* Cited in Turner, "The Romance of Aeronautics".
When the Wrights determined to fly, two problems which had beset earlier experimenters had been partially solved. Experience had brought out certain facts regarding the wings; and invention had supplied an engine. But the laws governing the balancing and steering of the machine were unknown. The way of a man in the air had yet to be discovered.
The starting point of their theory of flight seems to have been that man was endowed with an intelligence at least equal to that of the bird; and, that with practice he could learn to balance himself in the air as naturally and instinctively as on the ground. He must and could be, like the bird, the controlling intelligence of his machine. To quote Wilbur Wright again:
"It seemed to us that the main reason why the problem had remained so long unsolved was that no one had been able to obtain any adequate practice. Lilienthal in five years of time had spent only five hours in actual gliding through the air. The wonder was not that he had done so little but that he had accomplished so much. It would not be considered at all safe for a bicycle rider to attempt to ride through a crowded city street after only five hours' practice spread out in bits of ten seconds each over a period of five years, yet Lilienthal with his brief practice was remarkably successful in meeting the fluctuations and eddies of wind gusts. We thought that if some method could be found by which it would be possible to practice by the hour instead of by the second, there would be a hope of advancing the solution of a very difficult problem."
The brothers found that winds of the velocity they desired for their experiments were common on the coast of North Carolina. They pitched their camp at Kitty Hawk in October, 1900, and made a brief and successful trial of their gliding machine. Next year, they returned with a much larger machine; and in 1902 they continued their experiments with a model still further improved from their first design. Having tested their theories and become convinced that they were definitely on the right track, they were no longer satisfied merely to glide. They set about constructing a power machine. Here a new problem met them. They had decided on two screw propellers rotating in opposite directions on the principle of wings in flight; but the proper diameter, pitch, and area of blade were not easily arrived at.
On December 17, 1903, the first Wright biplane was ready to navigate the air and made four brief successful flights. Subsequent flights in 1904 demonstrated that the problem of equilibrium had not been fully solved; but the experiments of 1905 banished this difficulty.
The responsibility which the Wrights placed upon the aviator for maintaining his equilibrium, and the tailless design of their machine, caused much headshaking among foreign flying men when Wilbur Wright appeared at the great aviation meet in France in 1908. But he won the Michelin Prize of eight hundred pounds by beating previous records for speed and for the time which any machine had remained in the air. He gave exhibitions also in Germany and Italy and instructed Italian army officers in the flying of Wright machines. At this time Orville was giving similar demonstrations in America. Transverse control, the warping device invented by the Wright brothers for the preservation of lateral balance and for artificial inclination in making turns, has been employed in a similar or modified form in most airplanes since constructed.
There was no "mine" or "thine" in the diction of the Wright brothers; only "we" and "ours." They were joint inventors; they shared their fame equally and all their honors and prizes also until the death of Wilbur in 1912. They were the first inventors to make the ancient dream of flying man a reality and to demonstrate that reality to the practical world.
When the NC flying boats of the United States navy lined up at Trepassey in May, 1919, for their Atlantic venture, and the press was full of pictures of them, how many hasty readers, eager only for news of the start, stopped to think what the initials NC stood for?
The seaplane is the chief contribution of Glenn Hammond Curtiss to aviation, and the Navy Curtiss Number Four, which made the first transatlantic flight in history, was designed by him. The spirit of cooperation, expressed in pooling ideas and fame, which the Wright brothers exemplified, is seen again in the association of Curtiss with the navy during the war. NC is a fraternity badge signifying equal honors.
Curtiss, in 1900, was—like the Wrights—the owner of a small bicycle shop. It was at Hammondsport, New York. He was an enthusiastic cyclist, and speed was a mania with him. He evolved a motor cycle with which he broke all records for speed over the ground. He started a factory and achieved a reputation for excellent motors. He designed and made the engine for the dirigible of Captain Thomas S. Baldwin; and for the first United States army dirigible in 1905.
Curtiss carried on some of his experiments in association with Alexander Graham Bell, who was trying to evolve a stable flying machine on the principle of the cellular kite. Bell and Curtiss, with three others, formed in 1907, the Aerial Experimental Association at Bell's country house in Canada, which was fruitful of results, and Curtiss scored several notable triumphs with the craft they designed. But the idea of a machine which could descend and propel itself on water possessed his mind, and in 1911 he exhibited at the aviation meet in Chicago the hydroaeroplane. An incident there set him dreaming of the life-saving systems on great waters. His hydroaeroplane had just returned to its hangar, after a series of maneuvers, when a monoplane in flight broke out of control and plunged into Lake Michigan. The Curtiss machine left its hangar on the minute, covered the intervening mile, and alighted on the water to offer aid. The presence of boats made the good offices of the hydroaeroplane unnecessary on that occasion; but the incident opened up to the mind of Curtiss new possibilities.
In the first years of the World War Curtiss built airplanes and flying boats for the Allies. The United States entered the arena and called for his services. The Navy Department called for the big flying boat; and the NC type was evolved, which, equipped with four Liberty Motors, crossed the Atlantic after the close of the war.
The World War, of course, brought about the magical development of all kinds of air craft. Necessity not only mothered invention but forced it to cover a normal half century of progress in four years. While Curtiss worked with the navy, the Dayton-Wright factory turned out the famous DH fighting planes under the supervision of Orville Wright. The second initial here stands for Havilland, as the DH was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland, a British inventor.
The year 1919 saw the first transatlantic flights. The NC4, with Lieutenant Commander Albert Cushing Read and crew, left Trepassey, Newfoundland, on the 16th of May and in twelve hours arrived at Horta, the Azores, more than a thousand miles away. All along the course the navy had strung a chain of destroyers, with signaling apparatus and searchlights to guide the aviators. On the twenty-seventh, NC4 took off from San Miguel, Azores, and in nine hours made Lisbon—Lisbon, capital of Portugal, which sent out the first bold mariners to explore the Sea of Darkness, prior to Columbus. On the thirtieth, NC4 took off for Plymouth, England, and arrived in ten hours and twenty minutes. Perhaps a phantom ship, with sails set and flags blowing, the name Mayflower on her hull, rode in Plymouth Harbor that day to greet a New England pilot.
On the 14th of June the Vickers-Vimy Rolls-Royce biplane, piloted by John Alcock and with Arthur Whitten Brown as observer-navigator, left St. John's, Newfoundland, and arrived at Clifden, Ireland, in sixteen hours twelve minutes, having made the first non-stop transatlantic flight. Hawker and Grieve meanwhile had made the same gallant attempt in a single-engined Sopwith machine; and had come down in mid-ocean, after flying fourteen and a half hours, owing to the failure of their water circulation. Their rescue by slow Danish Mary completed a fascinating tale of heroic adventure. The British dirigible R34, with Major G. H. Scott in command, left East Fortune, Scotland, on the 2d of July, and arrived at Mineola, New York, on the sixth. The R34 made the return voyage in seventy-five hours. In November, 1919, Captain Sir Ross Smith set off from England in a biplane to win a prize of ten thousand pounds offered by the Australian Commonwealth to the first Australian aviator to fly from England to Australia in thirty days. Over France, Italy, Greece, over the Holy Land, perhaps over the Garden of Eden, whence the winged cherubim drove Adam and Eve, over Persia, India, Siam, the Dutch East Indies to Port Darwin in northern Australia; and then southeastward across Australia itself to Sydney, the biplane flew without mishap. The time from Hounslow, England, to Port Darwin was twenty-seven days, twenty hours, and twenty minutes. Early in 1920 the Boer airman Captain Van Ryneveld made the flight from Cairo to the Cape.
Commercial development of the airplane and the airship commenced after the war. The first air service for United States mails was, in fact, inaugurated during the war, between New York and Washington. The transcontinental service was established soon afterwards, and a regular line between Key West and Havana. French and British companies began to operate daily between London and Paris carrying passengers and mail. Airship companies were formed in Australia, South Africa, and India. In Canada airplanes were soon being used in prospecting the Labrador timber regions, in making photographs and maps of the northern wilderness, and by the Northwest Mounted Police.
It is not for history to prophesy. "Emblem of much, and of our Age of Hope itself," Carlyle called the balloon of his time, born to mount majestically but "unguidably" only to tumble "whither Fate will." But the aircraft of our day is guidable, and our Age of Hope is not rudderless nor at the mercy of Fate.
A clear, non-technical discussion of the basis of all industrial progress is "Power", by Charles E. Lucke (1911), which discusses the general principle of the substitution of power for the labor of men. Many of the references given in "Colonial Folkways", by C. M. Andrews ("The Chronicles of America", vol. IX), are valuable for an understanding of early industrial conditions. The general course of industry and commerce in the United States is briefly told by Carroll D. Wright in "The Industrial Evolution of the United States" (1907), by E. L. Bogart in "The Economic History of the United States" (1920), and by Katharine Coman in "The Industrial History of the United States" (1911). "A Documentary History of American Industrial Society", 10 vols. (1910-11), edited by John R. Commons, is a mine of material. See also Emerson D. Fite, "Social and Industrial Conditions in the North During the Civil War" (1910). The best account of the inventions of the nineteenth century is "The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century" by Edward W. Byrn (1900). George Iles in "Leading American Inventors" (1912) tells the story of several important inventors and their work. The same author in "Flame, Electricity and the Camera" (1900) gives much valuable information.
The primary source of information on Benjamin Franklin is contained in his own writings. These were compiled and edited by Jared Sparks, "The Works of... Franklin... with Notes and a Life of the Author", 10 vols. (1836-40); and later by John Bigelow, "The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin; including His Private as well as His Official and Scientific Correspondence, and Numerous Letters and Documents Now for the First Time Printed, with Many Others not included in Any Former Collection, also, the Unmutilated and Correct Version of His Autobiography", 10 vols. (1887-88). Consult also James Parton, "The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin", 2 vols. (1864); S. G. Fisher, "The True Benjamin Franklin" (1899); Paul Leicester Ford, "The Many-Sided Franklin" (1899); John T. Morse, "Benjamin Franklin" (1889) in the "American Statesmen" series; and Lindsay Swift, "Benjamin Franklin" (1910) in "Beacon Biographies. On the Patent Office: Henry L. Ellsworth, A Digest of Patents Issued by the United States from 1790 to January 1, 1839" (Washington, 1840); also the regular Reports and publications of the United States Patent Office.
The first life of Eli Whitney is the "Memoir" by Denison Olmsted (1846), and a collection of Whitney's letters about the cotton gin may be found in "The American Historical Review", vol. III (1897). "Eli Whitney and His Cotton Gin," by M. F. Foster, is included in the "Transactions of the New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association", no. 67 (October, 1899). See also Dwight Goddard, "A Short Story of Eli Whitney" (1904); D. A. Tompkins, "Cotton and Cotton Oil" (1901); James A. B. Scherer, "Cotton as a World Power" (1916); E. C. Bates, "The Story of the Cotton Gin" (1899), reprinted from "The New England Magazine", May, 1890; and Eugene Clyde Brooks, "The Story of Cotton and the Development of the Cotton States" (1911).
For an account of James Watt's achievements, see J. Cleland, "Historical Account of the Steam Engine" (1825) and John W. Grant, "Watt and the Steam Age" (1917). On Fulton: R. H. Thurston, "Robert Fulton" (1891) in the "Makers of America" series; A. C. Sutcliffe, "Robert Fulton and the 'Clermont'" (1909); H. W. Dickinson, "Robert Fulton, Engineer and Artist; His Life and Works" (1913). For an account of John Stevens, see George Iles, "Leading American Inventors" (1912), and Dwight Goddard, "A Short Story of John Stevens and His Sons in Eminent Engineers" (1905). See also John Stevens, "Documents Tending to Prove the Superior Advantages of Rail-Ways and Steam-Carriages over Canal Navigation" (1819.), reprinted in "The Magazine of History with Notes and Queries", Extra Number 54 (1917). On Evans: "Oliver Evans and His Inventions," by Coleman Sellers, in "The Journal of the Franklin Institute", July, 1886, vol. CXXII.
On the general subject of cotton manufacture and machinery, see: J. L. Bishop, "History of American Manufactures from 1608 to 1860", 3 vols. (1864-67); Samuel Batchelder, "Introduction and Early Progress of the Cotton Manufacture in the United States" (1863); James Montgomery, "A Practical Detail of the Cotton Manufacture of the United States of America" (1840); Melvin T. Copeland, "The Cotton Manufacturing Industry of the United States" (1912); and John L. Hayes, "American Textile Machinery" (1879). Harriet H. Robinson, "Loom and Spindle" (1898), is a description of the life of girl workers in the early factories written by one of them. Charles Dickens, "American Notes", Chapter IV, is a vivid account of the life in the Lowell mills. See also Nathan Appleton, "Introduction of the Power Loom and Origin of Lowell" (1858); H. A. Miles, "Lowell, as It Was, and as It Is" (1845), and G. S. White, "Memoir of Samuel Slater" (1836). On Elias Howe, see Dwight Goddard, "A Short Story of Elias Howe in Eminent Engineers" (1905).
The story of the reaper is told in: Herbert N. Casson, "Cyrus Hall McCormick; His Life and Work" (1909), and "The Romance of the Reaper" (1908), and Merritt F. Miller, "Evolution of Reaping Machines" (1902), U. S. Experiment Stations Office, Bulletin 103. Other farm inventions are covered in: William Macdonald, "Makers of Modern Agriculture" (1913); Emile Guarini, "The Use of Electric Power in Plowing" in The "Electrical Review", vol. XLIII; A. P. Yerkes, "The Gas Tractor in Eastern Farming" (1918), U. S. Department of Agriculture, Farmer's Bulletin 1004; and Herbert N. Casson and others, "Horse, Truck and Tractor; the Coming of Cheaper Power for City and Farm" (1913).
An account of an early "agent of communication" is given by W. F. Bailey, article on the "Pony Express" in "The Century Magazine", vol. XXXIV (1898). For the story of the telegraph and its inventors, see: S. I. Prime, "Life of Samuel F. B. Morse" (1875); S. F. B. Morse, "The Electro-Magnetic Telegraph" (1858) and "Examination of the Telegraphic Apparatus and the Process in Telegraphy" (1869); Guglielmo Marconi, "The Progress of Wireless Telegraphy" (1912) in the "Transactions of the New York Electrical Society", no. 15; and Ray Stannard Baker, "Marconi's Achievement" in McClure's Magazine, vol. XVIII (1902). On the telephone, see Herbert N. Casson, "History of the Telephone" (1910); and Alexander Graham Bell, "The Telephone" (1878). On the cable: Charles Bright, "The Story of the Atlantic Cable" (1903). For facts in the history of printing and descriptions of printing machines, see: Edmund G. Gress, "American Handbook of Printing" (1907); Robert Hoe, "A Short History of the Printing Press and of the Improvements in Printing Machinery" (1902); and Otto Schoenrich, "Biography of Ottmar Mergenthaler and History of the Linotype" (1898), written under Mr. Mergenthaler's direction. On the best-known New York newspapers, see: H. Hapgood and A. B. Maurice, "The Great Newspapers of the United States; the New York Newspapers," in "The Bookman", vols. XIV and XV (1902). On the typewriter, see Charles Edward Weller, "The Early History of the Typewriter" (1918). On the camera, Paul Lewis Anderson, "The Story of Photography" (1918) in "The Mentor", vol. vi, no. 19.; and on the motion picture, Colin N. Bennett, "The Handbook of Kinematography"; "The History, Theory and Practice of Motion Photography and Projection", London: "Kinematograph Weekly" (1911).
For information on the subject of rubber and the life of Charles Goodyear, see: H. Wickham, "On the Plantation, Cultivation and Curing of Para Indian Rubber", London (1908); Francis Ernest Lloyd, "Guayule, a Rubber Plant of the Chihuahuan Desert", Washington (1911), Carnegie Institute publication no. 139; Charles Goodyear, "Gum Elastic and Its Varieties" (1853); James Parton, "Famous Americans of Recent Times" (1867); and "The Rubber Industry, Being the Official Report of the Proceedings of the International Rubber Congress" (London, 1911), edited by Joseph Torey and A. Staines Manders.
J. W. Roe, "English and American Tool Builders" (1916), and J. V. Woodworth, "American Tool Making and Interchangeable Manufacturing" (1911), give general accounts of great American mechanics.
For an account of John Stevens and Robert L. and E. A. Stevens, see George Iles, "Leading American Inventors" (1912); Dwight Goddard, "A Short Story of John Stevens and His Sons" in "Eminent Engineers" (1905), and R. H. Thurston, "The Messrs. Stevens, of Hoboken, as Engineers, Naval Architects and Philanthropists" (1874), "Journal of the Franklin Institute", October, 1874. For Whitney's contribution to machine shop methods, see Olmsted's "Memoir" already cited and Roe and Woodworth, already cited. For Blanchard, see Dwight Goddard, "A Short Story of Thomas Blanchard" in "Eminent Engineers" (1905), and for Samuel Colt, see his own "On the Application of Machinery to the Manufacture of Rotating Chambered-Breech Fire Arms, and Their Peculiarities" (1855), an excerpt from the "Minutes of Proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers", vol. XI (1853), and Henry Barnard, "Armsmear; the Home, the Arm, and the Armory of Samuel Colt" (1866).
"The Story of Electricity" (1919) is a popular history edited by T. C. Martin and S. L. Coles. A more specialized account of electrical inventions may be found in George Bartlett Prescott's "The Speaking Telephone, Electric Light, and Other Recent Electrical Inventions" (1879).
For Joseph Henry's achievements, see his own "Contributions to Electricity and Galvanism" (1835-42) and "On the Application of the Principle of the Galvanic Multiplier to Electromagnetic Apparatus" (1831), and the accounts of others in Henry C. Cameron's "Reminiscences of Joseph Henry" and W. B. Taylor's "Historical Sketch of Henry's Contribution to the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph" (1879), Smithsonian Report, 1878.
"A List of References on the Life and Inventions of Thomas A. Edison" may be found in the Division of Bibliography, U. S. Library of Congress (1916). See also F. L. Dyer and T. C. Martin, "Edison; His Life and Inventions" (1910), and "Mr. Edison's Reminiscences of the First Central Station" in "The Electrical Review", vol. XXXVIII. On other special topics see: F. E. Leupp, "George Westinghouse, His Life and Achievements" (1918); Elihu Thomson, "Induction of Electric Currents and Induction Coils" (1891), "Journal of the Franklin Institute", August, 1891; and Alex Dow, "The Production of Electricity by Steam Power" (1917).
Charles C. Turner, "The Romance of Aeronautics" (1912); "The Curtiss Aviation Book", by Glenn H. Curtiss and Augustus Post (1912); Samuel Pierpont Langley and Charles M. Manly, "Langley Memoir on Mechanical Flight" (Smithsonian Institution, 1911); "Our Atlantic Attempt", by H. G. Hawker and K. Mackenzie Grieve (1919); "Flying the Atlantic in Sixteen Hours", by Sir Arthur Whitten Brown (1920); "Practical Aeronautics", by Charles B. Hayward, with an Introduction by Orville Wright (1912); "Aircraft; Its Development in War and Peace", by Evan J. David (1919). Accounts of the flights across the Atlantic are given in "The Aerial Year Book and Who's Who in the Air" (1920), and the story of NC4 is told in "The Flight Across the Atlantic", issued by the Department of Education, Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Corporation (1919).