Wright Brothers

Wilbur and Orville Wright spent their lives building and working with mechanical devices. They began with little toys as children and then grew up and began working with bicycles. These works lead them towards their work with airplanes. The Wright Brothers tried for many years to build a successful flying machine and succeeded. The Wright Brothers laid the foundation for aviation when they made history by being the first to create a successful flying machine.
Wilbur was the older brother born in Millville, Indiana 1867 and Orville was born after him in Dayton, Ohio 1871. (Cite) Wilbur and Orville were very close and both enjoyed tinkering and had an interest in learning how mechanical devices worked. These interests lead them to their future career in working with bicycles and eventually lead them to the idea of flying. The brothers started off by entering the newspaper business. Orville built a printing press and started the newspaper the West Side News. (Cite) Wilbur, who was undecided, joined him. But as the career in newspaper began to slow down, the brothers began to look for another way to earn a living and like much of America fell in love with bicycling. Wilbur and Orville began to think that a career in the bicycling business would provide a better income. They began a bicycle shop where they would sell, rent, and repair bicycles. In the summer of 1896 though, Orville was diagnosed with typhoid fever. While Orville was sick, Wilbur would discuss the news with his brother. One day he came across the news of Otto Lilienthal who had been killed in a glider crash. The idea of flying had been an interest to the brothers when they were children, and as Orville began to heal, the brothers discussed the idea of flying and the ...

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...der was designed to hold a pilot on his stomach in the center and would control the movement of the craft through a process that would become known as "wing warping". (Cite) On a windy day, the brothers tested their glider. Wilbur was the pilot while Orville and a man named Bill Tate held ropes that would steady the glider like a kite. The craft was successful and lifted fifteen feet off the ground. (Cite) After the successful flight though, the brothers ran into a slight set back. While adjusting the glider, a wind lifted the craft off the ground and the glider was smashed onto the ground a few yards away. This crash was not the last setback the wright brothers experienced. After many successful flights later on, the brothers began to look for a way for the glider to be self-powered, and not have to rely on the wind. Their glider needed a propeller and an engine.