Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1908-10-29

even thirty feet in few seconds
can understand how utterly wrong
this idea is. The air along the sur
face Of the earth, as a matter of fact
is continually churning. 1t is thrown
upward from every irregularity, like
sea breakers on a coast-line; every
hill and tree and building sends up a
wave or slanting current And it
moves, not directly back and forth
upon it's coast-line, like the sea, but
in whirIing rotary masses. Some Of
these rise up hundreds of yards. In
a fairly strong wind the air near the
earth is more disturbed than the
| whirIpools Of Niagara"
1t was the conquering Of this eIe-
ment that the brothers had set out to
! accomplish. Without attempting to
enter into the technicalities of aero
plane building, it is not hard to see
/ that the Wrights had cut out for
/ themselves a lifetime work They
began serious study in 1896, and ex-
periments four years later. Until
very few years ago, while building
and repairing bicycles, they regarded
the aerOplane game as a diversion
and spent in its pursuit only what
earnings they could afford to spend
for amusement. 1t was after they
became confident Of success that
they retired from their business and
decided to devote their time exclu-
siYIy to aviation.
Tn 1886" says Orville Wright, I'VE
saw a little press dispatch in a news
paper telling Of the death of Lilien-
thaI by a fall from his machine. This,
and the reading of the Aeronautical
Annual for 1897, started our first &C
tive interest in the problem of aerial
navigation We have been at work
at it ever since-first as a mere sci
entifc pastime, but for nearly ten
years as the most serious purpose of
our lives
Experimenting in North Carolina.
After several experiments at Day
ton, they got down to real tests on
the sand hills of eastern North Caro-
lima as early as the fall of 1900. The
machine of that year, although they
intended 10 fly in it, was not up to |
expectations, and they had to sail it |
like kite at the end Of the small |
boys string, directing it's movements
from the ground, with nobody aboard. |
IN the next three years experiments
were repeated annually, and by 1903
the aerOnauts succeeded in remaining
up in the air a minute at a time. A /
power machine with motor and pro
pcIlers. was tested near the close of
1903. 1t stayed up about a minute, |
and travelled nearly 900 feet. This |.
vas the first dynamic flying machine
that had ever raised itself by it's own
power with a man in it. This first
dying machine with its operator, /
weighed about 745 pounds. 1t was
run by a gas engine which weighed
24O pounds complete with fuel and
water, and developed u to 10 horse
power. The next year another flier
was made, weighing, with ballast, 925
pounds, with an engine giving 16 .
horse power, but weighing the same
as that of the first fier-240 pounds. I
With this machine they made the
successful experiments in flying OF
1904 and 1905, over $50 in number,
averaging mile apiece, and in OC-
tober of the latter year a fight of
more than twentyfOur miles was
made. From that time until last May
the Wrights made no more actual eX
periments, and they now hold both
European and American records for
heavier-than-air flight Orville
Wright, who was injured, has flown
for an hour and IA minutes, during
ing fifty miles, and reaching a height
of $50 feet. His brother Wilbur, who
is now experimenting in France,
holds all European records, having ex-
ceeded his nearest competitor, Leon
DeIagrange, by a period of ten min
utes Wilbur Wright has flown for
thirty-nine minutes, covering a dis
lance of twenty-siX miles.
Personal Traits.
The Wright brothers are silent,
businesslike men. Both are tall and
rather slender. Orville wears a black
moustache and has some hair, but not
much. Wilbur has no moustache, and
his head is almost bald. They look
the part of students, if one goes be-
yond their rather SLOPPY dress and
their hands roughened by mechanical
work with traces of machinery grease
generally visible when they are in
the field They are remarkably
alike. in manner and appearance.
| Wilbur was born on April 16, 1876,
and Orville ON Aug. 10, 1871. Some
thing more than a year ago they
made a visit to New York. They had
heard of a prospective prize for aero
nautical achievements and, while they
did not care to enter a race, they
needed the money. That was before
they made their plans to sell their
machine to a government either the
! United States, or, if this country did
not want it, to a foreign power.
After some searching here, they
found the officers of the Aero club
of America The officers were sur
prised-and at a loss how to enter
tain the inventors, for the Wrights
wanted to do nothing but talk air
| fying. They wouldn't dine out,