Thesis on "Wright Brothers"

Thesis 5 pages (1785 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Wright Brothers

Orville and Wilbur Wright are credited with the invention of the airplane. The official citation for this credit reads; "the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight." Every aspect of this description is specific. The flight had to be sustained, as opposed to tossing an object into the air and letting gravity taking hold of it. The "heavier-than-air" is also very important. Balloons filled with hydrogen and helium gases had been invented and were in use for a long time. Air is composed of more than 78% of nitrogen (which is roughly seven times the weight of Hydrogen gas), 20% oxygen, very small amounts of carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of water vapor and other trace gases. A lighter gas, for example, hydrogen or helium would tend to float in air. Eventually helium gas balloons began to be used. Though twice as heavier than hydrogen, helium serves the purpose while remaining stable and non-reactive. Hydrogen on the other hand is extremely reactive, is not combustible but explodes. Many hydrogen gas balloonists had been killed this way. The flight had to be "powered." This was to ensure that an airplane that the Wright brothers invented would not be confused with gliders. Gliders had also been in vogue for some time before the airplane was invented. Indeed, both Orville and Wilbur learned about and tested a lot of the mechanics of aeronautics by following their predecessors and learning how to hang glide.

Today, in most developed and several developing nations of the world, air travel is the cheapest and the quickest. It is also the most convenient. This is especially true in the United States, where an airplane ticket (because of the market-derived competitive pricing) costs significantly less than the other modes of long distance public transport: Amtrak and Greyhound. A relatively long distance travel is easily undertaken by plane as opposed to driving by car, because of the gasoline prices, the need to stay in hotels and the money spent on several meals. All this has been possible because of the invention of the airplane. Indeed, one might consider how quickly their invention was applied and once the basics were established by the brothers how quickly the field of aeronautics evolved.

Man had been dreaming of flying for millennia. This wish to fly is illustrated in a famous story in Greek mythology. It is the story of Icarus and his father Daedalus. In order to escape from the Greek island of Minos, the father, a craftsman, fashioned wings out of feathers and wax. The father cautioned his son not to fly to close to the sun or over the sea. The son, overcome by the euphoria of being able to fly, flies to close to the sun. The wax melts, the feathers fall of and Icarus falls to the death in the Icarian Sea. The first flight took place on December 17, 1903 in Kittyhawk, North Carolina. There is some doubt and contention whether the others in Europe (especially France) had not beaten the Wright brothers to flight. But the brothers put their stamp on history. A little more than a decade later, airplanes took to the skies as fighters and bombers participated in World War I.

From then on there was no turning back. Planes steadily improved towards World War II. Two decades later, Chuck Yeagar achieved supersonic flight. And not too long after, the world of aeronautics evolved into space travel. The Americans won the race against the Soviets and put several men on the moon. Today, the space shuttle can be launched into space, brought back into the atmosphere and brought into contact into with a Boeing 747 and land. This space shuttle can be reused. Its reusability is not in doubt, two tragic accidents where the shuttle and the crews were destroyed, notwithstanding. All this would not have been possible without the continuing efforts of the Wright brothers.

Orville and Wilbur Wright were based in Dayton Ohio. Wilbur born in 1867 was four years older than his brother. Wilbur was however, born in Indiana. They were two of seven children. The other siblings were obviously not over achievers, a pair of twin boys having died in childbirth. As bright as they were, the brothers did not graduate high school. Wilbur's aspirations of going to college were cut short following a hockey accident. He also had to stay at home and take care of his mother who was suffering from tuberculosis. Orville, the more mechanically adept of the two, dropped out of school to begin a bicycle business. In the creation of the airplane, it is difficult to identify which of the two brothers had a larger part in the invention. The brothers not only presented a united front to everybody, that is was not discernible as to who contributed more. It is believed by most, and very conceivable, that Orville who was better mechanically, supplied the technical knowhow. But they also believe that Wilbur was the driving force in the invention. Both brothers were so united that they even shared the flying experiences. On that fateful day in 1903, both brothers took turns demonstrating that their airplane was functional.

The process of the invention took evolved over time. (Anderson 2004) the brothers started a bicycle repair shop. Bicycles were very popular at that time. And though flying is far removed from riding, it is possible that the brothers developed their mechanical expertise at the bicycle shop. The brothers became interested in flying gliders, despite the fact that a few world famous gliders had died in gliding accidents. The brothers used kites and other prototype gliders to design a glider which would allow stability in unstable winds. It is possible that their success was because the brothers were willing to test counter intuitive notions, which others wouldn't risk. Knowing that the tips of gliders were susceptible to unstable winds, they designed them in such a way that they seemed unstable, but were less likely to be upset by winds. This helped not only maneuverability but also stability. They used kites shaped like planes to test turning and banking. They learned that leaning into the turn would allow easy turning. Another design feature that the brothers incorporated was by designing the wings such that they had an upward curvature. This curvature is called camber. The brothers designed gliders over several years, making small incremental improvements over time. During the development of the glider, the Wright brothers had incentive. They were competing against several independent entities in Europe. The chief among them was one Otto Lilienthal in Germany.

The incentive for creating a well-designed glider was that ones the mechanics were worked out, an engine could be fit onto the glider, to create a "powered" entity for "sustained flight." A movable vertical rudder helped to change direction. The eventual design evolved into a system of three-axis control. The wing was warped for better control to prevent rolling; a device called the forward elevator allowed up and down motion; a rear rudder helped with side by side motion. The glider was developed to ensure that it would be stable for all possible motions that the airplane would undergo.

The final step was to add an engine. The propellers and the plane were constructed from lightweight but strong and durable wood. The brothers finally decided on two propellers for greater propulsion. Charles Taylor, a close associate of the brothers designed the engine. It was made of aluminum. The engine was a proto version of the fuel-injection system. The fuel was gasoline. One of the issues the brothers faced was assuming that propellers construction was simple. Before the contraption could work, the Wright brothers had to put as much effort into the design of propellers as they did with the wings.

The first flight took place in December 1903. It was a short-lived flight and lasted 120 feet at an altitude of 10 feet. The next two flights lasted a little longer. The last and fourth flight of that day lasted 852 feet and lasted almost a minute. As the number of flights increased, the brothers continued to re-invent and make small changes to increase altitude and distance. More work was also done on stability. During this time the brothers also tested a fixed wing plane with the pilot and the co-pilot. On the 46th flight, using a prototype called Flyer III (Flyer I and Flyer II being the earlier two versions), the flight lasted more than a half hour for a distance of more than 20 miles. During their various tests, both brothers had several mishaps and ended up with a range of injuries ranging from bruises to hospitalizations with severe broken bones.

As ground breaking as this invention was, the brothers were not granted a patent in 1903. But with the help of a patent attorney, they were granted a patent in 1908 for the creation of an item, generically called a "flying machine."(Wright 1903) as ground breaking as… READ MORE

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