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"A bird is an instrument working according to mathematical law... which it is within The Wright Brothers may have invented the first airplane, made the first successful flight, and gone down in history as aviation pioneers, but the theory of flight goes back far before those boys were born. As early as the 16 th century, Leonardo da Vinci had drawn things resembling a helicopter. Without knowing about aerodynamics, attempts were doomed to fail. Aerodynamics: (Definition of) is the study of the flow of air and other gases and of the forces acting on bodies moving through the gases. It is a branch of fluid mechanics.
Aerodynamics is mainly used to study flight. Isaac Newton developed the laws of motion in the 17 th century. These laws say that effects of forces act on bodies in motion or at rest. Which means that natural forces act on an object whether it is still or moving. Newton also developed the concept of fluid friction, we call it viscosity, (Definition of) the resistance of air or any other fluid to motion, whether its own or that of a body moving through it. Daniel Bernoulli, used Newton's laws of motion to develop the principle that "the velocity of a fluid is related to the pressure within it: the faster the fluid flow, the lower the pressure. " (Http: // 109. 364. 090. 56) These concepts formed the basis for more studies.
The first powered, airplane was Orville and Wilbur Wright's flying machine. It used the same basic principles of flight as today's jets. The wings, (airfoils) of the 1903 Wright Flyer resembled a box kite. A smaller pair of wings, (canard) was located in front of the main wings allowing the aircraft to climb or descend. The canard performed the same function as the elevators that are attached to today's aircraft. Turns in the Wright Flyer were made by "wing warping, " which changed the Angle of the wings.
With no cockpit, the pilot lay on top of the wing in a cradle and moved his body from side to side to turn the plane. The Wright Flyer was a difficult aircraft to fly because it was unstable: it could not "fly by itself" it had to be constantly controlled by the pilot. European inventors believed that an aircraft should be stable, and they improved upon the Wright brothers' design by developing "statically stable and controllable aircraft" (an airplane that can keep level flight without the pilot controlling it) that were safer and easier to fly. The concept of "static stability" has carried over to almost all aircraft designs.
As boys, the Wright Brothers were interested in solving problems. They would tinker with things around their house. The Wright family kept mostly to them selves. Although their father was a minister, he did not see the good in people. They thought it would be best to shelter their children. This made the Wrights a very close family.
Both boys were very intelligent, Orville was the younger of the two and was a trouble maker. He was a typical teenager. Wilbur also got into his share of trouble. He played ice-hockey, and football. Wilbur graduated High-School and was going to Yale to become a minister. Orville dropped out of High-School in his senior year.
Months before Wilbur was supposed to leave for school he had his front two teeth knocked out playing hockey. After this he suffered from depression. Wilbur never made it to Yale. After his 20 th birthday he came out of his state of depression. About the time all of this was happening, there was a World-Wide bicycle craze. Everyone that could afford it bought a bicycle.
Almost all engineers dropped what they were doing and built bicycles. Here was the Wright Brothers' big chance to make some money. Since everyone who knew what they were doing was building bicycles, the brothers decided to fix them. It was not long however, until they started building the "Wright-Cycle. " The advertised the bikes by entering them in races. Wilbur would design the bikes and Orville would race them. At first they did not win, but then Wilbur found a way to cut wind resistance, and increase speed.
Once they started winning the sold more bikes. This earned them money to start in on the new frenzy, "Flight. " The brothers' interest in aviation started in 1896, when they learned of early European experiments in Flight. "I am intending to start in a few days for a trip to the coast of North Carolina... for the purpose of making some experiments with a flying machine. It is my belief that flight is possible... " Wright-Flyer at the Smithsonian institute. After the Wright Brothers had succeeded with glider tests, they set out to build the real thing. Immediately upon their return to Dayton the Brothers contacted many automobile manufactures.
They needed an engine to power their craft. This was not going to be just any engine however, it had to produce eight horse power and weigh no more than 200 pounds. Most companies replied that they were too busy with their own business to build this for them. One company did reply to the Brothers, they said that they had a motor that produced eight horse power (based on the French rating system) that weighed only 135 pounds. They examined this engine and thought it was over rated.
So, they decided to build the engine themselves. Less than six weeks after starting the motor project they were testing their engine. C. E. Taylor was the man behind the engine. He did most of the machine work in the bicycle shop.
He had also helped with the earlier flight experiments. While Taylor was putting the finishing touches on the motor the Brothers were completing the design of the plane itself. Upon testing the motor they realized that it would produce more than eight horse power. This let the Brothers build a heavier, more stable plane than before. With all they had learned from the 1902 glider experiments the Brothers thought that they could calculate the thrust needed to get the plane into the air and keep it there. Next t...
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