The dawn of the twentieth century was to immortalize new names in the
annals of aviation. In the city of Dayton, Ohio, two brothers in a
modest way were conducting a bicycle repair shop. From youth they had
been inseparable in their aims and work. They were the sons of Bishop
Milton Wright of the United Brethren Church. They had each a high school
education but had not attended college. In 1878, when they were boys of
seven and eleven years respectively, their father brought them one
evening a little flying toy, a small helicopter, the motive power of
which was furnished by a rubber band wound around the shafts of two
propellers so as to drive them, when "wound up" and released, in
opposite directions. The toy was made of light material to resemble a
bird. When the father released it in the presence of the wondering boys,
to their astonishment it flew upward in the room, rose to the ceiling
and after fluttering there for a little while fell to the floor. They
did not concern themselves much about the name of the toy, but properly
called it what to their minds it most closely resembled--"the bat." They
afterward made other toys like it and discovered that as they were
increased in size they flew less successfully. They early developed a
fondness for kite flying and in this were regarded as experts. When they
grew to manhood, however, they abandoned these boyish sports and devoted
themselves industriously to their machine and repair shop. "The bat" and
the kite became memories, but the memories of youth have power to shape
the thoughts of manhood, and this early observation and experience with
aerial toys gave to Wilbur and Orville Wright an interest in the
attempts at aviation that were chronicled in the press from time to time
through the decade immediately preceding this new century.
In the year 1896 Orville, the younger of the two brothers, was
convalescing from a serious attack of typhoid fever. Wilbur, who had
been carefully attending him, was one day reading aloud an account of
the death of Otto Lilienthal, the German aviator, who was killed while
experimenting with his glider. The details of the tragic accident,
together with an account of what he had accomplished by years of
investigation and experiment, interested the brothers, who resolved as
soon as possible to apply themselves to the construction of a glider in
which flights could be made with comparative safety. The enthusiasm of
Orville over the project ran so high that it almost caused a return of
the fever. As soon as he had fully recovered, the two brothers returned
to their bicycle shop and applied themselves with increasing zeal to the
study of aeronautics, and after a time began the construction of a
glider.
The Wright brothers were peculiarly well equipped for the work upon
which they had entered. They were men of unflagging industry, abstemious
habits, few words and the happy faculty of keeping their own counsel.
Wilbur was unusually reticent. It is said of him that he spoke only when
he had something to say and then in a manner singularly brief and
direct. "He had an unlimited capacity for hard work, nerves of steel and
the kind of daring that makes the aviator face death with pleasure every
minute of the time he is in the air." Orville, while much like his
brother, is more talkative and approachable. Both were modest and
unassuming when they began their work and continued so when the world
applauded their achievements.
In the study of the problem upon the solution of which they ventured,
they had of course the advantage of all that had thus far been achieved
by those who had preceded them in this field of investigation and
experiment. Professor Langley had already perfected his first monoplane
to such an extent that short flights were successfully made with a light
steam-propelled model. He was continuing his experiments and the Wright
brothers read with avidity the results of his work. Every scrap of
information that they could gather from others who had essayed the
solution of the problem was now collected and made the subject of
critical study. At first taking up aeronautics merely as a sport, they
soon afterward with zest began its more serious pursuit. "We reluctantly
entered upon the scientific side of it." they said, "but we soon found
the work so fascinating that we were drawn into it deeper and deeper."
In their efforts to construct a practical flying machine they adopted
the plan of Lilienthal and Chanute. They sought to construct a machine
which they could control and in which they could make glides with
safety. This they built in the form of a biplane glider and with it they
experimented industriously for years. The successful construction of the
machine required a high degree of skill. The length and width of the
planes, their distance apart, the materials to be used, the shape, size
and position of the rudder and numerous other details were to be worked
out only by patient study and frequent tests. They were now in the field
of original experiment and soon found that they had to reject as useless
many theories that had been carefully elaborated by scholarly writers.
The brothers soon learned that a long narrow plane in a position nearly
horizontal, moved in a direction at right angles to one of its lateral
edges and inclined or "tipped" slightly upward would develop greater
lifting power than a square or circular plane. This discovery was not
indeed original with them, but their experiments confirmed the
conclusions of their predecessors.
The surface shape of the plane is an important consideration. It has
been found that a slight upward arch from beneath, making the under
surface concave, gives the best results. The concavity should reach its
maximum about one-third of the distance from the front or entering edge
to the rear edge of the plane and should be the same whether one or more
planes are used. In flight the forward or entering edges of the planes
are tipped slightly upward to give the machine lifting power for the
same reason that the top of a kite is given an angle of elevation so
that the air will lift it as it is drawn forward by the string.