THE WRIGHT PATENTS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 139, 9 December 1914, Page 4

THE WRIGHT PATENTS

CLAIM AGAINST WAR OFFICE • SETTLED. AN IMPORTANT AGREEMENT. The famous Wright patent claims in connection with- flying have' been settled, as far as Great Britain is concerned. The Government h'a3 settled terms with th& British Wright Company by- paying a lump slim of £15,000 ' for past,- present-, and future use of the original > patent' taken out by Orville and Wilbur Wright. The English journal Plight" remarks : "Quite apart from the natural satisfaction .we must all feel- for this official recognition of the services rendered to-aviation by the Wright Brothers, English manufacturers must feel a sense of relief to know that all the machines they, have- mailfr iii the past < or' may in future make for their principal customers — the Army and the Nayy — aro now removed- from the possibility) of' forming th'e'subject of litigation in respect to the infringement of the pioneer patent. The action by the British Wright" Company against Mr. Mfervyn' O'Gorman, the nominee of the War Office, has been going on cjuietly for more than a- year past, following ftoveral months of earlier discussion, and wo understand' that the offer to accept £15,000, in settlement of the original claim of £25,000, was made by tho British Wright Company in oi'der to relieve the' Government' from an unnecessary embarrassment during, the stress of war. _ Both sides are t6 bo congratulated on their good faense in coming to this 'settlement.'" 1 < The Wright patents are' very far reach* ing, and there was,' when the litigation began, a hot discussion as to the right of 'the inventors to 'patent such- broad 'principlesThe chief iclaim. is thoicombination ofnvingwarpiiig with- the use- of tho rudder fop' maintaining lateral stability, particularly. as» the vital system of wing-warping invented by tho Wrights does not alone gjve satisfactory^ control. At' thd' time,' th'oir bysrem "and' modifications of it. "were" practically tho only satisfactory solution of thehtabilriy problem. It is quite possible' thSit the lighting-- of' the claim by theW'righvt has- donei more for fh,e" development of 'the aeroplane than>'would 'the free uso of- thfeii' in-vondion. as it h'ns' forced research'aitor other methods of control, several of which have been discovered, and found very satisfactory.