SOME AERONAUTK'AL EXPER.IMKNTS/' 



Mr. Wilbur Wright, Dayton. Ohio. 



[Presented to the Western Society of Engineers Se|)tenil)er is, iviOl.] 



INTRODUCTION liV TRESIDENT CIIANUTE. 



''Enoinoers have, until recent years, fought shy of anything- relat- 

 ing to aerial navigation. Those who ventured, in spite of the odium 

 attached to that study, to look into it at all became very soon satisfied 

 that the great obstacle in the way was the lack of a motor sufficiently 

 light to sustain its weight and that of an aeroplane upon the air. Fif- 

 teen years ago the lightest steam motor was the marine engine, weighing 

 60 pounds to the horsepower, while the gas engine weighed very much 

 more; the locomotive weighed 200 pounds per horsepower. During 

 the past fifteen years a great change has taken place. Steam motors 

 have been produced weighing only 10 pounds per horsepower, and gas 

 engines have been lightened down to 12^ to 15 pounds per horsepower, 

 so that the status, so far as engineers are concerned, is very greatly 

 changed, and there is some hope that, for some limited purposes at 

 least, man will eventually be able to Hy through the air. There is, 

 however, Ixd'ore that can be carried out — l)efore a motor can be ap])lied 

 to a Hying machine — an important prol)lem to solve - that of safety or 

 that of stability. 



"] had the honor of tidling you, some foui' or five years ago, some- 

 thing al)out the progress that had l)een made up to that time. Since 

 then further advances have been made by two gentlemen from Day- 

 ton, Ohio— Mr. Wilbur Wright and Mr.'Orville VV^-ight— who tried 

 some very interesting experiments in Octol)er, 1900. These experi- 

 ments were conducted on the seashore of North Carolina, and were 

 again resumed last July. These gentleiuen have been bold enough to 

 attempt some things which neither Lilienthal. nor Pilcher, noi- myself 

 dared to do. They have used sui'faces very uuu-h greater in extent 

 than those which hitherto had Ix'en deemed safe, and they have accom- 

 plished very remarkal>le results, part of which it was my privilege to 

 see on a visit which 1 made to their cam}) about a month ago. 



"1 thought it would l)e interesting to the mendiers of this society to 

 be the first to learn of the results accomplished, and therefore I have 

 the honor of presenting to j'ou Mr. Wilbur ^Vright."' 



f' Reprinted by permission, after revision by the author, from Journal of the West- 

 ern Society of Engineers, Decomlier, 1901 . 



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