Wright Brothers' Patent and Lawsuits

• The Wright Brothers are Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright

How They Succeeded

• In December 1903, Samuel Langley's airplane failed for the second and final time
• Langley's effort lasted 17 years and cost over $70,000
• Lilienthal and Pilcher died while experimenting
• Penaud committed suicide

How To Fly Successfully

• The Wright Brothers determined that to fly an airplane successfully, it was necessary to learn to design and build wings, devise a power source, and maintain control of the machine in the air
• They devoted their time to solving this problem

Did They Invent the Airplane?

• The Wright Brothers are credited with producing a man-carrying airplane capable of controlled power flight

How It Happened

• The area around Dayton, OH was not satisfactory for flying experiments
• They looked for a place that had: moderate wind currents, hills for launching gliders, and privacy
• They chose the sand dunes of unpopulated Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Who Is Going First?

• On December 14, 1903, there was a coin toss for the first try

• Wilbur won and made the first try

• The weather was cold and the wind very mild

• The Wright Flyer barely got off the ground for 2 seconds and 1 1/2 seconds

• The airplane received minor damages

• The brothers agreed this flight did not count

• On December 17, 1903, it was Orville's turn to try

• The flight lasted 12 seconds and traveled 120 feet

• Three additional flights were made that day

• Wilbur's best and last flight lasted under 1 minute and traveled a distance of 852 feet

• Octave Chanute missed it

Charles Taylor

• Charles Taylor was a mechanic hired by the Wright brothers to build the engine

What Happened Next?

• By 1905, the Wright Brothers had made more than 100 flights totaling 160 miles
• They soon became famous in the USA and Europe
• They sent a telegram home

Problems with Communication?

• The Wright's father did not find out immediately
• Their sister Katherine sent a message to Chanute, reporting their success
• The newspaper did not want to print the story, more interested in Christmas shoppers news

Patent War

• The basic Wright patent in the United States (No. 821,393) was applied for in 1903 and granted in 1906

• The patent covered the control system of the 1902 glider: the simultaneous use of wing warping and rudder to perform a controlled turn and the ability to maintain roll stability

• The patent (No. 821,393) was granted May 22, 1906, with Toumlin's signature on the application

• The Wright brothers would have had less recognition without the patent

• Their lawyer Toulmin suggested that the patent should cover the three-axis system of controls used on the 1902 glider

• Every airplane uses the Wright's control system

• Toulmin secured the patent tightly, preventing others from breaking it

• On January 13, 1914, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the Wrights "as pioneers in the practical art of flying heavier-than-air machines."

• The patent war stopped development of aviation

• The Wrights wanted to profit from it and tried to monopolize the business

• The patent war delayed US airplane manufacturing

• By 1916 Curtiss was largest airplane manufacturer in America

• Alberto Santos-Dumont made the first public airplane flight took place in France on August 22, 1906

• Henri Fabres' Hadravion was the first seaplane in the world, which on March 29, 1910, flew almost four miles and made a perfect landing

• John William Dunne built the first all-wing airplane

• Alexander Graham Bell formed the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA) to advance the science of flight

• While Bell acknowledged the achievements of the Wright brothers, he believed their solution to the problem of flight wasn't the only one

• Glenn Curtiss began racing bicycles as a teenager using air-cooled engines in motorcycles

• After joining Bell, he produced the June Bug, which won the very first aviation prize offered in the United States

• Harriet Quimby on August 2, 1911 became the first woman pilot in the United States to obtain a Federation Aeronautique International Certificate

• On April 16, 1912 she became the first woman to cross the English Channel

• Adolphe Pegoud proved in 1913 that it was possible to fly upside down in an airplane

• S.F. Cody Was the first Man to make a controlled, powered flight in England

• On July 25, 1908, Louis Bleriot using a Louis Bleriot Model IX was the first person to cross the English Channel on an airplane

• This was the first International Flight

• The First Air Meet was Held at the champagne region of Rheims, France on August 1909

The First Air Meet Details

• Longest Flight - Farman, 111.78 miles

• One-lap Speed - Bleriot, 7 min 47. 8 sec.

• Two-lap Speed - Curtiss, 15 min. 50.6 sec.

• Three-lap Speed - Curtiss, 23 min. 20.2 sec.

• Passenger Carrying Contest - Farman, 2 Passengers one lap, 10 min. 39 sec

• Height Flight - Latham, 490 feet

• The First American Air Show was held at Dominguez Fields south of Los Angeles in January 1910

• Calbraith P. "Cal" Rodgers is credited with having made the first flight across America, coast to coast

• The plane left Sheepshad Bay race track near Coney Island, NY on September 17, 1911 and landed in Pasadena, CA 49 days later

• Lincoln Beachy was known as the best-known American “stunt pilot” of the era

• He had been taught by Glenn Curtiss

• Orville Wright described him as the greatest aviator

• Roland Garros was a famous French pilot before WWI

• He is credited for developing the use of a gun that could fire forward, through the propeller arc, in order to hit the enemy

• Anthony Fokker, a German aircraft manufacturer who had a plant north of Berlin

• He perfected Garro's invention by making the propeller shoot the gun instead of trying to shoot the bullets through the propeller

WWI and Aviation

• When the US entered WWI on April 6, 1917 they were woefully underprepared to conduct any kind of aerial combat
• The patent war was one of the reasons for this
• In total some 130 patents were issued with others pending that were so basic to aircraft design that no aircraft could be built without them
• The Manufacturers' Aircraft Association was thus created to collect and apportion fees and to speak for the industry
• One great strength the United States had to offer the Allies was its genius in quantity production and the production-line concepts was an American invention, due to standardization

The Liberty Engine

• A great American technical and manufacturing achievement
• Was a source of pride for the country
• The Liberty Engine was an excellent power plant of high horsepower

Women in Aviation

• Included Harriet Quimby, Amelia Earhart, Ruth Nichols, Jacqueline Cochran, Bessie Coleman, Olga Custodio