The Wright brothers

Wilbur and Orville Wright in the course of their experiments came increasingly to consider Cayley's diagram of how a wing works, particularly the role played the speed of the wind passing over the wing. This led them to seek a site with a strong and persistent wind (the Vogels Mountain where the has just such a high ambient wind, as do the hills near Elmira, N.Y., and Fremont, Calif., classic gliding courses). From the U.S. Weather Bureau the Wrights secured a list of windy sites in the United States, from which they chose the Outer Banks of North Carolina, specifically Kitty Hawk. On Kill Devil Hill there on Dec. 17, 1903, Orville Wright became the first man ever to fly in an aeroplane (as they were at first known), initially using as a frame a biplane of 40-foot 4-inch wingspan and equipped with the 12-horsepower engine. He lifted off the ground in a 20–27-mile/h wind and flew a distance of 120 feet in 12 seconds. Having a strong wind certainly aided in that accomplishment, but the brothers soon demonstrated that such a wind was not absolutely essential.

After further experiments at Kitty Hawk they returned to Dayton to build a second plane, Flyer No. 2. Neither the balloons and dirigibles nor the earlier ornithopter and glider experiments had produced flight: what they had done was to harness the dynamics of the atmosphere to lift a craft off the ground, using what power (if any) they supplied to steer. The Wrights initially used atmospheric dynamics to help in lifting the plane, but they subsequently demonstrated that they were able to lift a plane off the ground in still air.

In the long run their most significant invention was a way to steer the plane. After carefully watching a great number of birds, they became convinced that birds directed their flight by internally warping their wings, distorting them in one fashion or another. To do this in their plane, the Wrights constructed a ridged but distorted wing that might, through the use of wires fixed to the edge of the wing, be flexed to pass through the air in changing directions. This distortable wing was relatively misunderstood by other early plane experimenters.

During the summer of 1904 the Wrights made 105 takeoffs and managed to fly on a circular course up to 2.75 miles for a sustained flight that lasted 5 minutes 4 seconds. Because they took a proprietary view of their invention, publicity about their work was minimal. After further trials in 1905 they stopped their experiments, using the time to obtain patents on their contribution. Only in 1908 did they break their secrecy when Wilbur Wright went to France to promote their latest plane.

Essential vocabulary:

1. to consider – рассматривать, считать, решать

2. topassover– пропускать, переходить, обновить

3. to seek- искать

4. site- место

5. persistent– устойчивый (постоянный)

6. hill- холм

7. to glide– скользить, планировать

8. to secure– закреплять (обозначать)

9. frame- рамка

10. biplane- биплан

11. wingspan– размах крыльев

12. to equip– оборудовать, оснащать

13. engine- двигатель

14. to aid- помогать

15. accomplishment– выполнение, осуществление

16. essential– главный, основной

17. harness– упряжь (зд. обуздать, поймать)

18. to supply– поставлять, обеспечивать

19. steer- управление

20. subsequently- впоследствии

21. significant invention– важное открытие

22. to convince- убеждать

23. to warp- поворачивать

24. to distort- искажать

25. fashion- способ

26. ridged- гребенчатый

27. wire– шнур, провод

28. edge– край, ребро

29. sustained– поддерживать, выдерживать

30. proprietary– личный, патентованный

31. contribution- вклад