The Wright Brothers by Parker Plume

Personal Biography

parker_plume — 2013-02-20 00:46:33 UTC

Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright were the first to accomplish human controlled flight of a machine heavier than air. Wilbur Wright was born on April 16th, 1867 in Millville Indiana and Orville Wright was born on August 19th, 1871 in Dayton, Ohio. The brothers personalities blended together perfectly; Orville was a creative thinker that always had ideas and enthusiasm, while Wilbur was far more mature and was literal with the projects. As young boys they accompanied their father in editing the Religious Telescope and soon developed a paper of their own called the West Side News. A few years later the brothers opened up a bicycle shop, which helped them in solving the problems of flight because they were familiar with the mechanics. After the death of Otto Lilienthal, an aeronautical engineer, the brothers became interested in gliding experiments. In order to follow up their interests, they had to educate themselves in the art of flying. Although neither Wilbur or Orville Wright were scientists or engineers, they showed traits of both during their experiments. Now with adequate information the Wright brothers flew double-winged kites and gliders to capture and learn valuable information. During these experiments they were able to gain a lot of wisdom because they recorded both their successes and failures. Soon they built and created the first manned, powered flight and had it patented as the flying machine. After having success with their first invention, they abandoned it and concentrated on aviation. Again they were successful and created their contract plane. Soon Wilbur passed away at the age of 45 on May 30th, 1912 in Dayton, Ohio. After the death of Wilbur, Orville sold his rights to the firm and gave up manufacturing to continue with work on his own. Orville died at the age of 76 on January 30th, 1948 in Dayton Ohio.

Achievements

parker_plume — 2013-02-20 00:47:18 UTC

The Wright Brother achievements didn’t just start off with a boom, they had to develop their ideas till they got to their final achievement. Their first major achievement was the Wright St. Clair bicycle. Although not a huge achievement, it helped set the basics of practical mechanics for their future achievements. The next achievement they made was the 1899 Wright Kite. In order to build the 1899 Wright Kite they had to educate themselves on the art of flying. While inventing the 1899 Wright Kite they also developed special instincts of scientists and engineers, without any prior knowledge. Soon after many experiments they found that the Wright Kite had not worked and created the 1900 Wright Glider. In order to test the 1900 Wright Glider, the brothers built the first wind tunnel in the United States. With the wind tunnel they measured lift and drag factors to find the best design. By this time they had mastered aeronautical science and added to it. Now that they made a suitable air frame with the 1900 Wright Glider, they developed an even better air frame for the 1902 glider. However, with the adequate air frame, they know were able to add power. While developing the 1903 Wright Flyer, they created an engine that met the specifications. With the specifications met the 1903 Wright Flyer had worked and now was the first successful heavier than air machine. Soon they patented their ideas as the flying machine. Later in their life they were able to successfully demonstrate their contract plane. Overall the Wright Brothers had five major achievements; Wright St. Clair Bicycle, 1899 Wright Kite, 1900 Wright Glider, 1902 Wright Glider, and 1903 Wright Flyer.

Personal Quote

parker_plume — 2013-02-20 00:47:41 UTC

The Wright Brothers once said, “The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who, in their grueling travels across trackless lands in prehistoric times, looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space, at full speed, above all obstacles, on the infinite highway of the air.”The ideas I believe The brothers are trying to convey to us are the humans amazement and desire to fly. They explain that ancestors have watched the unique ability of the birds to fly; proceeding with their amusement in the ability to fly. In this short quote the Wright Brothers are telling me that they found amusement in the ability to fly, as well as our ancestors, but are wanting to go out and create their own ability with the flying machine.

Effect Then

parker_plume — 2013-02-20 00:47:53 UTC

The immediate effect the Wright Brothers had on the Industrial Revolution was minimal. The Wright Brothers really had no immediate effect because all they did was develop the idea of a flying machine. During the revolution the machine was not yet sold to anyone else or used for any special purposes. However they did play a role in developing the airplane and soon after their ideas were used in everyday life. (http://wright.nasa.gov/airplane/Images/planes.gif)

Effect Now

parker_plume — 2013-02-20 00:48:02 UTC

The effect and works of the Wright brothers are being used during our generation's everyday life. However the Wright Brother’s did not have an immediate effect, soon after their ideas and others were brought into the life of the military. The first one was the mail service in the Army. The mail service delivered mail between New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. In the next year a route was opened up between New York to Chicago. A couple years later the U.S. postal service took over the flights and the route had been extended to San Francisco. The next advancement occurred in 1926 - 1927 and commercial passenger services began. In addition the routes expanded to the north and south. However these flights took a very long time. For example to fly from New York to San Francisco it would take 33 hours with the plane landing 14 times. Now in 1931 new airline services including TWA, United, and America expanded flew routes from coast to coast. By 1934 most major cities were on route with the airlines. In addition the Douglas DC - 1 aircraft and DC - 3 flew from coast to coast in now 16 hours. Many years later, in the 1990’s, the speed of travel had increased to 5 hours or less. Also in the 1990’s a major airline system connects major cities throughout the U.S. Back on the early 1900’s during the Wright’s time flight was just an adventure, but now it is apart of the everyday life because it is one of the fastest ways around.