Planelopnik: Did you know?

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
10/26/2017 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan, Planelopnik

Wilbur and Orville Wright are famous for building and flying the first heavier-than-air powered aircraft (though there are many who claim Alberto Santos-Dumont !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , on a technicality). The bicycle builders from Dayton, Ohio did remarkable seminal work in aerodynamics, and built many gliders before settling on the design for their first Wright Flyer. But despite their engineering acumen, there was one thing they couldn’t do: build an engine. For that, they turned to perhaps the greatest unsung hero of the dawn of aviation, a self-taught mechanic named Charlie Taylor.

The first flight December 17, 1903 (Library of Congress)

Taylor worked as a toolmaker before the Wrights hired him in 1896 to repair bicycles. He soon started running the shop while the Wrights were away flying their gliders in North Carolina. When the brothers could find no engine that was light enough yet powerful enough for their flyer, they asked Taylor to build one. In just six weeks, based on sketches provided by the brothers, Taylor built a four-cylinder engine with a water-cooled cast aluminum block. Fuel was fed by gravity and passed through a rudimentary carburetor. The mixture of fuel and air was vaporized by heat from the crankcase, and the wooden propellers were turned by chains (the Wrights were bicycle builders, after all). The block and crankcase together weighed 152 pounds. The Wrights asked for at least 8 hp, and Taylor’s engine delivered 12 hp. It was the world’s first successful aircraft engine.

The 1903 engine, reconstructed in 1928 (National Park Service)

Taylor became the chief mechanic of the fledgling Wright Company when it was founded in 1909 before moving to California in 1920, but he came back to Ohio in 1936 to help restore the Wright’s bicycle shop and family home. He returned to California in 1941 to work in the defense industry, but a heart attack in 1945 left him destitute. When members of the aviation industry heard of his plight, they raised money to move him to a private facility. Taylor died in 1955, and was buried at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Burbank, California.

Taylor with a scale model of his engine in 1947 (author unknown)

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Connecting Flights

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DISCUSSION (13)

For Sweden > ttyymmnn
10/26/2017 at 12:43

Me after reading this article

Kinja'd!!!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn
10/26/2017 at 12:47

Charlie Taylor provides an interesting contrast with Manly, Langley’s engineer. Langley: “PROVIDE UNTO ME, POWER!” Manly: “’k” Result, a boat anchor that was a technical marvel, but hitched to a useless kite. Wrights: “We need a *little bit* of power, but you have to make it light” Taylor: “Well, I’ll try.” Result, a crude but light lump that simply *worked*.

It is also difficult to overstate how important the Wrights’ studies on prop design were. The efficiency of their props, developed from their own theory and study and recognizing their role as airfoils, have been said to be over 80% efficient, which was unheard of.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn
10/26/2017 at 12:49

As another note, the Taylor engine is barely a step removed from a hit&miss engine, and as a consequence (trivial), could probably have been started in reverse.

My citroen won't start > ttyymmnn
10/26/2017 at 12:52

I have to side with Santos Dumont on this.

A plane has to take of under it’s own power.

ttyymmnn > My citroen won't start
10/26/2017 at 13:34

One might argue, though, that the 14-bis was more of a flying box kite than a proper airplane.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
10/26/2017 at 13:36

I think the intellectual breakthrough that the Wrights made was that a propeller is really a spinning wing, rather than a screw. Others were still hung up on moving through water.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn
10/26/2017 at 13:41

But more than that, they tested and tested, over and over, so that their prop’s efficiency was higher than the props in common currency for something like another twenty years. Granted, making an efficient prop for low speeds can be easier, but it was quite a feat.

Kiltedpadre > ttyymmnn
10/26/2017 at 13:48

In 2003 FAA airframe and power plant ID cards had a picture of Charlie Taylor on the back side as part of the 100years of flight celebrations. I’m not sure if they’ve been changed again since then.

Kinja'd!!!

ttyymmnn > Kiltedpadre
10/26/2017 at 13:54

That’s awesome. Taylor is also given a prominent spot in the USAF Museum in Ohio.

Kiltedpadre > ttyymmnn
10/26/2017 at 14:08

I have a picture of the display there for him, but it’s on my computer. I actually live about 20 minutes from the museum.

One thing I was told by one of my A&P instructors but haven’t been able to verify was that for awhile the early mechanics certificates issued were actually signed by Mr Taylor. It wouldn’t be unprecedented given that Orville Wright at one point signed pilots licenses.

Cé hé sin > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
10/26/2017 at 14:23

On a further note, large two stroke marine diesels are still run in reverse when the need to go astern presents itself.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Cé hé sin
10/26/2017 at 14:36

Indeed. Makes for a robust and elegant simplicity.

ttyymmnn > Kiltedpadre
10/26/2017 at 14:55

Orville Wright was on the board of NACA, the predecessor to NASA, for 28 years. So that would make sense.