The Wright Brothers.

Progress, Volume IV, Issue 2, 1 December 1908, Page 55

The Wright Brothers.

It lias been remarked that the conquest by the Wrights of the air is not more wonderful than their conquest of the public on two continents. Certainly the welcome accorded in the States was immense, and that in France nothing less. In the latter there is more of the dramatic touch. The land of Montgolfier, the inventor of the balloon, of Renard, the builder of the first "dirigible," of Santos Dumont, who first flew an aeroplane, and of Delagrange, who made the longest and the most sensational flight before the appearance of the Wrights, has, after bestowing ridicule on the brothers for their "profusion of advice and their economy of experiment," thrown itself at their feet with sportsmanlike readiness and promptitude. The French journalists are never tired of contemplating Mr Wilbur Wright. They see in him a real bird; they talk of his "bird-like profile," they discuss his "unblinking eagle eye," they measure his "claw-like fingers," they dwell on his ' ' hopping gait. ' ' All of which shows that the (iaul is nothing if he is not thorough. The man, moreover, was peculiar, keeping by himself, living for his machine, protecting the same against all prying inquisitiveness. He camped in the machine's shed, slept in a cot alongside of the aeroplane, went to no hotel even for meals, but cooked for himself on a gasoline stove in the "Amurrcan" manner; never spread his legs towards a cheerful club fire among his friends. Even the show of the aeroplane had no charms for him ; for he would go out only when it suited mm. Once there came ten thousand people to see him fly. He looked at them, went back into his shed, and calmly said that he wanted a little more practice in a breeze before he could think of showing in public. Delagrange, who went in to persuade him to make some sort of a flight, just to oblige all those people, was aghast at the failure of his well-meant attempt. "If it had been my case," said he, "I would have started out, even if it meant the smash up of my machine. ' ' But Wilbur Wright would not be drawn. Another day a reporter tried to put him through his facings in a way the reporters have. Would Mr. Wright not fly across the Channel? No, Mr. Wright did not think that he would just yet. Why not? Only that it was a little too risky, and, besides, it would not prove anything more than a journey over land. We remember when we were investigating the matter of flight, we were much struck by the fact that these brothers very persistently did everything for themselves, and we said so, especially noting how they had started out to invent an engine for themselves, rather than use the engines already in use by other people. They went all over the world in search of ideas before they were satisfied, and then they did everything for themselves. The same quality has struck the reporters and others. But

these declare that the engine they made in their little bicycle shop at Dayton, Ohio, is heavier than the machines of Delagrange, Fannan, and the others, and in comparison very clumsy. An American writer in the Independent Magazine makes some very illuminating remarks about the brothers and their machine, thus:— The chief peculiarity of the construction of the Wright machines is the curvature that may be given at will to the aeroplanes by means of wires connecting the outer corners. The front edges are rigid, but the rear edges can be bent by moving a lever at the right hand of the operator. In making, for example, a turn to the left, the right wing is first tipped up at an angle, and therefore rises. But since it now offers a greater resistance to the air m this position, the machine would tend to turn towards the right, with this wing as a pivot. This is opposed by the use of the vertical rudder behind, which is manipulated by a second lever at the right hand. As soon as the machine begins to come round, both levers are reversed, and the left wing[ offering now greater resistance, becomes the pivot around which the turn is made A third lever at the left hand controls the horizontal rudder in front, steering the aeroplane up or down. This construction gives great stability, even in a wind, and however high it may be in the air when the power is shut off, it glides to earth at a gentle angle like a dirigible parachute. The Wrights have solved their problem in their own way, with no masters but the birds. Without money or influence, with no aid from the Government or the scientific research funds, they have worked out their invention in .the good old American way, and have earned their success."