Visions of a Flying Machine The Wright Brothers and the Process of Invention

by JAKAB, PETER L.

• ISBN13: 9781560987482
• ISBN10: 1560987480
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-04-17
• Publisher: Smithsonian Books

Summary

This acclaimed book on the Wright Brothers takes the reader straight to the heart of their remarkable achievement, focusing on the technology and offering a clear, concise chronicle of precisely what they accomplished and how they did it. This book deals with the process of the invention of the airplane and how the brothers identified and resolved a range of technical puzzles that others had attempted to solve for a century. Step by step, the book details the path of invention (including the important wind tunnel experiments of 1901) which culminated in the momentous flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, the first major milestone in aviation history. Enhanced by original photos, designs, drawings, notebooks, letters and diaries of the Wright Brothers,Visions of a Flying Machineis a fascinating book that will be of interest to engineers, historians, enthusiasts, or anyone interested in the process of invention.

Author Biography

Peter L. Jakab is curator of early aviation at the National Air and Space Museum and the author of Visions of a Flying Machine: The Wright Brothers and the Process of Invention (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990). He lives in Virginia.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix	(2)
Acknowledgments	xi	(2)
Introduction	xiii
1 Why Wilbur and Orville?	1	(17)
2 Aeronautics before the Airplane	18	(21)
3 "You Must Mount a Machine"	39	(24)
4 Learning the Art of Airplane Design	63	(20)
5 Riding the Winds	83	(32)
6 Seeking Answers: The Wrights Build a Wind Tunnel	115	(28)
7 Turning the Corner	143	(20)
8 "We Now Hold All Records!"	163	(20)
9 The Dream Fulfilled	183	(30)
10 The Meaning of Invention	213	(6)
Epilogue: A Final Accounting	219	(10)
Notes	229	(28)
Bibliography	251	(6)
Index	257	(6)
Photo Credits	263