Wright Company

According to G and 2dG, Clinton R. Peterkin, office boy for what we have been calling Wright & Co. assembled the shareholders who incorporated the Wright Company. The new company, registered in Albany NY, on 22 Nov 1909 (offices were to open in New York City the next week) as a closed corporation with capital stock of $1 million, was formed to commercially manufacture aeroplanes and to protect the Wright patents in the US and Canada from possible infringement. One of the Wright brothers was to be president, the other vice-president; Perterkin was another vice president. The executive company consisted of the Wright brothers and investors Theodore P. Shonts, Andrew Freedman, August Belmont, and Russell A. Alger. Cornelius Vanderbilt was another investor. In March 1916, Edward M. Hagar was elected president of the Wright Co. The principal stockholders at that time were William B. Thompson, A. H. Wiggin, William E. Corey, Percy A. Rockefeller, Ambrose Monell, E. C. Converse, C. H. Sabin, John D. Ryan, and Henry R. Carse.

Aircraft designs for Models B through R included several hydro aeroplanes and several racers, among others. Aircraft for European customers were crated and shipped in pieces to Pau. France, where assembly took place. Wilbur died 31 May 1912. On 13 Oct 1915, Orville sold the Wright brothers' interests in the company to a syndicate, while he remained a consultant to the Wright Co. By the end of 1915, the Wright Co. had acquired control of the Simplex Automobile Co., New Brunswick, NJ, and Henry Lockhart was president of both companies. Also in 1915, the Wright Co. got exclusive rights to manufacture the Hispano-Suiza motor in the US and production soon got underway at the Simplex plant in New Brunswick. In March 1916, there was a new president. In August 1916, the Wright Co. and Simplex Automobile Co. merged with the Wright Flying Field. Inc., Glenn L. Martin Co., and General Aeronautic Co. of America to form the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corp., of New Brunswick NJ.

The syndicate that purchased the Wright brothers' interests in the Wright Co. in 1915 included William B. Thompson, Harry Payne Whitney, T. Frank Manville and others.

Sources: G275, 330-331

• 2dG420-421, 509; SD257, 309-310; NYTimes, 6 Oct 1909, 23 Nov 1909, 31 May 1912; 1912AI984; 1916AAE3001916AAW653;

Organization names	Wright Company
Entity type	1
Country	US
City	New York, NY and Dayton, OH
Affiliated with
Scope
Started aero	1909
Ended aero	1916
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