| ▲ | ChrisMarshallNY 5 days ago |
| If I remember correctly, the Wright Brothers were bicycle mechanics; which, I guess, was kind of a big deal, back then. |
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| ▲ | JJMcJ 5 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| They manufactured bicycles, then the apex of precision mass produced products, and they also had a quite scientific approach to the design of their aircraft, with wind tunnels, for example. They were also the first to understand that steering the airplane was best done by warping the airfoils. Now we do it with rudders and elevators and flaps, then they did the whole surface. |
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| ▲ | WalterBright 5 days ago | parent | next [-] | | They were also the first to devise a mathematical propeller theory that enabled them to have 90% efficient propellers. The flat propellers used by others were only 50% efficient. | |
| ▲ | BurningFrog 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Nice! I never realized that they were working in the "hi tech" of the time. Their accomplishments make more sense to me now! | | | |
| ▲ | hinkley 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Figuring how to make bicycles that only flex in “good” directions instead of bad was a whole field of study that took off in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I’m sure they were making lemonade from their lemons. It’s gonna flex, what’s that good for? | |
| ▲ | le-mark 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | The wing warping patent applied to flaps too, as Curtis found after a long legal battle. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers_patent_war | |
| ▲ | fennecfoxy 5 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | Surely that would've been watches, not bicycles. |
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| ▲ | hinkley 4 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| That relationship I think came full circle when Cannondale started making aluminum bikes from aircraft-grade aluminum. |
