New-York tribune., 1912-04-04
LAWYER Quotes Wilbur Wright
Letter to Inventors Daughter.

\ letter addressed by Wilbur Wright In
1909 10 one OF the daughters Of Hugo Mat
tuath, the dead acroplan" inventor, whose
almost forgotten application for patent
on a heavlcr-t -than-air marchinc was revived
by a recent decision Of the District Of CO.
lumbia Court Of Appeals, shows, according
TO a statement made yesterday by W. H..
swenarton. Of Mcrwin & SwcnartOn. aitor-
ncys for Mattulath's widow. that the
Wrights were familiar with his work In
aeroplane theory before they started their
own experiments.
IL knew a little of your fathers work.
Wilbur Wright wrote, October H. l39. as
quoted by Mr.. Swenarton. Through con-
vcrsation with Professor Iahm and others,
but he died before my brother and J had
really begun our work.
This frank tribute Mr.. Swcnarton
added. by one OF the foremost and most
successful aviators of the world. to this
pioneer i'm the art is commendable and
reflects no little credit upon Mr. Wright $
sense Of fairness. II IS not disputed that the
Wright brothers were the first avators In
America If not I'm the world but they are
not necessarily the discoyerers of prin-
ciple embodied I'm a machine operated by
them.
Chief Justice Shepard, of the D!siri', "i
Columbia Court. I'm his opinion iurther
states that the date Of the application ana
the description therein demonstrated that
the deceased Mattulath Was, If not tn" hrst
one Of the very first 10 devise means 4"
accomplish the realization Of this age long
dream.
II was only after a most exhaustive in
yestigation Of the facts and merits Of
Mattulath's invention. Mr Swenart"n said.
that the present revival Of his application
for a patent was undertaken self-pro-
relling machine has ;een constructed, ne
said. in exact accord with the patent speci-
fcation. and under test in field trials thor
oughly demonstrated its capabihty FOR sue
cessful and controllabe flight.
The results of these flights. ne declared
far exceeded all expectations, and con
vincingly demonstrated that the basic prin-
ciples of the flying machine discovered by
Mattulath were not chimerical IN any
sense. but were astonishingly correct ana
entirely practical and commercially useiul
.The Mattulath aeroplane," said Mr..
Swenarton, when compared with the pres
ent day types Of aeroplanes' emDodies all
OF their most desirable features.
For example. the ;dlcrons Of the well
known Curtiss type are almost exact dupli-
Gates Of those designed by Mattulath. The
rear md front eleyating planes which have
been employed by Curtiss ana the wright
| brothers find their prototypes III the NOV
able elevating planes arranged fore ana aft
above the upper deck of Mattulath's ma
| chine, while his vertical rudder Is common
TO all modern aeroplanes'
Mattulath was a graduate Of German
| university, and was well known In uni
yersity circles as a skilled engineer ana an
accomplished mathematician. For many
wears he studied the laws of physics IN
yolved in aviation. and in accordance with
these studies he developed scientifically the
| design of the heavier than-air machine
which he sought TO patent two years before
his death in 1902. The Patent once held
| at the time of the refusal 10 allow the APP
| plication of the patent to be revived In De
| half Of his widow that machine bullt ac-
| cordng to Mattulath's designs could not bc
made TO fly, and even II 1t did fly such fight
could not be controlled.
The decision reversing the ruling OF the
! "atent Office was of fundamental impor-
tance from a purely legal point of view, Mr.
Swenarton said Yesterday. aside from It's
bearing upon the aeroplane industry. as th'
was the first time any one had attempted
| TO question the hnality OF "A decision of the
Commissioner ~ Patents that an application
| had become abandoned because the delay
IN its prosecution was not unavoidable.