Those Magnificent Men and their Flying Machine

1. Those Magnificent Men and their Flying Machine or, why the Wright Brothers succeeded when nobody before them did.

2. What Was Life Likeat the Turn of the Last Century?

3. United States, 1900

4. United States, 1900 • 45 States in the Union • Population was 76 million

5. 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

6. 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?

7. Life in 1900 • Life expectancy was 47 years • Infant mortality was high -- 1 in 10 • Average weekly wage was $10

8. 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

9. 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

10. United States, 1900 “Safety” bicycles were the latest thing

11. Early Ideas on Flying Machines

12. Besnier, 1678

13. Bourcart, 1866

14. Butler & Edwards, 1867

15. Stringfellow, 1868

16. Pénaud, 1870

17. DeGroof, 1874

18. Ader, 1891

19. Lilienthal, 1891

20. Maxim, 1892

21. Lilienthal, 1893

22. 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

23. Samuel Pierpont Langley • Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution • In 1896, developed unmanned flying model • $73,000 budget for full-sized model • No means of steering the craft • Catapult launched from a houseboat • Flew into the Potomac River “like a handful of mortar.”

24. Langley “Aerodrome”

25. Octave Chanute

26. Octave Chanute • Repository of information • Experimented with gliders • Reciprocating Motion to Rotary Motion • Steamships • Locomotives • Propeller-driven

27. 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

28. Choosing the Correct Path • Imitating Birds in Flight • Flapping wings (ornithopter) • Patents issued to • W. F. Quimby, 1869 • A. P. Keith, 1870 • F. X. Lamboley, 1876 • M. H. Murrell, 1877 • I. M. Wheeler, 1887 • Soaring birds

29. Choosing the Correct Path Powered Flight or Controlled Flight?

30. Choosing the Correct Path “In the field of aviation there were two schools. The first, represented by such men as Professor Langley and Sir Hiram Maxim, 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 from impatience at the wasteful extravagance of mounting delicate and costly machinery on wings which no one knew how to manage, and partly, no doubt, from the extraordinary charm and enthusiasm with which the apostles of soaring flight set forth the beauties of sailing through the air on fixed wings, deriving the motive power from the wind itself.” Orville Wright, Century Magazine, September 1908

31. Controllability, then Power • First experiments were with gliders • Existing tables of air pressures were unreliable • Wind tunnel research

32. Controllability, then Power 1900 Glider being flown as a kite

33. Controllability, then Power 1901 Glider being launched

34. Controllability, then Power 1902 Glider turning

35. Controllability, then Power 1903 Flyer

36. Success!

37. 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

38. Patent No. 821,393

39. 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!

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

41. Luck • Horizontal Rudder (elevator) in front provided pitch information • Bicycle Racing • Chose right parents!

42. 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."

43. Conclusion • Good education • Intellectual curiosity • Systematic approach to the problem • Unique combination of talents • A little bit of luck

44. Recommended Reading • Wilbur and Orville, Fred Howard • The Bishop’s Boys, Tom Crouch • Progress in Flying Machines, Octave Chanute