The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-10-20
provisions could always be had at
Wrights Get to Work

provisions could always be had at
Manteo.
Wrights Get to Work.
The letter of the weather bureau
man added that there were great sand
hills, drifted by the wind, on the spit
where the life saving station stands
hills 400 and 500 feet high.
Great" said Orville. I'VE could
fly the kite from the top of one of the
sand hills"
So the Wright brothers worked in
their shop at Dayton. making the parts
of a big kite, which was carefully de-
signed on paper. Then the bought and
shipped some rough lumber and tools
to Manteo, together with the parts of
their kite. and with gay hearts set out
for a gay summer outing. FSr the
Wrights at this time (1SyS) did not
admit to themselves that they were
doing anything but amusing them
selves playing in their own way.
1t was good sport. The Wrights
have told me so. They built their
shed, put together the parts of their
kite, and flew it. There was plenty of
wind, plenty of room, and nobody to
look on and laugh except a lonesome
coast guard
The kite flew, and it was strong
enough to carry up Orville, when he
lay "belly-whopper" between the up
per and lower pianos of the kite. That
part of the theory was all right. But
the kite would not stay up with it's hui
man freight. The wind was not
strong enough, and one man was not
strong enough to keep running with
the rope.
Find New Game.
But they found new game. They
found the kite to be fine for sliding
down hill on the air." Instead of
using rope to fly it, they took the
kite to the top of a sand hill and sent
1t off into the teeth Of the wind. All
that was needed was a slight upward
tilt of the planes and the wind would
almost support the weight of a man
and planes. 1t would, in fact, sup
port the thing long enough to make a
long glide from the top of the hill to Q
point 500 to 1000 feet from the start.
ing point.
This was gliding" The kite be-
came a gliding machine. The man
aboard kept the thing balanced by
wriggling his body. and sometimes the
glider would be able to hover in the
air like a soaring bird for almost a
minute, supported merely by keeping
the surfaces tilted up against the wind
The kite STAYS up Chat is, over
comes the downward pull of gravity.
because 1t is tilted upward against a
moving stream Of air. The gliding
machine-which Is simply kite
without a string-is supported in the
same way
All this was soon clear to the
Wrights. They found that q couple of
surfaces 40 by feet, built of strong,
light wood, and covered with stout
cloth, were enough to support the
weight of a man, if those surfaces
were kept slightly tilted against a
continuous volume of wind blowing at
35 or 40 miles an hour. Less wind
would not be enough to maintain the
weight.
The next important problem was to
keep the apparatus balanced and to
steer it, Without some steering APP
paratus it was hard to keep the planes
tilted upward at the proper angle. and
it was hard to keep the machine on a
Stfalght course.
So the Wrights spent several sum-
mers working on these problems. They
fixed up a small plane in front which
could be moved up and down. That
gave the tilt. Move the small plane
up and the machine would climb.
Move it down and it would head
toward the ground.
With these attachments gliding be-
came science. 1t was no trick at
all to start from the top of Kill Devil
hill and go sailing off toward the
ocean, remaining in the air several
minutes.
"If she only had something to keep
her going" then said Wilbur, instead
of going a quarter of a mile, she would
go as many miles as we might want"
THAT would be the real flying ma
chine, wouldn't it?" assented Orville.
"A couple of propellers," continued
Wilbur, driven by light gasoline
engine, ought to be able to drive her
through the air fast enough to keep
her afloat.'
Lets try" said Orville.
SO they set to work lin 1900 igur-