The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Otto Lilienthal’

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The Early History of the Airplane by Orville and Wilbur Wright is a great book for mentoring because it teaches us to question everything, and not accept things as fact.

“Late in the autumn of 1878 our father came into the house late one evening with some object partly concealed in his hands, and before we could see what it was, he tossed it into the air. Instead of falling to the floor, as we expected, it flew across the room, till it struck the ceiling, where it fluttered awhile, and finally sank to the floor.”

The toy the Wright Brothers were referring to was a helicopter!

Orville and Wilbur Wright are qualified to write about The Early History of the Airplane because they are credited with inventing it. For many years, they dabbled in aviation. However, they became serious after the death of the King of Glider, Otto Lilienthal in 1896. To study the subject of flying, Orville and Wilbur Wright studied the work of others:

• Octave Chanute’s Progress in Flying Machines
• Samuel Pierpont Langley’s Experiments in Aerodynamics
• Aeronautical Annuals of 1905, 1906, and 1907
• Several pamphlets published by the Smithsonian Institution – especially articles by Otto Lilienthal and extracts from Louis Pierre Mouillard’s Empire of the Air.

After reading what was written, the Wright Brothers understood the problems with flying, and decided to follow the path of soaring flight, which Lilienthal, Mouillard, and Chanute followed, instead of power flight, which Professor Langley and Sir Hiram Maxim followed. The Wright Brothers first designed their machine to be flown as a kite, with a man on board. After relentless testing, they were ready to build a power-flyer.

After using information from the work of others in their experimentation in flight, the Wright Brothers had to acknowledge that a lot of the information was incorrect. They were discouraged, but didn’t give up, and instead decided to rely on their own experimentations. They couldn’t distinguish between what was true and what was false. However, they agreed that the two years were not wasted because now they had a thorough knowledge of the subject of aviation.

As the Wright Brothers take you along their journey to inventing the airplane, you get to see that it was not an easy path. There were many setbacks along the way, but they kept at it. The brothers were one of a few folks who were contracted by the US Government to build a flyer capable of carrying two men and sufficient fuel supplies for a flight of 125 miles, with a speed of 40 miles an hour, and the only contractors to deliver a working product.

What makes The Early History of the Airplane by Orville and Wilbur Wright such a great book, and one that is an excellent mentor, is not so much what is in the book. The content is important, but the book teaches the reader how to think, how to solve a problem, and the process to manage a project from start to finish. In life, we will never have all the information we need to make a decision, solve a problem, or move ahead, however, we have to step up and make intelligent assumptions based on what we already know. Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright were very good at that.

The Wright Brothers documented the actions they took while building the flyer, so they were always able to go back and review their work. They were open to suggestions, and would question things. Building an aircraft was important to them, even if it meant that they had to build parts themselves. In life, we have many different skills and experiences, and at some point our lives come together. The Wright Brothers depended on reading books or other information to understand the field of aviation, but their background in building bicycles, was helpful to them when building the aircraft.

Pearls of Wisdom from the Wright Brothers

• Study and build on the work of others.
• Do not be afraid to try something different.
• Never give up, and do not listen to naysayers. After initial spectacular failures, the public believed that flight was beyond man.
• View failure as lessons learned.
• Break down large projects into manageable stages and test each stage to ensure that it works. The Wright Brothers first designed their machine to be flown as a kite, with a man on board. Then later they added the engine.
• The road to success is paved with many failures.
• Learn by experimentation.

I recommend that you read The Early History of the Airplane by Orville and Wilbur Wright, but when you are reading the book, focus more on the process, than on the content, and you will get far more from the book. You can download a copy of The Early History of the Airplane by Orville and Wilbur Wright from Gutenberg.org.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

“Suddenly, the whole machine lifted from the rail. For 12 long seconds, the Flyer wobbled and snaked 10 feet above the dunes, landing 100 feet away. [John] Daniels had snapped the shutter, freezing in an instant what mankind had sought for millennia,” Michael Patrick of Popular Mechanics, December 17, 1903, when Wilbur Wright successfully flew their Flyer 1 aircraft.

The Wright Brothers are credited for inventing the airplane, but many had paved the way for them. They knew about Otto Lilienthal’s stellar work, but it wasn’t until his death in 1896 that they became interested in his glider flight experiments. At the time of Lilienthal’s death, the Wright Brothers had owned and operated a cycle shop for four years where they also manufactured bicycles. This gave them solid experience in practical mechanics.

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Name: Orville Wright

Birth Date: August 1871 – January 1948

Name: Wilbur Wright

Birth Date: April 1867 – May 1912

Job Functions: Entrepreneur, Aviator

Fields: Aviation

Known For: Inventing the Airplane

In 1892, the Wright Brothers opened the Wright Cycle Shop inDayton,Ohio. At that time in history, the bicycle was an exciting mechanical device, and in 1895 they started to manufacture bicycles. They knew about Otto Lilienthal from 1891, but it was after his death in 1896 that the Wright Brothers took notice of the body of work that Lilienthal left behind. Lilienthal inspired the brothers, and they became interested in glider experiments.

The Wright Brothers entered the aviation field at the right time because some of the theories of aerodynamics were already known, and a body of experimental data was available. There was also a recent development in internal combustion, which would make powered manned flight possible.

Wright Brothers Biography

The Wright Brothers started the process the way most successful inventors and innovators would.

• Gathered all the information they could find on the topic and read them through until they thoroughly understood the subject matter.
• They didn’t just read the data they collected, but also carefully analyzed it. The Wright Brothers determined that they would have to master the principles of flight observation by using gliders, after which they would combine an engine with the wing structure. They looked at the failed attempts with heavier-than-air machines.
• Designed and tested their own models and gliders.
• Built their own engine.
• When the experimental data they had gathered was inadequate or wrong, they conducted more thorough experiments.

By going through the process above, the Wright Brothers concluded that earlier attempts at flying failed because plans for the early plane required the pilot to manoeuvre his body to control the plane. They decided that it would be better to control the plane by the twisting of the wing tips so the flight could be adjusted to changing air patterns without requiring the pilot to shift his weight.

Armed with this newfound knowledge, the Wright Brothers flew double-winged kites and gliders to gain experience and test the data they had. They needed the perfect place to do that. After checking with the US Weather Bureau, they found an area of sand dunes, Kill Devil Hills, close to Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. In 1900, they set-up a camp in Kill Devil Hills. Their first device failed to fly because it was unable to develop sufficient lift. As they tested their devices, they kept accurate records of both their successes and failures. Their own test data proved that previous tables of information they had gathered were inaccurate.

They returned to Dayton in 1901 to build the first wind tunnel in the US so they could test their devices in a more controlled environment. They tested over 200 models of wing surfaces to measure lift and drag factors to identify the most suitable design. “They also discovered that although screw propellers have been used on ships for more than half a century, there was no reliable body of data on the subject and no theory that would allow them to design proper propellers for their airship. They would have to work the problem out for themselves mathematically.”

The brothers built a third glider and incorporated all the new information from their experiments. They returned to Kitty Hawk, made over 1,000 gliding flights, confirmed their previous data and demonstrated that they could control the three axes of motion of the glider. The Wright Brothers were now ready to add power to their machine. They soon discovered that no manufacturer would build the engine to their specification, so they had to build it themselves. The engine had four cylinders with 12 horsepower.

In December 1903, they made the first manned, powered flight in heavier-than-air craft. First, Orville’s plane flew 120 feet and the flight lasted 12 seconds. On the fourth flight, with Wilbur at the controls, the plane traveled 852 feet and stayed in the air for 59 seconds. Unfortunately a gust of wind severely damaged their aircraft. They returned toDaytondetermined to build another aircraft.

In 1905, the Wright Brothers decided to focus on aviation, and in 1906 they received a patent for a flying machine. In 1907, Army Signal Corps (the US government) tendered a $25,000 bid for an airplane built to their requirements, and three of the 22 bids were accepted. The Wright Brothers were the only ones to complete the contract.

In September 1908 while Wilbur was inFrance, Orville successfully demonstrated their contract airplane, which was accepted by the government.

The Wright Brothers’ Steps to Success

• Their father Bishop Wright gave his children a toy helicopter, which ignited Orville’s and Wilbur’s early interest in aviation.
• As children, they assisted their father in editing the journal, Religious Telescope. As young adults they produced their own paper, Westside News on a printing press that they created.
• Wilbur and Orville’s skills complemented each other. Wilbur was meticulous, detailed oriented, had business savvy, mechanical skills and a disciplined mind, and finished the projects he started, while Orville was impetuous, an idea generator, full of enthusiasm and spontaneity.
• They didn’t know much about flying, but had a deep interest in it so they looked at the body of work that was available and started from there.
• Mastered the body of information on aeronautical science and added to it.
• Viewed problems as opportunities: When they couldn’t find anyone to build an engine to their specification, they built one themselves.
• Were curious and inventive.
• Tested, tested and tested until they got it right.
• Used their failures as feedback.
• They became expert pilots as a result of all the glider flights they made.

Why the Wright Brothers Contribution Matters

The Wright Brothers came into the game after a considerable amount of work was done, and they did the smart thing by looking at what had been done before instead of reinventing the wheel. They immersed themselves in the topic of aviation until they really understood it then they started testing the accuracy of the data they had uncovered. They found a lot of inaccuracies and they ran their own tests to gather new information. They conducted the same tests over and over to make sure the experiments were repeatable. When there was no data on a certain aspect of aviation, they did tests to accumulate the body of knowledge. When they couldn’t find anyone to build an engine to their specifications they built it themselves. They were undaunted by the many obstacles they faced. The aviation industry followed the path of The Wright Brothers and not of Samuel Pierpont Langley – it accepted the Wright Brothers’ method of aerodynamic control.

Pearls of Wisdom

• Objectively evaluate what’s been done before and decide which path you are going to take. Many times you have to blaze your own trail, don’t get caught up in circular thinking.
• Because you start out late in a field doesn’t mean that you cannot finish ahead.

Why Orville and Wilbur Wright Would Make Excellent Invisible Mentors

Their lives are living proof of what hard work and determination can accomplish.

Life Wisdom from the Wright Brothers

• Know and understand the fundamentals of your field.
• Build on your basic knowledge to become a master.
• Fail fast, fail often, and fail forward to success.
• Look at what’s being done in other industries for inspiration.
• Find ways to experiment in your job to perform better, and keep careful notes for evaluation later.

Wright Brothers Part 1

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Wright Brothers Part 2

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Wright Brothers Part 3

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Wright Brothers Part 4

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Wright Brothers Part 5

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For More Information on the Wright Brothers

The Wright Brothers At Kitty Hawk (Scholastic Biography)
The Wright Brothers: A Biography (Dover Transportation)
Sterling Biographies: The Wright Brothers: First in Flight

Works Referenced/Cited

Science and its Times, Volume 6

Encyclopedia of World Biography

UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography

American Decades

Business Leader Profiles for Students

Europe 1789 – 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire

Bowling, Beatniks and Bell Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20^th Century America

YouTube Video Credit: Uploaded by NatureLover987 on Feb 6, 2009

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This is what we talked about on The invisible Mentor Blog this week: Review of How to Read Literature by Thomas C. Foster, Samuel Pierpont Langley, Aviation Pioneer and Interview with Andrina Lever.

Mondays at the Salon

Since 2004, the Samsung Economic Research Institute has put together a reading list for CEOs based on a survey of CEOs.

This Year’s Samsung Economic Research Institute Reading List for CEOs is Out

Booked on Tuesdays

This week we reviewed How to Read Literature Like Professor by Thomas C. Foster. The book is a good guide on how to read intelligently to get the most understanding out of your reading. The trick is to ask many questions – authors of literary fiction have a reason for doing what they do in works.

Review: How to Read Literature Like Professor by Thomas C. Foster

Wisdom Wednesdays

Samuel Pierpont Langley was one of the pioneers in aviation. Even though the aviation industry followed the path of the Wright Brothers, the brothers studied Otto Lilienthal’s and Langley’s work among others. Because of what Langley and others in the industry did, the Wright Brothers had a starting point when they entered the industry.

Samuel Pierpont Langley, American Scientist and Aviation Pioneer

Perspective Thursdays and Workshop Fridays

This week we featured Andrina Lever who attended 17 schools in three countries while growing up. And, how does a family enterprise continue when the founder dies suddenly? Read this and more in Andrina Lever’s interview. Here are Part One and Part Two of her interview.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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Samuel Pierpont Langley was one of the lesser known pioneers in aviation. Though his formal education ended after completing high school, Langley was well read, reading extensively in science, literature and history. He popularized scientific knowledge by writing magazine articles. Using his knowledge of aerodynamics, Langley built a number of elastic-powered models. In 1896 (the same year Otto Lilienthal died), Langley was successful in flying several small-scale unmanned, steam-powered aircrafts launched from the top of a houseboat on the Potomac River. In 1898, at the request of the US government Langley started to build a piloted machine. The aircraft did not fly because the launching apparatus failed.

Name: Samuel Pierpont Langley

Birth Date: August 1834 – February 1906

Job Functions: Scientist, Aviator Pioneer, Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Fields: Astrophysics, Aviation

Known For: Bolometer

Though Samuel Pierpont Langley’s formal education ended when he completed high school, he was a voracious reader and studied various branches of science. He worked as an engineer and architect and held positions such as head of an observatory at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Director of the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh, and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

An inventor in his own right, Langley invented and sold a technique to provide standard time signals to railroads. Between 1879 and 1881, he also invented the bolometer, an instrument for measuring tiny quantities of heat. “The superior measurements by means of the bolometer, the newly discovered extent of the solar spectrum, and the new results for selective absorption of the earth’s atmosphere were significant contributions to the study of the sun and its effect on earth.”

In 1887, while Langley was at the Allegheny Observatory, he started a series of aerodynamics experiments. He continued his investigation into the possibility of piloted flight after his appointment as Secretary of the Smithsonian. “He studied the lift and drift of moving plane surfaces on a sophisticated scientific basis. Experimenting with small models propelled by elastic strips, he worked out the mathematics of the problem. His contributions to aviation rest not only on knowledge he acquired and shared with others upon his successful distance flight of power-driven models, but also upon the dignity he brought, as a man of sound scientific reputation.”

In 1896, Langley successfully flew a 14-foot steam-powered aircraft model for 3,000 feet over the Potomac River. He repeated his experiment, and this time, the model flew 4,200 feet. The novelty of the situation was that these were the first sustained free flights of powered heavier-than-air machines. Two years later, the US War Department awarded Langley a grant for $50,000 to continue his experiments to achieve piloted flights.

Langley built a full-sized aircraft with a 53-horsepower gasoline engine. He made two highly publicized events at flying and failed both times – the craft fell into the water shortly after takeoff. It’s believed that there were defects to the launching device. It’s worthy to note that in 1914, Glenn Curtiss successfully flew a modified version of Langley’s airplane.

What Did Langley Do Wrong?

Langley’s aircraft had excellent propulsion and adequate aerodynamics, but the structural design was poor. The Wright Brothers are credited for inventing the airplane, and what they did differently from Langley, was they first mastered the art of fly using unstable gliders before they added power, and that made the difference to their success. The development of flight followed the trajectory of the Wright Brothers and not Langley. The Wright Brothers also built a wind tunnel where they could test their flying devices in a more controlled environment.

Steps to Success

• Langley was a voracious reader and read several branches of science to elf-educate.
• He was a keen observer, and experimented a lot.
• Langley shared his research findings with others to move the field forward.
• He gave legitimacy to the to the early aviation field because he was a respected scientist.

Why Samuel Pierpont Langley Contribution Matters

Samuels Pierpont Langley may not have contributed that much to piloted flight but Max Planck’s interpolated radiation law were based in part on bolometer measurements. Langley invented the bolometer.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Works Cited/Referenced

Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography

Encyclopedia of World Biography

Science and Its Times

Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy

During an interview once, the interviewee told me that she has often been mentored by the many books that she has read. While browsing a book about authors as mentors in a bookstore, one of the contributors called books, paper mentors.  The contributor also indicated that the author of Harriet the Spy mentored and influenced her as a writer.

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Can a book be a mentor? Or is it the author who assumes the role of mentor? What about the characters in fiction, can they act as mentors? To answer these questions, requires that we look at the roles that mentors play in our lives. In the most basic sense, a mentor helps a protégé to achieve something that’s really important to her.

The Role of Mentors

• Advisor
• Role Model
• Sounding Board
• Guide
• Teacher/Skills Developer
• Resource Provider
• Champion/Advocate
• Cheerleader
• Confidant
• Critic
• Friend
• Facilitator

Mentors play many of the roles above, but no one mentor can play all of the roles in our lives. Let’s say for argument sake that books can be mentors, what characteristics would the books have for them to be great mentors? For a book to assume the role of a mentor, it has to have many of the elements below:

• Provokes thought
• Provides a deeper level of understanding and heightened awareness
• Ignites passion
• Awakens deep-seated emotions
• Provides practical wisdom
• Chronicles events for strategic guidance
• Provides formulas and intellectual frameworks to use
• Be about a change maker
• Solves everyday problems
• Shifts the reader’s mindset

Reflecting on the elements of a book that make it a mentor, when was the last time you read a really good book that mentored you? If there are books that have mentored you, just like my interviewee, think about the following questions.

• What was it about that book that made it memorable?
• How did you feel after you finished reading the book…sated… hungering for more…unnerved…?
• Did you take copious notes while you were reading this book?
• How many people did you refer this book to?
• Did it evoke any strong emotional response from you?
• Have you used any ideas from the book?
• What genre of book was it?
• Would you say that the book had a profound impact on your life?

If there are books that have mentored you, look at others that deal with the same topic, and do what Mortimer Adler recommends in How to Read a Book, and that is to read syntopically to master the topic, and I would add to also get divergent views. How do the books compare to each other? If the book is about a new area, think about what the author is saying, does it make sense? How does it stack up against what you already know? Also, identify:

• The problem the author presented and how it was solved
• The relevance of the information to your work and life
• Five takeaways
• Five great ideas you can glean from the information presented
• Any rule breaking
• Ideas/solutions that relate to work and life
• Solutions to everyday problems
• Ways to use ideas/insights/takeaways to increase the value of your product/service to your customers both internal and external to the organization

A book can never take the place of a traditional mentor, but it can assume some of the roles of a mentor, especially when you are trying to learn something, to gather information or to further your understanding of something.

Examples Where Books (and other publications) as Mentors Helped

Charles Darwin and British biologist Alfred Russel Wallace independently arrived at similar theories of Natural Selection in the mid-1800s after reading Essay on the Principle of Population by British pastor Thomas Malthus.

After many years of research and observing birds in flight, German engineer Otto Lilienthal, also known as the King of Gliders published his findings in the widely read book Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation. Lilienthal’s research article Practical Experiments for the Development of Human Flight, writings and notes proved invaluable to Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright also known as the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers believed that they could improve Lilienthal’s designs and resolve the problems plaguing aircraft theories. The Wright Brothers are credited for inventing the airplane.

As a child, while confined to bed because of illness, Robert Hutchings Goddard read H G Wells’ The War of the Worlds and became captivated with rockets and outer space. Goddard was a pioneer in liquid-fuelled rocketry and made significant contributions to the field.

While reading an article on a flight, Jeff Bezos founder of Amazon learned that the Internet was growing 2,300 per cent each year and wondered how he could use the information. He then looked at the top 20 catalogues to identify which would translate best to an online business and as a result Amazon was formed.

Now that you have read all this information, can books, authors and characters mentor you? I will leave that for you to digest and decide for yourself. How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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