The Washington herald., 1909-05-30

OtnerWlSe. the nrSt Snlft IN the wind
slant will caTeeR The air shaft al its frs
departure from the ground. Its balanc
viii be lost and IL viii come TO cart
yawing like a cranky kite. Many a
sirship was launched before the Wright
few. Il was always the same story
Power. and buoyancy counted for moth
ing. The machine was as helpless as
man who IS dizzy. Il tUmbled down il
The same hopeless way
WHAT Others Had Done.
Plenty Of other things had been &C
complished toward flying. OF four eIe-
ments Of the problem, three had already
been solved. The four needs OF a fyine
machine are: An engine strong enough
70 do the work Of propulsion. without i'm
posing TOO great weight; an aeroplane
surface 10 lift the flyer as it rushes
through the air: A machine strong enough
70 stand the strain. Yet light enough 70
lift: and a device TO hold the aeroplane
steady. Now. Langley in this country,
and FerbeT and Penaud. in France, had
made model mechanical flyers on a small
scale, which worked out the problems Of
deviation or buoyancy and Of strength.
TIE automobiles development had
brought into being q gasoline engine
strong enough and light enough Even
before that Sir Hiram Maxim had lifted
by its Own power an aerOplane fitted with
light steam engine The gasoline
motor Of 1872 gave power enough for its
weight. and 10 spare. But il was still
impossible 10 keep an aerOplane steady
when Il left the ground So things stood
when the brothers Wilbur and OrviIle
Wright took up the study Of flying
The Brothers.
IN 1900. about the time Of their start
on the hard path Of aeronauticaI fnven-
ton, they we're respectively thirty-three
and twenty-nire years old. They were
the sons OF the Rev Milton Wright a
bishop OF the Methodist Church. Their
home was in Dayton. Ohio. which. in
deed, remains their home to-day. VII
bur was born there IN 1867, Orville in
ISL.
In early days the Wright brothers went
in for machinery. They constructed a
printing press. according 10 informaDts
who remember their beginnings. With
this they started a local newspaper. The
printing press was q good one, the ira
dition goes, but the paper was sold out.
Then bicycles came into use The
Wright brothers took UP the bicycle line
They built a factory or machine shop
out Of the proceeds. They repaired a
good many Of the wheels Of Dayton. They
also assembled bicycles and put out q
wheel Of their own.
Altogether. up to 1900. the Wrights had
made A living out Of their calling. but
nothing Ike a fortune. They were Ike
plenty OF other young men IN the interior
cities, hardworking and thrifty. Vet
bounded IN opportunities for larger
things They were known as religious.
rather Housekeeping. and extremely re-
tiring and quiet No one probably ever
predicted around Dayton. as OF noisy
citizens, that the Wrights would make
their mark IN the world
They lived with their father. who IS
stin living. They had q sister. Miss
Katherine Wright, 4 school teacher. with
z small sum In savings. who was TO help
them materially.
Started for Amusement.
The Wright brothers started al aero
nsutics for amusement They were led
70 il by the experiments OF Octave
Chsnute, OF Chicago. Chanute was the
first in this country 20 take up what IS
low familiarly referred 10 as gliding.
LilienthaI in Germany and several others
n Europe had tried gliding with more or
less success Gliding is sliding down hill
through the air with a sort Of strfngless
kite for q sled II had been tried with
kites fms, wings. planes OF all shapes
and sorts. Lilienthal broke his back al
Il Il vas accounted. and II was. a dan
gerous and freakish pastime- For some
reason IL attracted the brothers Why,
9 --
did not foresee any money in il They
took 20 the air. It seems. as a duck takes
10 water
II fact. the Wrsghts confined them
selves 10 experiments with giiderz for
some two years. II seems 10 have been
only at the end Of their 1902 gliding that
they took Up the plan Of building a flying
machine
IN 1900. 1901 and 1872. they had gone
du'-n a number Of times 10 the North
Carolina coast They found that tumbles
were soft there in the sand. and that
tie ground vas open. There were cur
rents Of wind they found that mounted
ID the steep sandhiIls and made i pos
sible 10 scar about Ike a bird They
grew SO expert that they made glides Of /
q quarter Of a mile long
There IS no sport so fine as gliding
said one Of them recently. Il was a
pretty strong recommendation from q /
man who had tried actual flight
Old Dream of Flying
At last the fascination o. the old dream /
of flying caught the sober-minded broth /
ers- They did not take up with it any
too hastily. They knew what the OBJ
stacles we're. They could not help but
When they went into the effort 70 fv I
by power. they entered With theIr ewes 4
open. and with no doubt something more /
than the usual aspirant's mind to sue 1
coed.
They were well equipped IN one way.
All their gliding experiments told in their 1
favor After over two years Of Il they
knew more about the ways Of air currents |
and the guiding OF bodies through the |
air than probably any one living With
that knowledge they had the keenest pos
siole realization OF the great trouble with 1
the wOUld-be flyers of the day They
knew enough OF the air to be warned that
power and buoysncy were nothing with 1
out equilibrium against the shifting cur 4
rents Of the atmosphere.
cne otheT thing was In their favor. The 4
expense Of building an aeTOpiane was. as 4
inventors expenses 60, not prohibitive.
They were their own Vvorkmen, and we're 4
the best worknen procurable. Cloth and
wood for frames and propeIiers cost little. 1
This left only the engine to figure largely 4
in the outlay. With extreme care they
resolved 10 reduce their expenses by ]
breakage, as well as the danger. TO a
minimum
Handicapped.
But they were nevertheless al the out 4
set Of the most trying period OF their
whole epoch-making struggle. The trips
&c Kitty Hawk were expensive for them.
Their means was very small The place
was inaccessible All their materials had