On this day in 1903, the Wright Brothers, two American aviation pioneers, after having invented and designed the world’s first successful motor-operated airplane, applied for a patent on their device. The patent would not be awarded until three years later.
Orville and Wilbur Wright began their exploration of a ‘flying machine’ after having honed in their mechanical skills working in their shop that catered to printing presses, bicycles and machinery. Their work with bicycles and motor run machines led them to begin work on their contribution to the efforts of human aviation; they saw bicycles as a demonstration that an originally unbalanced machine could be controlled under practice. Beginning in 1900, the Wright brothers began extensive work developing their device, relying on the glider test so as to extensively improve their work. By 1903, their dreams of a flying machine had come to fruition.
Vital to the Wright brothers’ work was their creation of the three axis control system which served to implement stability to an originally imbalanced object; a fact that they had recognized within the bicycle. The three axis control system, having been modernized and is still in use today within products of aviation, differed greatly from the mentality used by other engineers – many of whom believed a larger and more powerful engine to be the key to flight. Having designed their aircraft, on March 23rd of 1903, the Wright brothers applied for a patent on their design. Although the patent would not be awarded until three years later, by December of that same year, the two brothers succeeded in achieving their first extended flight in the ‘Wright Flyer’.
Designing and creating the world’s first motor-operated flying machine is by no means a small feat. The brothers’ work and commitment to the progression of engineering and machination has given way to one of the most influential changes in modern history. From wars to passenger travel, the airplane has transformed the way we live our lives.
Today In History 