The Wright Family's History

On April 16, 1867, Milton and Susan Wright welcomed their third child into the Wright household near Millville, Indiana. The newest member of the family, Orville, had two older brothers to deal with: Reuchlin, 6, and Lorin, 4. Little did the family know that the newest Wright will soon become the first half of one of the world's most famous inventive partnerships. Two years later, the other half of the duo, Orville, was born, on August 19, 1871. Orville, including his sister Katherine, 3 years younger than him, were born in the family's newly built home at 7 Hawthorn Street in Dayton, Ohio.

7 Hawthorn Street was to remain in the family's possessions for many years. The household was a stimulating place for the children. The house had two libraries: Books on theology were kept in the bishop's study, while the downstairs library had a large and diverse collection. Although Wilbur and Orville's father was a firm disciplinarian, both parents were loving and the family was a close one.

As a minister in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Milton Wright moved the family to Dayton, Ohio to become an editor for the church newspaper published there. Until 1878 they stayed in Dayton, and when Milton was elected bishop he moved the family once again to Iowa. They moved back to 7 Hawthorn Street in 1885.

As youngsters, Wilbur and Orville depended on their mother for mechanical expertise and their father for intellectual challenge. Milton brought the boys a variety of souvenirs and trinkets he collected during constant travels with the church. One such trinket sparked the boys' interest in flying: a toy helicopter like top. Orville wrote of his childhood: "We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity."

When in school, Wilbur excelled, and would have graduated had his family not move to Richmond, Indiana during his senior year. He left Richmond without receiving his diploma, and returned to Central High School the next year for further studies in Greek and trigonometry. Orville was an average student, known for his mischievous behavior. He dropped out before his senior year to start a printing business.

During the winter of 1885 and 1886, Wilbur was hit with in the face with a bat while playing an ice-skating game. The injury at first did not seem serious. A few weeks later, he began to be affected with nervous palpitations of the heart which precluded the realization of the former idea of his parents. For the next four years, Wilbur remained homebound, suffering perhaps as much from depression as from his vaguely-defined heart disorder. During this period, Wilbur cared for his mother Susan, who was suffering from tuberculosis, thus keeping him from attending college. Susan Wright died in the summer of 1889.

In 1890, Wilbur joined Orville in the printing business, serving as editor for The West Side News, a weekly newspaper for their west Dayton neighborhood. It was modestly successful, and the Brothers began a daily, the Evening Item, in 1891. However, they couldn't compete with larger, more established daily newspapers, and after a few months they went back to being simple job printers.

At the ages of 18 and 20, they started their own printing business. It was then that they finally referred to themselves as "The Wright Brothers." With a used tombstone and buggy parts, they built a press and printed odd jobs as well as their own newspaper. In 1892, the brothers bought bicycles. They repaired bicycles for friends, then started their own repair business. Their first bicycle shop was opened in 1893, and three years later, created their own bicycles called Van Cleves and St. Clairs.

While nursing the typhoid struck Orville in 1896, Wilbur was reading about the death of a famous German pilot. The news influenced him to take an interest in flying. On May 30, 1899, he wrote to the Smithsonian Institute for information and aeronautical research.

Within few months after writing to the institute, Wilbur has read all that was written on flying. He defined the elements of a flying machine: Wings to provide lift, a power source for propulsion, and a system of control. Wilbur alone, of all the early aviators, recognized needs to control a flying machine in it three axes of motion: Pitch, roll, and yaw. His solution to the problem of control was "wing warping." He came up with a revolutionary system by twisting and empty bicycle tube box with the ends removed. Twisting the surface of each "wing" changed its position in relation to oncoming wind. Such changes in the position would result in changes in the direction of flight. Wilbur successfully tested his theory using a small kite.

The Wright brothers success was mostly credited to Wilbur's wing design which he found by designing and using a wind tunnel to make multiple designs for wings and other aero dynamic designs. The plane flew because of two engines on the back which caused the plane to go about thirty-one miles per hour, and their plane flew for about 12 seconds.

The competitors who were in this race mostly had gliders, all except for the Wright Brothers and the team of Langley and Manly. Langley and Manly were two gentlemen from Virginia, who attempted to fly their plane from a houseboat that had a slingshot like device on top. Manly played a large roll in this because he developed the engine that was used on the Aerodrome, which was the name of their plane, and was the pilot. Professor Langley designed the plane and the launching pad used for the Aerodrome, but both attempts to fly were failures, and on the second attempt, Prof. Manly almost drowned in the crash, and Prof. Langley was humiliated from the failures, and ceased to continue trying.

The other pilots who were trying to make heavier than air aircraft, was Otto Lilienthal, and Octave Chanute. They both made gliders and they worked. Lilienthal made a standard sailing machine, which was a glider that was maneuvered by the shifting of his own weight. The glider had a general shape of wings from a bird, but unlike some early flying machines that mocked the mechanics of a bird, the wings did not flap. Lilienthal was a German aerial experimenter, and was credited as a true aeronautical engineer. He developed the theory of flight and applied what he had learned to gliders that he designed

The Wright Brothers made an impact on history by being the first to create the first heavier than air self-powered flying machine, and when their flying machine was built, it was manufactured for transportation purposes, which is also what it is still used for today, and the modern planes use the same parts as the 1903 Wright flyer. The parts consist of a rudder to control the movement from left to right, and the ailerons, which cause the plane to go up and down, controllably. The Wright Brothers later manufactured a warplane for the United States Army Signal Corp., which changed history in a way of war. It has changed it because now in wars, armies lose fewer men because of the aircraft. An example would be in the civil war, before the airplane was invented, America lost 110,070 men, and in the gulf war America lost 246 men. The evolution in aircraft has changed everyone's life. It has made transportation faster and safer, and has changed war from the long lines of soldiers to a line of aircraft in the sky that cause more damage faster than a line of soldiers would.

Even though Frank H. Wenham is generally credited with designing and operation of the first wind tunnel in 1871, the Wright Brothers are credited for being the first to build their own, and use it to help with the building of a heavier than air airplane. The Wright Brothers wind tunnel gave such accurate results that it was the reason for their success at Kitty Hawk. Because of the wind tunnel, Wilbur was able to create a wing that would create lift, and that wing was used on the Wright Flyer. The wind tunnel is an important part of history because it is the reason we are able to send space shuttles into space, and have airplanes such as the Concorde, which is probably the most sophisticated plane built by man.

The wind tunnel has been updated many times since the Wright Brothers. The success of the wind tunnel was when Wilbur needed a design for a wing to make glider fly longer. He tested different designs in the wind tunnel, found one that worked, tested it on his glider, and found that it worked. There were two gliders, the 1901 glider, which prompted the construction of the wind tunnel, then led to the success the 1902 glider, which flew for 620 ft. The same wing design was used for the rest of their planes, and is still used today. The wind tunnel helped Wilbur with the Wing Warping concept. He put the wings in the wind tunnel at different angles and found that the wind went over it in a different way and caused it to move in different directions, which prompted the making of ailerons and rudders. The wind tunnel today has speeds up to Mach 6, and the biggest wind tunnel today is 80 ft. x 100 ft.

The wind tunnel was the main key in creating an airfoil (shape of wing) that would create lift, which was the main reason the Wright Brothers Wright flyer flew. The Wind tunnel also lets us know how fast a plane could go before it is destroyed, and also how fast it needs to go to be able to get off the ground. Wind tunnels have helped us understand in a more sophisticated way of how flight works and how we could make it better. Like aero dynamics, which is one of the many reasons the Concorde is such a good plane. The wind tunnel also tests cars for aero dynamics and to see how smooth they will ride while on the road. The wind tunnel helps weather men simulate hurricanes and tornadoes to estimate the damage they mat cause, and how long it might take it to disintegrate and disappear.

Wind tunnels are used mostly by NASA, and are used for rockets and shuttles, and also for all aircraft and for helicopters. Both of these inventions have changed the way we live. If there was no wind tunnel, we would have never been able to reach the moon without proper aero dynamics and for the advancement of flight, and ways to make it better and faster. If it weren't for the Wright flyer, war planes may be different than they were, and today.

On the morning of May 30, 1912, at 3:15 am, Wilbur passed away from typhoid, age 45 years, 1 month, and 14 days, as his father, Milton stated it. In his diary, he wrote of Wilbur as an "unfailing intellect, imperturbable temper, great self-reliance and as great modesty, seeing the right clearly, pursuing it steadily, he lived and died." In 1948, Orville died of a heart attack in while fixing a doorbell at his home.


	The History of the Wright Brothers \| home The Wright Family's History \| Wright Brothers Links \| Contact Us \| Questions for Class Presentation The Wright Family's History Orville Wright (Left) & Wilbur Wright (Right) On April 16, 1867, Milton and Susan Wright welcomed their third child into the Wright household near Millville, Indiana. The newest member of the family, Orville, had two older brothers to deal with: Reuchlin, 6, and Lorin, 4. Little did the family know that the newest Wright will soon become the first half of one of the world's most famous inventive partnerships. Two years later, the other half of the duo, Orville, was born, on August 19, 1871. Orville, including his sister Katherine, 3 years younger than him, were born in the family's newly built home at 7 Hawthorn Street in Dayton, Ohio. 7 Hawthorn Street was to remain in the family's possessions for many years. The household was a stimulating place for the children. The house had two libraries: Books on theology were kept in the bishop's study, while the downstairs library had a large and diverse collection. Although Wilbur and Orville's father was a firm disciplinarian, both parents were loving and the family was a close one. As a minister in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Milton Wright moved the family to Dayton, Ohio to become an editor for the church newspaper published there. Until 1878 they stayed in Dayton, and when Milton was elected bishop he moved the family once again to Iowa. They moved back to 7 Hawthorn Street in 1885. As youngsters, Wilbur and Orville depended on their mother for mechanical expertise and their father for intellectual challenge. Milton brought the boys a variety of souvenirs and trinkets he collected during constant travels with the church. One such trinket sparked the boys' interest in flying: a toy helicopter like top. Orville wrote of his childhood: "We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity." When in school, Wilbur excelled, and would have graduated had his family not move to Richmond, Indiana during his senior year. He left Richmond without receiving his diploma, and returned to Central High School the next year for further studies in Greek and trigonometry. Orville was an average student, known for his mischievous behavior. He dropped out before his senior year to start a printing business. During the winter of 1885 and 1886, Wilbur was hit with in the face with a bat while playing an ice-skating game. The injury at first did not seem serious. A few weeks later, he began to be affected with nervous palpitations of the heart which precluded the realization of the former idea of his parents. For the next four years, Wilbur remained homebound, suffering perhaps as much from depression as from his vaguely-defined heart disorder. During this period, Wilbur cared for his mother Susan, who was suffering from tuberculosis, thus keeping him from attending college. Susan Wright died in the summer of 1889. In 1890, Wilbur joined Orville in the printing business, serving as editor for The West Side News, a weekly newspaper for their west Dayton neighborhood. It was modestly successful, and the Brothers began a daily, the Evening Item, in 1891. However, they couldn't compete with larger, more established daily newspapers, and after a few months they went back to being simple job printers. At the ages of 18 and 20, they started their own printing business. It was then that they finally referred to themselves as "The Wright Brothers." With a used tombstone and buggy parts, they built a press and printed odd jobs as well as their own newspaper. In 1892, the brothers bought bicycles. They repaired bicycles for friends, then started their own repair business. Their first bicycle shop was opened in 1893, and three years later, created their own bicycles called Van Cleves and St. Clairs. While nursing the typhoid struck Orville in 1896, Wilbur was reading about the death of a famous German pilot. The news influenced him to take an interest in flying. On May 30, 1899, he wrote to the Smithsonian Institute for information and aeronautical research. Within few months after writing to the institute, Wilbur has read all that was written on flying. He defined the elements of a flying machine: Wings to provide lift, a power source for propulsion, and a system of control. Wilbur alone, of all the early aviators, recognized needs to control a flying machine in it three axes of motion: Pitch, roll, and yaw. His solution to the problem of control was "wing warping." He came up with a revolutionary system by twisting and empty bicycle tube box with the ends removed. Twisting the surface of each "wing" changed its position in relation to oncoming wind. Such changes in the position would result in changes in the direction of flight. Wilbur successfully tested his theory using a small kite. During the late 1800's there was a race between Dr. Samuel Langley, the Wright Brothers, Otto Lilienthal, Octave Chanute, and various other inventors to create the first heavier than air airplane. The Wright brothers success was mostly credited to Wilbur's wing design which he found by designing and using a wind tunnel to make multiple designs for wings and other aero dynamic designs. The plane flew because of two engines on the back which caused the plane to go about thirty-one miles per hour, and their plane flew for about 12 seconds. The competitors who were in this race mostly had gliders, all except for the Wright Brothers and the team of Langley and Manly. Langley and Manly were two gentlemen from Virginia, who attempted to fly their plane from a houseboat that had a slingshot like device on top. Manly played a large roll in this because he developed the engine that was used on the Aerodrome, which was the name of their plane, and was the pilot. Professor Langley designed the plane and the launching pad used for the Aerodrome, but both attempts to fly were failures, and on the second attempt, Prof. Manly almost drowned in the crash, and Prof. Langley was humiliated from the failures, and ceased to continue trying. The other pilots who were trying to make heavier than air aircraft, was Otto Lilienthal, and Octave Chanute. They both made gliders and they worked. Lilienthal made a standard sailing machine, which was a glider that was maneuvered by the shifting of his own weight. The glider had a general shape of wings from a bird, but unlike some early flying machines that mocked the mechanics of a bird, the wings did not flap. Lilienthal was a German aerial experimenter, and was credited as a true aeronautical engineer. He developed the theory of flight and applied what he had learned to gliders that he designed The Wright Brothers made an impact on history by being the first to create the first heavier than air self-powered flying machine, and when their flying machine was built, it was manufactured for transportation purposes, which is also what it is still used for today, and the modern planes use the same parts as the 1903 Wright flyer. The parts consist of a rudder to control the movement from left to right, and the ailerons, which cause the plane to go up and down, controllably. The Wright Brothers later manufactured a warplane for the United States Army Signal Corp., which changed history in a way of war. It has changed it because now in wars, armies lose fewer men because of the aircraft. An example would be in the civil war, before the airplane was invented, America lost 110,070 men, and in the gulf war America lost 246 men. The evolution in aircraft has changed everyone's life. It has made transportation faster and safer, and has changed war from the long lines of soldiers to a line of aircraft in the sky that cause more damage faster than a line of soldiers would. The Wright brothers success was mostly credited to Wilbur's wing design which he found by designing and using a wind tunnel to make multiple designs for wings and other aero dynamic designs. The plane flew because of two engines on the back which caused the plane to go about thirty-one miles per hour, and their plane flew for about 12 seconds. Even though Frank H. Wenham is generally credited with designing and operation of the first wind tunnel in 1871, the Wright Brothers are credited for being the first to build their own, and use it to help with the building of a heavier than air airplane. The Wright Brothers wind tunnel gave such accurate results that it was the reason for their success at Kitty Hawk. Because of the wind tunnel, Wilbur was able to create a wing that would create lift, and that wing was used on the Wright Flyer. The wind tunnel is an important part of history because it is the reason we are able to send space shuttles into space, and have airplanes such as the Concorde, which is probably the most sophisticated plane built by man. The wind tunnel has been updated many times since the Wright Brothers. The success of the wind tunnel was when Wilbur needed a design for a wing to make glider fly longer. He tested different designs in the wind tunnel, found one that worked, tested it on his glider, and found that it worked. There were two gliders, the 1901 glider, which prompted the construction of the wind tunnel, then led to the success the 1902 glider, which flew for 620 ft. The same wing design was used for the rest of their planes, and is still used today. The wind tunnel helped Wilbur with the Wing Warping concept. He put the wings in the wind tunnel at different angles and found that the wind went over it in a different way and caused it to move in different directions, which prompted the making of ailerons and rudders. The wind tunnel today has speeds up to Mach 6, and the biggest wind tunnel today is 80 ft. x 100 ft. The wind tunnel was the main key in creating an airfoil (shape of wing) that would create lift, which was the main reason the Wright Brothers Wright flyer flew. The Wind tunnel also lets us know how fast a plane could go before it is destroyed, and also how fast it needs to go to be able to get off the ground. Wind tunnels have helped us understand in a more sophisticated way of how flight works and how we could make it better. Like aero dynamics, which is one of the many reasons the Concorde is such a good plane. The wind tunnel also tests cars for aero dynamics and to see how smooth they will ride while on the road. The wind tunnel helps weather men simulate hurricanes and tornadoes to estimate the damage they mat cause, and how long it might take it to disintegrate and disappear. Wind tunnels are used mostly by NASA, and are used for rockets and shuttles, and also for all aircraft and for helicopters. Both of these inventions have changed the way we live. If there was no wind tunnel, we would have never been able to reach the moon without proper aero dynamics and for the advancement of flight, and ways to make it better and faster. If it weren't for the Wright flyer, war planes may be different than they were, and today. On the morning of May 30, 1912, at 3:15 am, Wilbur passed away from typhoid, age 45 years, 1 month, and 14 days, as his father, Milton stated it. In his diary, he wrote of Wilbur as an "unfailing intellect, imperturbable temper, great self-reliance and as great modesty, seeing the right clearly, pursuing it steadily, he lived and died." In 1948, Orville died of a heart attack in while fixing a doorbell at his home.