder (elevator) for pitch– Wing warping for roll

– Rudder for yaw

• Patent application was made in March 1903• First powered flight was not until 9 months later!

Propulsion

• Researched boat propellers• Airplane Propellers are Rotating Airfoils• Built own motor!

Luck

• Horizontal Rudder (elevator) in front provided pitch information

• Bicycle Racing• Chose right parents!

Chose Right Parents

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."

Conclusion

• Good education

• Intellectual curiosity

• Systematic approach to the problem

• Unique combination of talents

• A little bit of luck

Recommended Reading

• Wilbur and Orville, Fred Howard

• The Bishop’s Boys, Tom Crouch

• Progress in Flying Machines, Octave Chanute