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The Wright brothers' engine

Mikel

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May 20, 2020
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The Wright brothers are remarkable in that they made great advances in many fields of aviation and engineering, beating many competitors who had far more formal education and funding.

One of their many impressive accomplishments was the engine they used - At the time no one made an engine with a suitable power to weight ratio... So they made their own from scrath. Or more accurately, their mechanic - Charles Taylor - did.

1903-Wright-brothrs-engine-cutaway-600.jpg


macsmotorcitygarage.com

The Power to Fly: The Wright Brothers’ 1903 Engine

When the Wright brothers set out to fly in 1903, there were no engines on the market capable of powering their aircraft. So they built their own, and it’s a remarkable design.
macsmotorcitygarage.com macsmotorcitygarage.com
 
KarlVP said:
My wife's cousin is building a kit plane in his shop. You should see the carb on that thing. It's super simple. Basically a tube with a little hole drilled in it and a butterfly valve.
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I remember reading a book about Glen Curtiss, a contemporary of the Wright brothers, in college. The book talked about him making a carb out of a soup can to use first on motorcycles and then on an airplane he built. The ingenuity but also lack of sophistication those guys exercised in building something to fly or race in has always amazed me.
 
I used to be a bigger fan, listened to a few pod casts about them. Either American History Tellers or American Scandal (or both).

They were sue happy, patent hawks, and did as much or more to hinder aviation advancement of their competition as they did to advance it themselves.

People suck, history is written by the victors, yaddy, yada.

[cool story bro] I have no way to prove its provenance, but allegedly one of their lathes is in my grandpa's old machine shop. It's been converted to run on an electric motor, but was originally ran off an overhead shaft with a belt. Story I've been told all of my life is that lathe came from Wright's shop. Which one, where, how, or why, who knows? [/cool story bro]
 
gbiddlec said:
I remember reading a book about Glen Curtiss, a contemporary of the Wright brothers, in college. The book talked about him making a carb out of a soup can to use first on motorcycles and then on an airplane he built. The ingenuity but also lack of sophistication those guys exercised in building something to fly or race in has always amazed me.
Click to expand...
the glen curtis museum is near watkins glenn.
highly recommend.
 
Lee said:
I used to be a bigger fan, listened to a few pod casts about them. Either American History Tellers or American Scandal (or both).

They were sue happy, patent hawks, and did as much or more to hinder aviation advancement of their competition as they did to advance it themselves.

People suck, history is written by the victors, yaddy, yada.

[cool story bro] I have no way to prove its provenance, but allegedly one of their lathes is in my grandpa's old machine shop. It's been converted to run on an electric motor, but was originally ran off an overhead shaft with a belt. Story I've been told all of my life is that lathe came from Wright's shop. Which one, where, how, or why, who knows? [/cool story bro]
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"They" Wright, Curtis or Pratt and Whitney ? - thnaks
 
According to family legend, my grandpa used a mule team to level a pasture in Amarillo for the Wright brothers to use as an airstrip.
 
gbiddlec said:
I remember reading a book about Glen Curtiss, a contemporary of the Wright brothers, in college. The book talked about him making a carb out of a soup can to use first on motorcycles and then on an airplane he built. The ingenuity but also lack of sophistication those guys exercised in building something to fly or race in has always amazed me.
Click to expand...

A quadrajet would have seemed like alien technology to those guys in 1905.
 
Lee said:
I used to be a bigger fan, listened to a few pod casts about them. Either American History Tellers or American Scandal (or both).

They were sue happy, patent hawks, and did as much or more to hinder aviation advancement of their competition as they did to advance it themselves.

People suck, history is written by the victors, yaddy, yada.

[cool story bro] I have no way to prove its provenance, but allegedly one of their lathes is in my grandpa's old machine shop. It's been converted to run on an electric motor, but was originally ran off an overhead shaft with a belt. Story I've been told all of my life is that lathe came from Wright's shop. Which one, where, how, or why, who knows? [/cool story bro]
Click to expand...

Yes, after their initial flights, the Wright brothers spent a huge chunk of their time on patent infringement battles.
 
Lee said:
I used to be a bigger fan, listened to a few pod casts about them. Either American History Tellers or American Scandal (or both).

They were sue happy, patent hawks, and did as much or more to hinder aviation advancement of their competition as they did to advance it themselves.

People suck, history is written by the victors, yaddy, yada.

[cool story bro] I have no way to prove its provenance, but allegedly one of their lathes is in my grandpa's old machine shop. It's been converted to run on an electric motor, but was originally ran off an overhead shaft with a belt. Story I've been told all of my life is that lathe came from Wright's shop. Which one, where, how, or why, who knows? [/cool story bro]
Click to expand...


don't hate the player, hate the game.
 
Can you imagine building a new concept out in the barn out of bicycle parts that would change the world like it did?

Write brothers field is on my list of things I want to see :beer:
 
Charles Taylor went on to design what became the Subaru boxer engine. Subaru bought the patent and put it in production in 1954.
 
Lee said:
What's the name in the title of this thread? Context clues my man.
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:shaking::shaking::shaking:

:flipoff2:

Your avatar :laughing: I Just tripped the house GFCI circuit, and to call for adult help to diagnose.

Edit: :idea: As if a thread title ever stayed on topic in CC. :goofball:
 
I actually did a fork socket thing. Two older brothers egging me on and a dare. Breaker had an xtra push to re-set. Weird hearing the Wright brothers were mean ass litigants and super competitive.
 
Splib said:
I actually did a fork socket thing. Two older brothers egging me on and a dare. Breaker had an xtra push to re-set. Weird hearing the Wright brothers were mean ass litigants and super competitive.
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I mean they literally were the first to succeed at something man had tried to do for centuries.... Wouldn't you want to keep your rights to that protected?
 
It was American Innovations, I knew it was a Wondery produced podcast. A lot of their stuff is good if you're into American history, often outside mainstream accounts of historical events, and larger picture stuff than the watered down abridged stuff we were taught in public school. I'm on the road a lot, my playlist is only so long, podcasts are great.

Season Detail - Wondery - Feel the Story

wondery.com wondery.com

I'm sure it has some to do with the way the story is presented, but the Wrights were kind of dicks.
 
Lee said:
It was American Innovations, I knew it was a Wondery produced podcast. A lot of their stuff is good if you're into American history, often outside mainstream accounts of historical events, and larger picture stuff than the watered down abridged stuff we were taught in public school. I'm on the road a lot, my playlist is only so long, podcasts are great.

Season Detail - Wondery - Feel the Story

wondery.com wondery.com

I'm sure it has some to do with the way the story is presented, but the Wrights were kind of dicks.
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you can go to the wright state university page and read all the legal documents yourself. They house the originals in the wright library.

if you want to blame somebody for them being dicks about it, blame the patent office for giving them a ridiculously broad patent for "flying machines". If you held the patent for "flying machines" and were actively trying to market your "flying machines" the world over, wouldn't you sue other people to keep them out of your market? It's not personal, it's just business.
Edison was a giant dick that probably stole several inventions, but he got to the patent office first didn't he?
hate the game.


Wright Company Patent Litigation | Special Collections and Archives | Wright State University

A collection of legal materials from the Wright Company Patent Litigation which is part of the Wright State University Libraries' Special Collections and Archives.
corescholar.libraries.wright.edu corescholar.libraries.wright.edu
 
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