Wright Brothers National Memorial, North CarolinaEast, Omega G.
History
Wright Brothers National Memorial, North Carolina
East, Omega G.
Wright Brothers National Memorial (N.C.); Wright, Orville, 1871-1948; Wright, Wilbur, 1867-1912
The trials of the 1902 glider were successful beyond expectation. Nearly
1,000 glider flights were made by the Wrights from Kill Devil, West, and
Little Hills. A number of their glides were of more than 600 feet, and a
few of them were against a 36-mile-an-hour wind. Flying in winds so
strong required great skill on the part of the operator. No previous
experimenter had ever dared to try gliding in so stiff a wind. Orville
wrote his sister, “We now hold all the records! The largest machine we
handled in any kind [of weather, made the longest dis]tance glide
(American), the longest time in the air, the smallest angle of descent,
and the highest wind!!!” Their record glide for distance was 622½ feet
in 26 seconds. Their record glide for angle was an angle of 5° for a
glide of 156 feet. The 1902 glider had about twice the dynamic
efficiency of any other glider ever built up to that time anywhere in
the world.
By the end of the 1902 season of experiments, the Wrights had solved two
of the major problems: how properly to design wings and control surfaces
and how to control a flying machine about its three axes. Most of the
battle was now won. There remained only the major problem of adding the
engine and propellers. Before leaving camp, the brothers began designing
a new and still larger machine to be powered with a motor.
It was the 1902 glider that the Wrights pictured and described in the
drawings and specifications of their patent, which they applied for in
March of the following year. Their patent was established, through the
action of the courts in the United States and abroad, as the basic or
pioneer airplane patent.
_The Motor and the Propellers_
Home again in Dayton, the Wrights were ready to carry out plans begun in
camp at Kill Devil Hills for a powered machine. They invited bids for a
gasoline engine which would develop 8 to 9 horsepower, weigh no more
than 180 pounds or an average of 20 pounds per horsepower, and be free
of vibrations. None of the manufacturers to whom they wrote was able to
supply them with a motor light enough to meet these specifications. The
Wrights therefore designed and built their own motor, with their
mechanic, Charles E. Taylor, giving them enthusiastic help in the
construction.
[Illustration: The Wright motor used in the first flights of Dec.
17, 1903, after its reconstruction in 1928.]
The engine body and frame of the first “little gas motor” which they
began building in December 1902 broke while being tested. Rebuilding the
light-weight motor, they shop-tested it in May 1903. In its final form
the motor used in the first powered flights had 4 horizontal cylinders
of 4-inch bore and 4-inch stroke, with an aluminum-alloy crankcase and
water jacket. The fuel tank had a capacity of four-tenths of a gallon of
gasoline. The entire power plant including the engine, magneto,
radiator, tank, water, fuel, tubing, and accessories weighed a little
more than 200 pounds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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