WHO INVENTED THE AEROPLANE?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18567, 15 September 1928, Page 2

WHO INVENTED THE AEROPLANE?

To th« Editor, Dear Sir,—The article in your paper entitled “ Pioneers of Aviation ” dees not do justice to New Zealand brains as to the amount of pioneer work New Zealand inventors did and originated, and so I am writing this in the interests of history. I started my experiments on aerial navigation about February, 1904, with a monoplane which I designed and constructed, and by 1906 I had it sufficiently perfected patent it in New Zealand, the actual date of the patent being June 19, 1906. This machine was a monoplane mounted on three air-tyred wheels for starting and landing, with a horizontal ruader behind for balancing fore and aft, a vertical rudder for steering, and also two small horizontal rudders at the wing tips (ailerons) to prevent side tipping. The propeller was in front, and was mounted direct on the engine crankshaft, thereby rendering dutches and gearing unnecessary. The Wrights, who were at this time working in secret, used flexible wings, which could be warped at the tips for side balancing, and this was. the only novelty in their machine of any real value The Wrights’ patent fights were upheld in England, America, France and Germany, and it was this one feature which enabled them to control the aeroplane business in these countries, as it was held that dynamic flight could not be made sufficiently safe without wing warping or its equivalent •.ailerons) and that the Wrights were ; entitled to protection for their master j patent. After seeing the principle of the Wrights’ system of balancing wing warping, G. 11. Curtis, for the first time in louo, used ailerons and sought to evade the Wrights'patent rights, but in the suit that followed it was held to be an infringement, as the principle was the same, fcio 1 can ciami to have given the world “ ailerons,” which were invented by me in 1904 and patented in 1900, on June 19. The Wrignts’ first patent was also in 1900, followed by a more complete patent in 1907. As wing-warping gave the Wrights a of the aeroplane business in America, England, France and Germany, so aiic-ions would have given me a monopoly in New Zealand if 1 had .wept the parent covered, but i let it ..apse in 1910 because l did not know , the Great War was coming, and I did not see much prospect of celling aeroplanes in New Zeaiand. bo x came to the conclusion that :o keep u covered would be only 1 . mg g od money after bad. It is :: Great ..a; that made the aerop ne. aim had. i kept my patent covered 1 an New .-.ca

land Government in u . power, as tuuy had to import aerop.ci.es for the purpose of training piio.s and all the-e planes would have been decia/eJ miringements, if I had not let my patent lapse! Even up to the present no one has succeeded in making an aeroplane sufficiently safe to be practical without wing-warping or ailerons, and ailerons have superseded wing wa: ;> ing. The Wrights did not completely solve the problem of flight, because they had to use a special catapult launching apparatus to start their

’plane, and when this was pointed out to them they replied that trams and trains had special starting places. I was the first to think of mounting an aeroplane on three air-tyred wheels for starting and landing in 1904, and pat- j ented it on June 19. 1906. Santos Du- j moiit was second, in the first public aeroplane flight at Issy in November, 1906, Llie machine being fitted with wheels. The Wrights and myself were the first to produce motors sufficiently fight to make flight possible, and we noth designed and built our own motors, as they could not be bought at the time, while the French aeroplane men, like Santos Dumont and Bieriot, who came in the field later, were able to buy their motors. An ordinary motor-car or motor-bicycle motor weighs about 201 b per h.p., and my first aeropione motor of 24 h.p. weighed 51b per h.p. As this.motor was not powerful enough, I built a 60 horsepower motor that weighed 41b per horse-power. The Wrights’ motor was 32 h.p. and weighed 51b per horsepower. My aeiopiane was of enormous size, having /uu square feet of wing area, and it was extremely light, being made mainly of bamboo, and weighed, with man on board, under 700 id, so each square foot of wing area had to support lib. At the trials it would start to rise off the ground when a speed of twenty miles an hour was attained. This speed was not sufficient to work the rudders, so, on account of its huge size and low speed, it was uncontrollable, and would spin round broadside on directly it left the ground. So i never flew with my first experimental ’plane, but no one eise did with viieir hist for that matter. But with my 60 horse-power motor, which proved very renabie, l had successful aerial navigation within my grasp, if x had had the patience to aesign a small plane that wouid be manageable. But 1 decided to give up one struggle, as it was useless to try to compete with men who had factories at their backs. It is impossible to assign any invention wholly to one man, as ail inventions are the product of many minds, and the most we can do is to give the man who has done the most sofne preeminence. As the Wrights were the first to make a successful flight ip a motor-driven aeropione, they will be given pre-eminence when the history of the aeroplane is written.—l am, etc., R. W. PE ARSE.