the wright brothers- example of daring lead us to success

7/23/2019 The Wright Brothers- Example of Daring Lead Us to Success

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THE WRIGHT BROTHERS

The story of Wilbur and Orville Wright. The Wright Brothers made a

small engine-powered ying machine and proved that it waspossible for humans to really y. Wilbur Wright was born in

Eighteen-Sity-Seven near !elville" #ndiana. $is brother Orville was

born four years later in %ayton" Ohio. Throughout their lives" they

were best friends. &s Wilbur once said' ()rom the time we were

little children" Orville and # lived together" played together" wor*ed

together and thought together.( Wilbur and Orville++s father was a

bishop" an o,cial of the nited Brethren hurch. $e traveled a lot

on church business. Their mother was unusual for a woman of the

nineteenth century. She had completed college. She was especially

good at mathematics and science. &nd she was good at using toolsto / things or ma*e things. One winter day when the Wright

brothers were young" all their friends were outside sliding down a

hill on wooden sleds. The Wright brothers were sad" because they

did not have a sled. So" !issus Wright said she would ma*e one for

them. She drew a picture of a sled. #t did not loo* li*e other sleds. #t

was lower to the ground and not as wide. She told the boys it would

be faster" because there would be less resistance from the wind

when they rode on it. !issus Wright was correct. When the sled was

/nished" it was the fastest one around. Wilbur and Orville felt li*ethey were ying. The sled pro0ect taught the Wright brothers two

important rules. They learned they could increase speed by

reducing wind resistance. &nd they learned the importance of

drawing a design. !issus Wright said' (#f you draw it correctly on

paper" it will be right when you build it.( When Wilbur was eleven

years old and Orville seven" Bishop Wright brought home a gift for

them. #t was a small ying machine that ew li*e helicopters of

today. #t was made of paper" bamboo and cor*. The motor was a

rubber band that had to be turned many times until it was tight.

When the person holding the toy helicopter let go" it rose straightup. #t stayed in the air for a few seconds. Then it oated down to

the oor. Wilbur and Orville played and played with their new toy.

)inally" the paper tore and the rubber band bro*e. They made

another one. But it was too heavy to y. Their /rst ying machine

failed. Their attempts to ma*e the toy gave them a new idea. They

would ma*e *ites to y and sell to their friends. They made many


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designs and tested them. )inally" they had the right design. The

*ites ew as though they had wings. The Wright brothers continued

to eperiment with mechanical things. Orville started a printing

business when he was in high school. $e used a small printing

machine to publish a newspaper. $e sold copies of the newspaper to

the other children in school" but he did not earn much money from

the pro0ect. Wilbur o1ered some advice to his younger brother.

!a*e the printing press bigger and publish a bigger newspaper" he

said. So" together" they designed and built one. The machine loo*ed

strange. 2et it wor*ed perfectly. Soon" Orville and Wilbur were

publishing a wee*ly newspaper. They also printed materials for local

businessmen. They were /nally earning money. Wilbur was twenty-

/ve years old and Orville twenty-one when they began to sell and

repair bicycles. Then they began to ma*e them. But the Wright

brothers never stopped thin*ing about ying machines. #n Eighteen-3inety-3ine" Wilbur decided to learn about all the di1erent *inds of

ying machines that had been designed and tested through the

years. Wilbur wrote to the Smithsonian #nstitution in Washington.

$e as*ed for all the information it had on ying. The Wright

brothers read everything they could about people who sailed

through the air under huge balloons. They also read about people

who tried to y on gliders -- planes with wings" but no motors. Then

the Wright brothers began to design their own ying machine. They

used the ideas they had developed from their earlier eperiments

with the toy helicopter" *ites" printing machine and bicycles. Soon"

they needed a place to test their ideas about ight. They wrote to

the Weather Bureau in Washington to /nd the place with the best

wind con444ions. The best place seemed to be a thin piece of sandy

land in 3orth arolina along the coast of the &tlantic Ocean. #t was

called 5ill %evil $ill" near the town of 5itty $aw*. #t had the right

wind and open space. Best of all" it was private. #n 3ineteen-

$undred" the Wright brothers tested a glider that could carry a

person. But neither the /rst or second glider they built had the

lifting power needed for real ight. Wilbur and Orville decided thatwhat they had read about air pressure on curved surfaces was

wrong. So they built a wind tunnel two meters long in their bicycle

store in %ayton" Ohio. They tested more than two-hundred designs

of wings. These tests gave them the correct information about air

pressure on curved surfaces. 3ow it was possible for them to design

a machine that could y. The Wright brothers built a third glider.


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They too* it to 5itty $aw* in the summer of 3ineteen-Oh-Two. They

made almost one-thousand ights with the glider. Some covered

more than one-hundred-eighty meters. This glider proved that they

had solved most of the problems of balance in ight. By the autumn

of 3ineteen-Oh-Three" Wilbur and Orville had designed and built an

airplane powered by a gasoline engine. The plane had wings twelve

meters across. #t weighed about three-hundred-forty *ilograms"

including the pilot. The Wright brothers returned to 5itty $aw*. On

%ecember Seventeen" 3ineteen-Oh-Three" they made the world++s

/rst ight in a machine that was heavier than air and powered by an

engine. Orville ew the plane thirty-seven meters. $e was in the air

for twelve seconds. The two brothers made three more ights that

day. The longest was made by Wilbur. $e ew two-hundred-sity

meters in /fty-nine seconds. )our other men watched the Wright

brothers++ /rst ights. One of the men too* pictures. )ewnewspapers" however" noted the event. Wilbur and Orville returned

home to Ohio. They built more powerful engines and ew better

airplanes. But they success was almost un*nown. !ost people still

did not believe ying was possible. #t was almost /ve years before

the Wright brothers became famous. #n 3ineteen-Oh-Eight" Wilbur

went to )rance. $e gave demonstration ights at heights of ninety

meters. & )rench company agreed to begin ma*ing the Wright

brothers++ ying machine. Orville made successful ights in the

nited States at the time Wilbur was in )rance. One lasted an hour.

Orville also made /fty-seven complete circles over a /eld at )ort

!yer" 6irginia. The nited States War %epartment agreed to buy a

Wright brothers++ plane. Wilbur and Orville suddenly became world

heroes. 3ewspapers wrote long stories about them. rowds

followed them. But they were not see*ing fame. They returned to

%ayton where they continued to improve their airplanes. They

taught many others how to y. Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever

in 3ineteen-Twelve. Orville Wright continued designing and

inventing until he died many years later" in 3ineteen-)orty-

Eight. Today" the Wright brothers++ /rst airplane is in the &ir andSpace !useum in Washington" %.. 6isitors to the museum loo* at

the Wright brothers++ small plane with its cloth wings" wooden

controls and tiny engine. Then they see space vehicles and a roc*

collected from the moon. This is stri*ing evidence of the changes in

the world since Wilbur and Orville Wright began the modern age of

ight" one-hundred years ago.


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the wright brothers- example of daring lead us to success

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