![]() In their construction of flying machines, Wilbur and Orville often used the same equipment and tools used in repairing bicycles. Furthermore, the repair and manufacture of bicycles sharpened the brothers' mechanical skills. Fortunately, the bicycle business provided the funds for this new interest, for unlike others in aviation, the Wrights were never financed by anyone. The creativity and ingenuity of these two men were well and truly captured. Their energies were focused by two events of 1896 the death of Otto Lilienthal, the celebrated glider experimenter, in a flying accident, and the successful unmanned launching of powered models by Samuel Langley. ![]() Though the business was going well, the brothers were restless. With the business doing rather well, the brothers also opened a repair shop and later began to manufacture bicycles. But it wasn’t until 1892, when they formed the Wright Cycle Company to sell bicycles, that they found a successful business that also allowed them spare time for other projects. Throughout their lives, the brothers were involved in a variety of ventures to make money. In later years, Orville accredited this childhood toy as being the object that sparked their interest in flight. They even attempted to build their own toy helicopters. Rather it "flew across the room till it struck the ceiling, where it fluttered awhile, and finally sank to the floor." Though the fragile toy soon broke, Wilbur and Orville never forgot it. Designed by French aeronautical experimenter Alphonse Pénaud, this toy did not simply fall to the ground as expected. In 1878, the brothers’ father, Milton Wright, brought home a rubber band powered toy helicopter. They were mechanically inclined young men who were inspired by the efforts of others. The brothers had been tinkering with the idea of flight off and on since childhood. In 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright, two brothers from Dayton, OH, became the first people to fly a heavier than air, power controlled machine, known as the Wright Flyer. Library of Congress, Wright Papers, Manuscript Division (51) ![]() A carbon copy of Orville Wright's sketch, drawn from memory, of the Penaud helicopter that influenced the brothers. ![]()
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