The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-05-31

hours.
Wilbur Wright. who was known as
"The Dean Of American Aviators," was
born April 10, 1867, near Millville, In
diana. His father was clergyman,
Bishop Milton Wright.
He had high school education and
when stiIl only boy, the family moved
to DAYTON. where the Wrights made
| their permanent home. At one time
they were in the bicycle business in
| Dayton.
Wilbur Wright worked in a machine
shop for a time. and learned something
of carpentry. He and his brother be-
came interested in air problems, and
before they were twenty-five were hard
! at work on the series of experiments
which have made them famous.
| They began by a study of the air,
rather than of the theory of flying. 1t
was the Wrights, Wilbur being always
the leader in thought and experiment
while his brother, 0rville, did the best
of the actual flying, who first acquired
clear idea of what it means to ride
the air--the pitfalls and the cross cur
rents and the waves that must be fought
constantly.
The story of the early study of the
air by the Wrights dates from the time
when their father gave them a helicop-
! ter kite. This soon wore out and their
| interest waned until the world was
stirred with news of the death OF Lili-
enthal in 1896.
The Wrights began building kites
! themselves then. 1t was with these
kites that they studied the air. They
/ found that the larger the machine the
harder il was TO fly and to balance. So
gradually they turned their attention
! to the gliders. and it was these ex-
/ periments which showed the way.
In October 1900, they had been ex-
perimenting with gliders for four years
and had built machine that was flown
! like q kite with a man aboard.
Finally, in 1901, they built their first
machine 1t was not a success, and they
went back to gliders, keeping up prae-
/ tiee and acquiring the Sense of balance"
/ by arduous work and effort.
December IL 1908, the Wrights made
| their first fight in power machine. The
| first flight lasted just twelve seconds
scarcely more than hop. That same
day, they made flight of ffty-nine
seconds, covering distance of s52 feet.
In the spring of 1904 they built a
| camp at Simms station near Dayton,
and here they progressed by leaps and
bounds.
The distinctive feature of the Wright
| inventions, the device by which heav-
Ter than air machines were first able
to fly, is that of the varying wing
! tips
This device is simple one. II is
direct adaptation of the twisting and
turning tail of a bird, and the swiftly
altered angle of their beating wings.
The device has been copied in every
machine since the Wrights first exhibit
ed. the different machines varying only
slightly.
The Wrights became involved in many
law suits in an effort to maintain their
patent rights to this device. Their
suits were tried in France and in this
country. Everywhere they attempted
to reap the full benefit of years OF pa
| tient experiment.
In the United States they were unable
to restrain others from copying their
/ device and modifying it. In France,
Wilbur Wright sold their patent rights
to the French government for $780,
600.
From 1907 till 1910, the Wrights were
abroad much of the time. They were
welcomed enthusiastically and received
with honors and given prizes innumer-
able. Wilbur Wright was awarded a
gold medal in 1909 by the French acad
emv of sciences and received other recog-
nitions.
On their return to the United States
they were hailed as heroes from one
end of the country to the other.
In 1906, the Wrights were the only
men in the world who had been success
full in flying heavier than air machines.
Once their wing tip device was seen and
adapted to other machines. the art of
aving became common. Wilbur Wright
| himself had the utmost confidence in
the future of flying. The ideal toward
which he and his brother have worked
since they retired from active flying
after a few years of startling exhibit
lions had taught the world their art
is a stable machine. and, if possible,
one that can fly without motive power.
Working along these lines they built
a glider in which Orville Wright, at
Kill Devil Hill, \. c., rose from the
4 -. .s- Cor mir