Orville Wright to Griffith Brewer 19-Nov-1913

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Wright says he received several Brewer letters, probably requests for clarification regarding "Must 1904 machine continue sliding during turn" and Wright's response (Orville Wright to Griffith Brewer 10-Oct-1913). Wright writes:

The machine of the patent must continue to slide towards the inside wing all of the time in making a circle. This does not mean, however, that it is actually sliding down hill inwardly. It simply means that the inside wing is brought forwards in advance of the outside wing. In other words the machine is skidding towards the inside wing in making a turn. This skidding reduces the amount of the angle on the outside of the rudder, and thus permits the machine to turn. Ordinarily the rudder turns just enough to secure a pressure to balance the difference in the pressure on the two sings, so that if one wing is warped to a larger angle than the other, the rudder exactly balances the difference in resistance and the machine continues on a straight course. But it will be seen that when the machine quarters slightly the pressure is reduced on the rudder, and thus the machine is permitted to make a turn.

Wright says he is working on an improved incidence indicator to report the angle at which an airplane is flying. He suggests that the British Wright Company could sell these in Europe. His prototypes have cost more than $25 each to make, but he expects that they can eventually be produced for $10 each.

He mentions a report on the British War Office and writes that he is "very pleased with the spirit shown by your War Office in this matter". He mentions the Glenn Curtiss trial conducted in New York on November 5–6; a decision should be forthcoming in December.

Finally he relates that according to Tharel, the CGNA (Compagnie générale de navigation aérienne, the Wright company in France), is facing receivership unless it gets more investment. He says again (see Orville Wright to Griffith Brewer 16-July-1913) that he doesn't want to put more money into this company if its stockholders are reluctant to.

Sources

Sender Orville Wright
Recipient Griffith Brewer
Date sent 19-Nov-1913
From location Dayton, Ohio
To location
Communication type
Language English
Refers to flight? 1
Tech fields airplane, rudder, navigation
Length (in words)
Full text available