Man, that thing didn't fly worth a...

[Ryan]

SHIT! Those Wright brothers really had their heads up their asses...

[Unkl Ian]

I think it needs a bigger motor.

[Tman]

From what I understand, there are 4 or more temas building replicas. DOnt know which one tried today? I believe it was the best funded "official" team

[Neppy]

Yer kiddin, right?

[choprods]

Ummmmmmm-think they forgot the udder rudder........ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[hatch]

I watched a documentary last nite about the guys that built the replica....They got it done and were doing a "taxi test" on the runway....welllll.....for some reason, the pilot figured he couldn't stop at the end of the runway, so he launched the plane....over the trees...almost. Stuck 30 feet off the ground in a tree...WTF...couldn't he just shut the engine off????...coast to a stop at the end of the runway???...engineers...I just don't understand.

[59BuickWagon]

Looks like we haven't learned much in 100 years!

[lakes modified]

I think they needed a few hot rodders to help them. then that sucker would have got off the ground in a hurry.

[AnimalAin]

Just reemphasizes the importance of the event 100 years ago. The aircraft was marginal at best, and needed just about perfect conditions to fly. It went 120 feet in 12 seconds..... figure it out, that is quite a bit less that 10 miles an hour. Today, there wasn't enough headwind. Oh well, tomorrow is another day......

[Nads]

Yeah man it was pretty comical.

Ya think the Russkies are gonna send up a replica Sputnik in 2057?

I wonder how well that will work?

If I'm still alive I'll be 96.

[Humboldt Cat]

Purple's been working with some guys in Redding (or Anderson?) on a replica. Seeing last night's PBS flyer made me wonder if it was the one they (Purple & Co.) were working on.
Still found it interesting, though. You can only imagine what they were thinking when trying to take that thing down from the trees. Any ideas...?

[KCTA Chris]

I think lakes modified is right....
Wright boys were hot rodders in my book, built there stuff in a garage. No big money sponsors and made yearly trips to a tent in the sand to run and test their machine, improving each time they went out. Run it hard, break it, fix it and plan to build it better for next year. Sounds kinda like some guys on the salt back in the 30's or maybe some guys on a straight track in the 50's. Not like todays event... large groups of people adding their advice, high dollar corporate sponsors, all that computer planning and training. Don't know, maybe that hot rod spirit does make a difference... or just some wind.

[av8]

I'm gonna assume that this is a humorous post, Ryan. Otherwise I can't imagine you being so clueless about the pioneering work of the Wrights.

Zip, zilch, nix, nada was known even about the fundamentals of flight at the time. The Wrights not only understood lift and drag, they recognized roll, pitch, and yaw, and how they related to a flying machine, then sussed the ways in which they could be controlled. Langley and some of the other high-profile heavily funded plodders could barely undertstand what the Wrights had discovered and knew to be true.

I can usually wade around most of the silly shit that surfaces on the HAMB, but pointed, wrong-headed threads like this just can't be ignored in all good conscience.

Sorry, pal, but I suggest you do some homework before you start taking shots at the Wright brothers.

[Humboldt Cat]

I agree, no doubt they were hot rodders of their time. Talk about fabricating- the show brought up the fact of having to fabricate airplane propellers, to basically invent or re-invent them, having to base them off of water propellors. Pioneers, but also hot rodders leaping for the sky.

[Ryan]

Mike, take a joke homeboy... jesus...

And I don't need a history lesson. I just watched the discovery channel show on the Wright Bros. for four hours...

[voneyeball]

a guy here just finished a replica too. was TOO windy, and he slung the chain...

the wright brothers rocked. they achieved all of their knowledge in a short time with a wind tunnel. they re-established every theory in aviation. mainly wing shape. and propellor shape (same cross section as wing). their biggest achievement was the "scale" they used to measure force in their miniature wind tunnel. still accurate within something like 1 or 2 percent of the most modern equipment. and it was made from hacksaw blades...

langley's shit broke in half and the pilot nearly drowned. it was launched off a boat. government funded crap.

[Cruisin']

<font color="green"> Well, what can I say Ryan....
The following could be worth pondering.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
<font color="red"> A Tribute to Man's First Powered Flight </font>
By Richard Pearse, on the 31st of March, 1903
Popular history has it that the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk in the US were the first to fly, but this is not true! The first actual flight was by a rather clever New Zealander chap by the name of Richard Pearse. Pearse is not generally known outside New Zealand for this wonderful feat, as there has been very little publicity about it, the first real mention of his achievement being in the newspaper in 1909.

Richard was an enthusiast, and perhaps a turn of the century 'mad scientist' type inventor. Certainly most of his other creations - mostly to do with farm machinery - were far from the mainstream and thus didn't get much credit.

But he did get a few things right on his flying machine that were amazingly advanced for the time. Here's a photo of a replica of the flying machine, where Man's first powered flight took place in a little-known place on the south island of New Zealand called Waitohi, just near Timaru.

The witnesses' account of the flight vary, from "50 to 400 yards in length", but it seems most likely that it was around 350 yards long, and it ended prematurely when the flying machine landed in a large hedge - 4 metres off the ground!

The aircraft was the first to use proper ailerons, instead of the wing warping system that the Wright's used. The flying machine also had a modern tricycle type landing gear, thus negating the need for ramps, slides, or skids. Any suitable road would do. The flying machine was aerodynamically crude, for sure, but did the job on the day, and in fact for months afterwards. By the end of July 1903, Pearse had achieved flights of around 1 kilometre in length, and perhaps even more amazingly, some of them included turns! An absolutely fantastic achievement for the time.
Pearse also built the engine, which was estimated at about 15 - 22hp, but hampered by a much cruder propellor than the Wright's machine.
He didn't realise the historic importance of the event, and so he didn't bother to have any photographs taken of his machine flying, though there is extensive evidence from witnesses describing his flights.
NZ was first.... (http://www.billzilla.org/pearce.htm)
</font>

[Skate Fink]

[ QUOTE ]
"engineers...I just don't understand."

[/ QUOTE ]

........ask UnklIan.....he'll explain them to you..... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

[autocol]

cruisin'...

he was an aussie, wasn't he? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

you know, like russell crowe, crowded house, and edmund hillary!

[Flat Ernie]

Cruisin'

Not to take anything away from your down-under contributors, but there have been several claims of first in flight to include Germans &amp; French as well.

The bottom line is this: no one has been able to document anything other than the Wright Bros. Certainly, folks have gone "back" to document with witness accounts, etc - and I'm not saying they're incorrect or even accusing them of being patriotically enthusiastic (ie - lying for their country), what I'm saying is that history that is undocumented isn't really history, it's an estimate. Go get 10 eyewitness accounts of a car accident that happened an hour ago and you'll get 10 different stories - imagine how much that changes with the passage of time. History, in my book, is documented proof. For example, all Roman "history" that isn't written down by scholars of the time in first-hand accounts, is either a guess or hear-say. Does that mean it's wrong? No, it just means you have to keep it all in context.

The impact of the aircraft on civilization as we know it is tremendous. The important thing to take away is many clever individuals realized this (or they were just hot rodders &amp; wanted to do something no one else had done!) and were working toward human flight. The production side of engineering finally allowed these early attempts all at about the same time just after the turn of the century and with inventors being secretive, those that didn't document end up being the second place finishers - fair? I don't know. But do you KNOW who did it first? In the end, it really doesn't matter since no one patented powered flight, no one is losing any money and that's really all the world cares about http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[purple]

<font color="purple"> I had heard of the one that was called for weather, but I don't know how the others turned out besides ours. It was also the last one to try, as we did it at 4:30PST, or California time. Ours is the low dollar, all volunteer, garage built one. The main man Tom lived and worked off donations, but had no sponsors. Since we finished building ours at the last minute still working on it at the wieght station. Today's attempt was our first time to see if ANYTHING worked. We didn't even know if we could taxi through the airfield.

www.thewrightflight.com (http://www.thewrightflight.com) </font>

[286merc]

It's all up to the wind.
The Wrights launched into about 18 knots, the one in NC yesterday was barely 10.
If you read some of the articles from yesterday you will even find engineers from Halliburton, of all places, predicting the flight would fail due to low wind speed.

The Wrights flight wasnt so much about getting it airborne but more about control. Once they got that licked, and rewrote the book of aerodynamics of that era, the rest was easy.

And if it wasnt for engineers you guys would all still be riding behind a horses ass.

[Roothawg]

In 1903 the first flight lasted 12 seconds and about 200 ft. That was early in the day. The second flight which was later that evening was 59 seconds and it was over 800 ft. They failed 2 days earlier. Funny part is, they had everything right. The weather, the dihedral of the wing, the ground speed.

100 years later with the original for a reference they still can't re-create what a couple of bicycle mechanics did.

[SlowLearner]

I'm with Flat Ernie on this thing. Not to take anything away from the guts and genius of the Wrights, especially in aerodynamics. (Man, they sweated the details...inspired...methodical...determined!). But the TECHNOLOGY was finally coming together, although just barely. Try to think of light powerful engines in 1902/03! We're talking IRON PISTONS!! Compression ratios just a gnat's hair over atmospheric. And the Wright's motor was a little anemic even for the day. The plane was just barely more than a glider, as yesterday's light wind showed.

I guess I believe the multiple flight theory. The Wrights, New Zealand, and Voisin in France (first closed course kilometer). Some well documented, some not. It was something that just HAD to happen.

What still amazes me is the techno progress in the following 15 years (First World War). Light powerful multi-cylinder Liberty, Hispano-Suiza, Bentley rotary (finally aluminum pistons), Rolls-Royce and Mercedes engines!!

Was a great gearhead book on this, "The Power to Fly" (LJK Setright), now O/P I think.

[Antibilly]

I need pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!! to much reading http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[disastron13]

Actually it was a hod rod motor for it's time, delicate 1/16th wall steel pistons, and a power-to-weight ratio that wouldn't be equalled til the end of WWI.
Show some respect.

[Ryan]

Ok, if everyone could just take a second to step off their soap boxes and use a little COMMON SENSE they will see that this post was meant to be funny. A joke. Comical.

To me, the achievements of these two fellas are so incredible that any suggestion otherwise should immediately be suspected as sarcasm.

Either I am not funny in the least or some of you guys really lack a sense of humor. Or maybe you like the conflict and chest puffing stuff?

[Bruce Lancaster]

Yeah--they had to make their own engine because anything available with their power requirement was too heavy by a factor of 10 or so. There was an article on this engine a few years ago that was almost spooky:
Only scraps of the original engine remain. A broken piece of aluminum crankcase was tested, and found to be essentially the same as Duraluminum aircraft alloy--something not invented until about twenty years later. Now that's some serious backyard engineering they did!!

[Fat Hack]

"Don't sell the bike shop, Orville!!" http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Bruce Lancaster]

AHA--found the article. Oh, the joy of working in a research library:

The following article has been sent by a user at DREW UNIVERSITY LIBRARY via ProQuest, an information service of the ProQuest Company

Precipitation hardening in the first aerospace aluminum allo
Science
Washington
Nov 11, 1994

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Volume: 266

Issue: 5187

Start Page: 1015

ISSN: 00368075

Subject Terms: Metallurgy
Engines
Aluminum
Alloys
Aerospace industry

Personal Names: Wright, Wilbur (1867-1912)
Wright, Orville V


Abstract:

An examination of the aluminum copper alloy used in the engine of the first
flight of the Wright brothers showed that it is precipitation-hardened
by Guinier-Preston zones in a bimodal distribution. The precipitation
hardening occurred earlier than the first aerospace application of precipitation-hardened
aluminum in 1910.
Copyright American Association for the Advancement of Science Nov 11, 1994

Full Text:

Aluminum has had an essential part in aerospace history from its very inception:
An aluminum copper alloy (with a copper composition of 8 percent by weight)
was used in the engine that powered the historic first flight of the Wright
brothers in 1903. Examination of this alloy shows that it is precipitation-hardened
by Guinier-Preston zones in a bimodal distribution, with larger zones (10
to 22 nanometers) originating in the casting practice and finer ones (3
nanometers) resulting from ambient aging over the last 90 years. The precipitation
hardening in the Wright Flyer crankcase occurred earlier than the experiments
of Wilm in 1909, when such hardening was first discovered, and predates
the accepted first aerospace application of precipitation-hardened aluminum
in 1910.

Progress in the aerospace industry, from the development of commercial
airliners to the space shuttle, has been dependent on the great strength
and fracture toughness provided by precipitation hardening (1), especially
in aluminum-based alloys. In the historic first flight of 17 December 1903,
Wilbur and Orville Wright used an Al-8% copper alloy (with about 1.0% iron
and 0.4% silicon as impurities) (2) for the crankcase of their self-designed
internal combustion engine because of the alloy's strength and the weight
requirements of the aircraft. This alloy represented the state of the art
in casting alloys at the turn of the century, primarily because of its
good casting qualities (3). The crankcase of the original engine has recently
been identified (4, 5); because it was the only Al part on the Wright Flyer,
it thus became the first aerospace Al. Our study here reports the microstructure
and strengthening mechanisms operating in this crankcase alloy.

Small samples of the Flyer crankcase were taken from three locations in
the crankcase wall (6), which was approximately 4 to 5 mm thick. The microstructure
(Fig. 1) consists of a typical solidification structure of alpha-Al dendrites
(7) [face-centered-cubic (fcc) crystal structure] with interdendritic blocky
theta-Al sub 2 Cu and needlelike omega-Al sub 7 Cu sub 2 Fe phases. (Fig.
1 omitted). Dendrite arm spacings ranged from 40 to 80 mu m, which suggests
that the local solidification time was approximately 2 min (8). A gradient
of Cu content across the dendrites, or coring, is expected in Al-Cu solidification
structures and was analyzed by electron microprobe (9). The concentration
of Cu was about 2.25% near the dendrite centers and approximately 4.75%
near the surface of the dendrites (10). Most of the Cu in the alloy is
thus present in the interdendritic intermetallic phases Al sub 2 Cu and
Al sub 7 Cu sub 2 Fe.

A higher spatial resolution than that attainable with optical microscopy
is required to detect precipitates formed in the solid state in Al alloys.
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (Fig. 2) revealed a remarkably well
developed Guinier-Preston (GP) zone structure (1, 11, 12). (Fig. 2 omitted).
These metastable GP zones consist of disks of Cu, a single atomic layer
in thickness, lying on the three equivalent {100} planes within the fcc
Al matrix. GP zones are readily imaged in TEM because of the large strain
field associated with the zone, resulting in images several atomic layers
in apparent thickness. Two mutually perpendicular variants, viewed edge-on,
are apparent in this specimen orientation, viewed down a cube orientation
of the matrix, or B = [001]. The zones are predominantly 10 to 20 nm in
diameter. An occasional precipitate of theta'-Al sub 2 Cu with a neighboring
region free of GP zones (a result of solute depletion) was also observed,
but occurs with a statistically unknown number density because of the small
volume examined by TEM.

Coring, or microsegregation of Cu during solidification, had a pronounced
effect on GP zone size and distribution. The regions richest in Cu, near
the edges of the dendrites, contained a very dense zone structure, with
individual zones about 10 nm in diameter (Fig. 2A). Intermediate Cu levels
resulted in a somewhat lower density of zones, although the zones were
significantly larger (up to 20 nm in diameter) (Fig. 2B). The Cu-poor regions,
near the dendrite centers, contained a low density of GP zones, with diameters
from 18 to 22 nm. Close inspection of this region revealed a second distribution
of GP zones, consisting of a large number of very fine zones, typically
3 nm in diameter (Fig. 2C).

Electron diffraction patterns for the Cu-rich and Cu-poor regions confirm
the presence of GP zones. In a cube orientation, Bragg reflections from
the fcc matrix planes occur as bright spots in a square array. Reflections
from the GP zones appear as continuous streaks because of the very thin
disk morphology of the zones (one unit cell in thickness). The continuous
nature of the streaks shows that the zones are monoatomic layers of Cu
atoms known as GPI zones: streaks from GPII zones, or theta", would show
intensity maxima halfway between the fcc Bragg reflections (13). The streaks
are very pronounced in regions with dense GP zones (Fig. 2A, inset) and
are only barely visible in the regions with small amounts of Cu (Fig. 2C,
inset).

The appearance and bimodal distribution of GP zones in the Flyer crankcase
can be understood in terms of the phase diagram (Fig. 3) that describes
the metastable equilibrium between alpha-Al and GP zones as well as the
equilibrium Al-theta(Al sub 2 Cu) system. (Fig. 3 omitted). The requirements
for precipitation of a phase (whether stable or metastable) are (i) sufficient
supersaturation for nucleation of the precipitate or for spinodal decomposition
(a thermodynamic instability whereby nucleation is not necessary) and (ii)
adequate atomic diffusivity. In the Al-Cu system, GP zones are not normally
observed to develop at room temperature, a fact that can be attributed
to the low diffusivity of Cu in Al (14).

From this and the observation of a duplex size distribution of the zones
in the crankcase, we conclude that the large GP zones, with diameters from
8 to 22 nm, must have precipitated during elevated temperature exposure.
Because the crankcase cracked after the four flights on 17 December 1903,
when a gust of wind flipped the aircraft over, this elevated temperature
exposure did not occur after the first flight, but only through testing
of the engine before the first flight or during the slow cooling associated
with the sand casting. From the phase diagram, it is apparent that the
GP zone development must have occurred at temperatures below 200deg C for
the 4.75% Cu regions and below 130deg C for the 2.25% Cu areas, because
the zones would not be stable above these temperatures.

In an Al-Cu alloy with significant supersaturation, GP zones develop by
spinodal decomposition. The spacing between zones (before coarsening) is
determined by the fastest growing wavelength during decomposition. The
favored wavelength is inversely related to the second derivative of the
free energy versus composition function, which is zero at the spinodal
line (located inside but near the GP zone solvus curve) (Fig. 3) and increases
(negatively) with an increase in Cu or a decrease in temperature (15).
Thus, the favored wavelength in the region with a large amount of Cu is
smaller than in the regions with small amounts of Cu, and the resulting
spacing between zones is smaller. The growth of zones is ultimately limited
by solute depletion in the matrix. Despite its high solute concentration,
the region with a large amount of Cu is depleted of solute by the time
the zones have grown to about 10 nm. With a longer optimal wavelength or
spacing between zones, in the regions with smaller amounts of Cu the zones
grow to about 20 nm in diameter before solute is depleted. Thus, the regions
with large amounts of Cu developed a fine, dense structure of GP zones,
whereas regions with smaller amounts of Cu developed a less dense structure
with larger zones.

Such precipitation of GP zones--for instance, at 100deg C--would deplete
the Cu content of the matrix to about 1%. As seen in the phase diagram,
on cooling to room temperature the equilibrium solubility of Cu is reduced
to about 0.2%, and consequently the supersaturation is increased dramatically.
However, room temperature diffusivity in the Al-Cu binary system is so
low that zones have not previously been observed to develop in the regime
with small amounts of Cu (that is, 1% Cu). Nevertheless, for compositions
within the spinodal regime, the solid solution is unstable and will decompose,
given enough time. This "experiment" has been underway for 3 X 10 sup 9
s (90 years). The passage of this time apparently has resulted in the precipitation
of the very fine GP zones (3 nm) observed in the regions with small amounts
of Cu. On the other hand, the areas with large amounts of Cu do not contain
a distribution of the smallest zones because the increased room temperature
supersaturation can be easily depleted by growth of the finely spaced zones
formed at higher temperatures.

To investigate the possibility that the GP zone-strengthened structure
in the Wright alloy was a result of the casting practice, we attempted
to reproduce the microstructure by casting a similar alloy. Anecdotal evidence
from builders of replicas of the Flyer emphasizes the difficulty of obtaining
a sound casting in such a complex, thin-walled design (16), which suggests
that some degree of mold preheat was used. We cast an Al-8%Cu-1%Fe-0.4%Si
alloy into sand molds to produce the same 4 to 5 mm wall thickness as the
sample locations in the crankcase. The molds were either at room temperature
or preheated to 100deg or 170deg C. Figure 4 shows the resulting microstructures:
with no preheating, there was no GP zone formation, but some theta' on
grain boundaries (Fig. 4A); with preheating to 100deg C (Fig. 4B), there
was an abundance of GP zones; and at 170deg C (Fig. 4C), theta'-Al sub
2 Cu was quite abundant, sufficient to deplete the matrix of solute so
GP zones did not form during the cooldown. (Fig. 4 omitted). For comparison,
Fig. 4D shows a rare precipitate of theta' in the Wright crankcase, which
generated a small GP zone-free area only in its immediate vicinity. Thus,
it appears that mold preheating or insulation equivalent to somewhat more
than a 100deg C preheating may have been used for the casting of the crankcase,
generating the conspicuous precipitation-hardened microstructure observed
in the Wright alloy. No very fine (== 3 nm) GP zones were observed in the
regions with small amounts of Cu of the replicated castings, which supports
the interpretation that these zones in the Wright alloy resulted from ambient
aging that required decades to develop.

Our finding of precipitation hardening in the Wright alloy leads to revisions
of the history of technology and the history of flight. At present, it
is an accepted fact that the first precipitation-hardened alloy in the
history of technology (18) and the history of flight was an Al-Cu-Mg-Mn
alloy called "duralumin." The development of duralumin was an outcome of
the observations by Alfred Wilm in 1909 (published in 1911) of an Al-Cu-Mg
alloy that increased in strength with time when held at room temperature
after a high-temperature thermal treatment (17, 18). Commercial production
of this alloy began in 1909 in Germany and found immediate application
in the structure of airships. The first such airship crashed in 1911, but
a total of 97 zeppelins were subsequently produced in Germany for use during
World War I, each requiring up to 8 metric tons of duralumin.

The conditions under which precipitation hardening occurred, however, were
not understood until 1919, when seminal works on the theory and practice
of precipitation hardening in alloys were published by Merica and his colleagues
(19) at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute
of Standards and Technology). This opened an era of phase diagram and alloy
development (20) and the commercial application of many age-hardened alloys.
The practical application of precipitation hardening, especially in Al-based
alloys, with the resulting improvements in important properties such as
strength and fracture toughness, has been essential to the development
of the aerospace industry. We have shown here that the use of a precipitation-hardened
alloy in the first aerospace application occurred 16 years before the theory
of precipitation hardening was proposed, and several years before the first
report of a precipitation-hardened alloy and the use of such an alloy (duralumin)
in airships. The Wright Flyer, the first powered heavier-than-air aircraft,
can now be recognized as the first application in the aerospace world of
technologically vital precipitation-hardened alloys.

REFERENCES AND NOTES

1. Precipitation hardening results from the nucleation and growth of a
fine distribution of second-phase particles in a solid matrix that is supersaturated
with respect to one or more elements. This supersaturation often occurs
after quenching from a high temperature (where the solid solubility is
large) to a low temperature (where the solubility is much lower). GP zones
are a special class of precipitate where the structure of the phase is
identical to that of the matrix but the precipitate has a different composition
than the matrix. Fine precipitates cause an increase in hardness and strength
of the alloy by impeding dislocation motion during deformation.

2. All percentages herein are by weight.

3. W. E. Sicha, in Aluminum, K. R. Van Horn, Ed. (American Society for
Metals, Metals Park, OH, 1967), vol. 1, pp. 277-302. The crankcase, which
included a water jacket to cool the engine and four legs for mounting to
the airframe, was cast in a commercial cast shop. Aluminum at that time
was no longer a precious metal, costing about a dollar a pound. The Wrights
requested the strongest Al alloy available, which contained 8% Cu. Iron
and Si, at less than about 1% each, were typical impurities found in Al
of the period. Aluminum was chosen not only for its good strength-to-weight
ratio, but also because it could be cast to near net shape.

4. R. Leyes, "The Wright Flyer engine: A summary of research," National
Air and Space Museum Report 1986 (Washington, DC, 1986), pp. 186-197.

5. M. Goodway and R. A. Leyes II, JOM 45 (no. 11), 16 (1993).

6. The samples were taken from three locations near a fracture in the crankcase.
The crankcase was broken when the Flyer, which was not tied down, overturned
in a gust of wind after the fourth and final flight of 17 December 1903.
The crankcase is in the collection of the U.S. National Park Service and
is on display at Kitty Hawk, NC. See (5) for figures of the crankcase showing
the sampling locations.

7. As is common in cast Al alloys, coarsening during solidification has
modified the classical treelike dendrites, such that the observed structure
shows rounded dendrites.

8. W. Kurz and D. J. Fisher, Fundamentals of Solidification (Trans Tech
Publications, Aedermannsdorf, Switzerland, 1986), p. 90.

9. Compositional analysis by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was conducted
at 15 keV and 1 nA beam current with pure Al, Cu, Fe, and Si standards
to model EDS spectra. The mass concentration ratios were calculated as
I sub unknown/I sub standard, where I is the x-ray intensity. Corrections
were made for absorption and fluorescence. Measured weight percent composition
totals were 96 to 101% before normalization. The probe excitation volume
is about 1 mu m in diameter, thus encompassing large numbers of GP zones,
if present, and ruling out effects of underlying substructure.

10. Note that in the Al-Cu binary system, where the value of the partition
coefficient, k, is 0.15, the minimum possible Cu concentration at the dendrite
center is 1.2%, but higher values may result from diffusion. The maximum
Cu content expected in an Al solid solution with normal casting practices
is 5.65%, but this amount may be reduced because of subsequent precipitation
reactions.

11. A. Guinier, Nature 142, 569 (1938); G. D. Preston, Proc. R. Soc. London
Ser. A 167, 526 (1938).

12. Specimens for TEM were prepared by electrochemical jet polishing at
-20deg C to ensure that no precipitation was induced during specimen preparation.
TEM examination was carried out at 120 keV accelerating voltage, with a
point resolution of approximately 2.8 Angstroms.

13. J. M. Papazian, Metall. Trans. A 12A, 269 (1981); J. B. Cohen, Solid
State Phys. 39, 133 (1986).

14. Fine GP zones (-4 nm) have been observed in an alloy with a large amount
of Cu (3.9% Cu), which was solution-heat-treated and held 12 years at room
temperature [X. Auvray, P. Georgopoloulos, J. B. Cohen, Acta Metall. 29,
1061 (1981); K. Osamura et al., ibid. 31, 1669 (1983)]. On the other hand,
no zones were found in Al-6.3% Cu, which was cast and held at room temperature
for 6 months (F. W. Gayle, unpublished results).

15. J. W. Cahn, Trans. Metall. Soc. AIME 242, 166 (1968).

16. P. D. Hay, personal communication.

17. A. Wilm, Metallurgie 8, 225 (1911); A. Wilm, German Patent D.R.P. 244554
(1909).

18. H. Y. Hunsicker and H. C. Stumpf, The Sorby Centennial Symposium on
the History of Metallurgy, C. S. Smith, Ed. (Gordon and Breach, New York,
1965), pp. 271-311.

19. P. D. Merica, R. G. Waltenberg, J. R. Freeman, Scientific Papers of
the U.S. Bureau of Standards 337 (1919), vol. 15, p. 105; Trans. AIME 64,
3 (1920); P. D. Merica, R. G. Waltenberg, H. Scott, Scientific Papers of
the U.S. Bureau of Standards 347 (1919), vol. 15, p. 271; AIME Bull. 150,
913 (1919).

20. J. W. Cahn, Bull. Alloy Phase Diagrams 4, 349 (1983).

21. J. L. Murray, in Binary Alloy Phase Diagrams, T. B. Massalski, Ed.
(ASM International, Materials Park, OH, 1990), vol. 1, pp. 141-143.

22. G. W. Lorimer, in Precipitation Processes in Solids, K. C. Russell
and H. I. Aaronson, Eds. (TMS-AIME, Warrendale, PA, 1978), pp. 87-119.

23. We thank T. L. Hartman of the National Park Service for permission
to sample the crankcase; F. S. Biancaniello at the National Institute of
Standards and Technology for producing the experimental Al-Cu-Si-Fe castings;
M. Williams for TEM specimen preparation and scanning electron microscope-EDS
analysis; L. Smith for the optical metallography; M. Vaudin for a critical
review of the manuscript; D. Smith for assistance in the Wright Archives
at Wright State University; and K. Henson for assistance in the archives
at ALCOA.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.


=============================== End of Document ================================




library...

[Petejoe]

[ QUOTE ]
Either I am not funny in the least or some of you guys really lack a sense of humor. Or maybe you like the conflict and chest puffing stuff?

[/ QUOTE ]
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gifAt the Hamb?? Naw............
I too watched that special, after seeing the problems they encountered with 2K technologies on hand.. It just amazes me that these guys were ablle to pull it off. These guys are the forefathers of hot rodding. Good ole OHIO stock http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[KCTA Chris]

So here you go.. I real challenge! Go build a pietenpol plane, lots of people building these vintage flyers with the old Ford "B" the powerplant of choice.

http://www.pressenter.com/~apietenp/

http://www.wingsofhistory.org/pietenpol_2.html

[Rix2Six]

[ QUOTE ]
I think it needs a bigger motor.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe we could put a 6-71 on it!

[mikes51]

Yes, that TV image of the flyer ending up in a mud puddle was not the one we wanted to see.

286Merc is right about the effect of wind speed. A representative from the Smithsonian said on radio, the wind was gusting up to 30 mph during that historic flight. The diff between 10mph and 30mph on a sail or wing is pretty dramatic.

[Rix2Six]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, if everyone could just take a second to step off their soap boxes and use a little COMMON SENSE they will see that this post was meant to be funny. A joke. Comical.

To me, the achievements of these two fellas are so incredible that any suggestion otherwise should immediately be suspected as sarcasm.

Either I am not funny in the least or some of you guys really lack a sense of humor. Or maybe you like the conflict and chest puffing stuff?

[/ QUOTE ]

But Ryan... you forgot the smiley!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Homeresque]

Ryan, I got the joke.
After UnklIan it went downhill... AND INTO THE MUD!!
BWWAAA...oh nevermind.

[Rocket88]

They should strap a JATO to that sucker!

[ray]

thought i'd add a few things, cause i read! i read an article yesterday in a machinist trade mag, about one of the motors built for "a" reproduction, don't know which one, the original was 200ci, 4" BxS, 4 cylinder, heavy cast iron pistons, the connecting rods were made from bicycle tubing, brazed to bronze rod ends, yes brazed! their biggest problem was, you guessed it, throwing rods! the crank was made from a solid steel billet, roughed into shape on a drill press, then finished from there on the lathe. now remember no milling machines in 1903, the block was machined by rigging the lathe to hold the block, the babbit main bearings line bored to size with a metal pipe of fitting size, and abrasive paste.

it put out an incredible 12 hp at fire up, down to 10 at takeoff, and only 8 by the time they have to land. it ran at 1000 rpm, no throttle. if i remember right, the fuel mix was vaporized by contacting the outside of the cylinders, then sucked into the combustion chamber.

the intake valves, were operated by the suction of the intake stroke of the piston, ignition was by breaker points, one located in each combustion chamber. and it was even water cooled.

and FWIW the wrights did not build the motor, they assisted in its design, but it was made by another fellow i don't remember his name.

[klazurfer]

Hey , .. Let us NOT forget Leonardo DaVinc... WILD dude with a Mind beyond any of us ... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif That guy dreamed up some NICE shit when the rest of the wordl used their time trying to come up with New cruel ways to punish Non-belivers.

[Digger_Dave]

No matter how you look at the "history of flight", the Wright brothers had a "hand" in "making it happen."

It's too bad that not enough head wind, and I'll hazzard a guess, wet fabric on the wings (added weight) were to blame for yesterdays poor showing. The "team" started in 1999 to duplicate the Wright machine as accurately as possible. They just couldn't control the weather.

If the Wright brothers were alive today; I'd invite them to come and work in my shop in a heart beat!!

BTW - Would you let John Travolta fly Your 747??

[voneyeball]

i think only one person didn't take it as a joke, the rest were just a bunch of hot rodders talking about making shit fly! very cool event, and like i said, a replica was built here as well. all over the news, sorta like it was football for a day or two. *ack*

anyway, regardless who flew first or how well, the pioneers who figured out how to measure lift were the true pioneers of aviation. the hacksaw brothers, orville and wilbur.

h.p. aside, they figured they needed 80lbs of thrust to fly. their propellor design gave them something like 130lbs. HOT RODDERS!!

[fordiac]

Bruce,

thats a neat article. especially since I just finished my Materials class. (in training to be an engineer) So I understand all of that! I guess school is good for something. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Joe

[Smokin Joe]

Think of the era these guys were in.
Guys were replacing their horses on the old Studebaker wagon or bike with home made steam and infernal combustion engines. An engineering degree wasn't as useful as an apprenticeship in a blacksmith shop or factory. New tech was way ahead of what schools were teaching.
Even if you had a car, there weren't any gas stations.
The only roads coast to coast were RAILROADS and wagon trails.
I'll bet at least 1/2 the U.S. population still didn't have electric lights or indoor toilets.

The part that kills me in all this is that the parachute actually predates the airplane.

BTW the first recorded flight in Idaho Falls was a Curtis assembled in the local park in 1911. Aviation spread pretty quickly all things considered.

[Darwin]

The Wrights may have been just "bicycle mechanics" but I think they were actually smarter guys than the others working in the field at the time. They were certainly more clever. Also unlike others they didn't assume anything. They looked to birds for inspiration of course but not primarily for structural design. They realized that all the "birdlike" contraptions were a dead end and that real research with repeatable results into creating lift and controlling direction was needed and they set about doing it. They may have been just a couple schlubs from Ohio but they were true scientists. They were also real "systems analysts". Every part of the machine had to take into account every other part of it in terms of weight, shape and function. That they were able to boil down all the tricky and contradictory engineering considerations into a working package is a testament to both their ingenuity and methodical work habits. It was a real balancing act--this much available power needs so much wing area which lifts this much weight at such and such an airspeed which is determined by how much power you have---and around and around until the whole design enterprise spiraled elegantly into what became the Flyer.
I could go back a hundred years and with some modeling experience design a glider with spruce and muslin which would be wildly better than the primitive attempts of the day. What I couldn't do is improve much at all on what the Wrights did. Although they both fly the design contraints of powered aircraft are far more problematic than that of gliders. They flew gliders but it was always with an eye to eventually realizing powered flight. These were some focused dudes. That they were obsessive and maybe a little loony seems to have been not an obstacle to their success but rather a requirement.

[Bruce Lancaster]

Their continual attempts to find numbers and to discover what actually worked through home made wind tunnels and balances and constant observation really impress me. They really put effort into developing an understanding of lift, drag, thrust, and the dynamics of flight. They were the first to realize that turning was not a simple two dimensional maneuver, and it has been suggested that they were able to make this leap because of their background in Bikes--which also have to tilt to turn. They were the same sort of self-taught scientist as the hotrodders who spend their time flogging flowbenches to see what's REALLY happening to all that air.

[Gr8ballsofir]

Way to go <font color="purple">Purple</font>! Everybody else ask yourself what did you do today...

[Cruisin']

<font color="brown"> Ya jus' havta love this place! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
If it wasn't for the likes of the above aero pioneers and many others for that fact where would we be?
Man's conquest to fly, float and drive fast on land and water just makes us mere mortals toiling in the garage so humble!
What drives us is PASSION, possibilities and the eternal unknown.
Reading Ryans first post really made me think, after too, seeing it on TV.
There are also many unsung heroes that do it 'cos they are driven and just wanna!
Today I finished assembling my son's trampoline and as I gazed out across the cut and freshly turned paddocks ready for hay baling I noticed a thermal building, just like a mini tornado winding it's way across the paddock and into the neighbours property. Picking up the dried grass as it went, quite a sight and my son saw it with glee as I told him about thermals etc.
Then it took me back to before I was a teenager, flying freeflight model aeroplanes with my Dad, waiting for that elusive thermal and "BIG" flight time.
Having built scale replica models weighing no more than a 1/4 ounce "Peanut Scale" and making them fly was also a challenge in itself. My Dad still builds beautiful R/C planes, boats etc. and they are great to see in action.
Let us all be proud and humble and never lose that passion!
Amen.

Cruisin. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
A piccy taken in 1972, a high thrustline "Carl Goldberg (USA) - Viking" FAI power model. We won the NZ FAI Power class at the Nationals with that! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif </font>

[Crosley]

Just shows how sharp the Wright brothers were 100 years ago.