Wright Brothers Essays - Wright Brothers, Glider Aircraft

Wright Brothers Bishop Milton Wright and Susan Catharine Wright had four sons, Reuchlin, Lorin, Wilbur, and Orville, and one daughter Katharine. Little did Susan Wright know that she had given birth to one of the world's most famous inventive partnerships. Wilbur was born on April 16, 1867, near Millville, Indiana. Orville was born 4 years later on August 19, 1871, in the families newly built home at 7 Hawthorn Street in Dayton, Ohio. A minister in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Milton Wright moved his family to Dayton so he could edit the church newspaper published there. The Wrights stayed in Dayton until 1878, when Milton was elected bishop and moved the family to Iowa. In 1885, they returned to the house at 7 Hawthorn Street. As the boys grew older, their parents encouraged them to pursue intellectual interests. They had two libraries in their house; books on theology were kept in the bishop's study, while the downstairs library had a large and diverse collection. This kept them always reading and learning while they were not at school. Although their dad was a firm disciplinarian, both parents were loving and kept the family a close one. Every once and awhile, Milton would bring them various souvenirs and trinkets he found during his travels for the church. One such trinket, a toy helicopter-like top, sparked the boys' interest in flying. Wilbur's skating accident and his mother's illness and subsequent death kept him from attending college. Orville was on the other hand, was an average student, known for his mischievous behavior. He quit school before his senior year to start a printing business with his brother. The first time Wilbur and Orville referred to themselves, as "The Wright Brothers" was when they started their own printing firm at the ages of 22 and 18. Using a damaged tombstone and buggy parts, they built a press and printed their own newspaper. In 1892, the brothers bought bicycles. They began repairing bicycles for friends, and then started their own repair business. They opened up a bicycle shop in 1893, and three years later, made their own bicycles called Van Cleves and St. Clairs. While caring for Orville, who was sick with typhoid in 1896, Wilbur read about two events; the death in a flying accident of Otto Lilienthal, the celebrated German experimenter with gliders, and the successful launching of powered models by Samuel Langley. This struck Wilbur with excitement. The Wright's serious work in aeronautics began in 1899 when Wilbur wrote to the Smithsonian Institution for information on aeronautical research. Within a few months after writing to the Smithsonian, Wilbur had read all that was written about flying. He then defined the elements of a flying machine: wings to provide lift, a power source for propulsion, and a system of control. Wilbur alone recognized the need to control a flying machine in its three axes of motion: pitch, roll, and yaw. They quickly developed their own theories, and for the next four years devoted themselves to the goal of human flight. In August of 1900, Wilbur built his first glider. They sought an arrangement where practice would be easy. Wilbur wanted to build a 150-foot tower with a pulley at the top. A rope, attached to the glider, would pass over the pulley and be tied to a counterweight, supporting part of the weight of the craft. Wilbur believed this arrangement would permit the pilot to practice the skills needed to fly even if the craft was not yet fully airworthy. The brothers friend, Octave Chanute, wisely recommended against this course of action, instead encouraging the brothers to find a place with lots of sand and strong winds, to minimize the effort in moving the glider from the point of landing back to the point of takeoff. Wilbur then contacted the U.S. Weather Bureau for information on windy regions of the country. He chose a remote sandy area off the coast of North Carolina named Kitty Hawk where there would be no fanfare or no media. The winds averaged 13 M.P.H. and were good speeds for testing. Wilbur arrived in Kitty Hawk on September 13, 1900, while Orville followed on September 27. The two brothers

Not Only in French

The Restrictive Only / Not Only in French There are two common French equivalents for the restrictive only in English: seulement and ne... que. These two terms mean essentially the same thing, but seulement is an adverb of quantity while ne... que is a negative adverb, so theyre used a bit differently Seulement: Only The simplest way to say only in French is with the adverb seulement, which can qualify a noun, verb, or clause.Jai seulement un livre.I have only one book. Il voit seulement les films à ©trangers.He only sees foreign movies. Note how the placement of seulement can change the meaning: Jai lu seulement deux pages pour te faire plaisir.I read only two pages to please you. (You didnt want  me to read more.) Jai lu deux pages seulement pour te faire plaisir.I read two pages only to please you. (I didnt feel like reading, but I did it for you.) Il veut seulement travailler la banque.He only wants to work at the bank. (He doesnt want to invest there). Il veut travailler seulement la banque.He wants to work only at the bank. (He doesnt want to work at the store). Ne... Que: Only in the Negative An equally common but slightly more complicated way to say only is with ne... que, which is used similarly to other negative adverbs: ne goes in front of the verb and que  usually follows it.Je nai quun livre.I have only one book.Il ne voit que les films à ©trangers.He sees only foreign movies.As with seulement, you can change the meaning by placing que directly in front of the word you want to qualify.Je nai lu que deux pages pour te faire plaisir.I read only two pages to please you.Je nai lu deux pages que pour te faire plaisir.I read two pages only to please you.Il ne veut que travailler la banque.He only wants to work at the bank.Il ne veut travailler qu la banque.He wants to work only at the bank.Note that indefinite and partitive articles do not change to de after ne... que, the way they do after other negative adverbs:Je nai quun livre.I have only one book.Il ne veut que des idà ©es.He only wants ideas, Hes just looking for some ideas. Negation: Not Only To say not only, you can negate ne... que into ne... pas que, which can stand alone or be followed by additional information: Je nai pas que 3 livres (jai 2 stylos aussi).I dont have only 3 books (I have 2 pens too)Il ny a pas que le travail (il faut vivre aussi).Work isnt all there is; Theres more [to life] than just work.Il nà ©tait pas quen retard....He wasnt just late (theres more to it than that). Seulement​ Seulement has two negatives. The first one, ne... pas seulement is pretty much interchangeable with ne... pas que.Je nai pas seulement 3 livres...I dont have only 3 books ...Il ny a pas seulement le travail....Work isnt all there is...Il nà ©tait pas seulement en retard....He wasnt just late... Non-Seulement The other negative,  non seulement, cannot be used in a stand-alone clause; it must be balanced with something like aussi, mais encore, etc.Il y a non seulement le travail  ; il faut vivre aussi.Work isnt all there is; you have to live too. Non seulement jai 3 livres, mais aussi 2 stylos.I dont have only 3 books, I have 2 pens too.Non seulement il à ©tait en retard, mais encore il à ©tait ivre.He was not only late, but drunk (too). Not only was he late, he was (also) drunk.