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Open Technology Practices and Founders of the Early Airplane Industry

by Peter B. Meyer, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

(Findings and views are those of the author, not the BLS)

July 1, 2012, WEAI 2012, San Francisco Session 201: Innovation and the Provision of Public Goods

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Development of the airplane ~1800 Cayley’s fixed-wing airplane designs 1860s Clubs and journals focus on this idea It’s a niche activity – maybe hopeless, useless, dangerous

1890s Public glider flights of Lilienthal 1894 Survey book by Chanute Many designs were shared and discussed “open source practices” – sharing, networking, copying,

avoiding barriers of secrecy or intellectual property open source innovation 1903 Wright brothers’ key powered-glider flight 1908-9 Big exhibitions ; industry arises

From 1860s societies in Paris, London, Berlin focused on ballooning • “Aerial navigation” activity builds on that infrastructure

Exhibitions and conferences: 1868, 1885, 1893, 1904, many after 1907

• 78 exhibitors in 1868 Crystal Palace, organized by Aero Society of GB

Relevant clubs and societies

Aeronautics-related clubs and societies

Data under development

Publications up to 1909 – 13,600 from Brockett’s 1910 Bibliography of Aeronautics

“Citations” in Chanute’s 1894 survey Progress in Flying Machines

Clubs to 1910 (referred to by various historical sources)

Letters between experimenters, from secondary sources

Patents to 1915 (over 1400, from several historical sources – Brewer and Alexander 1893; L’Aerophile, Otto-Lilienthal Museum site, Aeronautical Journal, other historical books)

Early firms, from Gunston (1993, 2005), Smithsonian Directory, other sources

Data on individuals, slowly (480 in firms 1907-1915)

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Getting in the air: Otto Lilienthal Studied wing shapes in experiments on lift Published book: Birdflight as the basis for aviation 1890s: Flew inspirational hang gliders – tried to control in air Why? “. . . to soar upward and to glide, free as the bird” -- Otto Lilienthal, 1889

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Octave Chanute

French-born, railroad engineer, focuses on “aerial navigation” issue. His 1894 book Progress in Flying Machines surveyed experiments, devices, theories Communicated with many experimenters, held conferences, and made gliders He visited experimenters a lot

1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910

Wrights to Chanute 7 28 29 22 24 24 33 16 7 3 4

Chanute to Wrights 5 30 34 25 29 37 37 19 9 4 2

Letters and telegrams between Octave Chanute and the Wright brothers

• Bibliography of Aeronautics by Brockett / Smithsonian Institution (1910) * 13,000 bibliography entries * Much cleanup necessary * Frequency of names matches lists from Chanute’s survey, and indexes of later historical works

Data on publications

Source: database of Brockett

(1910) entries per year

Dip at the end is because only first

half of 1909 is included; another

volume goes further to 1916

Aeronautical periodicals before 1909 Journal when where entries in

Brockett (1910)

L'Aérophile 1893- Paris 1383

Zeitschrift für Luftschiffahrt 1882- Berlin; Vienna 1101

Illustrierte Aëronautische Mitteilungen 1897-1931 Strasbourg; Berlin 1053

L'Aéronaute 1868-1914 Paris 822 Wiener Luftschiffer Zeitung 1902-1914 Vienna 604

Bollettino della Societa Aeronautica Italiana 1904- Rome 534

Aeronautics 1907-1921 London 425

Aëronautical Journal 1897- London 415

Scientific American 1871- New York 371

La Conquête de l'Air 1904- Brussels 343

Aeronautical World 1902-1903 Ohio 315

Compte Rendus de l’Académie Sciences 1836- Paris 191 Bulletin of the Aerial Experiment Association 1908- Nova Scotia 157

La Revue de l’Aviation 1906- Paris 147 American Magazine of Aeronautics 1907- New York 102

L'Aeronauta 1896-1900 Milan 95

Revue de l’Aeronautique 1888-96; 1900-1 Paris 87

Flight (Aero Club of UK) 1909- London 81

American Aeronaut 1907-1909 St. Louis; NYC 81

Aeronautical Annual 1895-1897 Boston 68

Ballooning and Aeronautics 1907- London 64

What did the articles talk about?

Term in English Entries (of 13600)

Balloon, aerostat, dirigible, Zeppelin, voyage, ascent 2100

Navigation (control, steerable) 623

Kites, gliders (gliding, soaring) 550

Wing 180

Bird (animal, fish, insect) 270

Scientific/measurement (research, theory, meteorology, atmosphere, experiment, duration, altitude, temperature, weight) 475

Military/warfare (army) 400

Motor (engine, propulsion, propellers) 380

Clubs/societies 600

Examples of aeronautical

literature before 1905

from Mouillard’s

L’empire de l’air, 1881

Wilbur Wright’s first letter to Chanute in 1900 says “the apparatus I intend to employ . . . is very similar to [your] "double-deck" machine [of] 1896-7 . . . [. . . with these changes] ”

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Open technology practice: copying

Chanute-Herring glider, 1896

Wright brothers 1900 kite, 1901-2 glider

More imitation: Ferber, 1902, copies Wright design based on report from Chanute

Pratt truss

Transition and paradigm shift

Octave Chanute: An open-technology

person

Wright brothers It’s an industry now

• Wrights enforce their 1906 patent and sue a lot especially in U.S. • In Europe they license more -- patent is interpreted more narrowly there

1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910

010

2030

4050

60

Year

Coun

t of P

ublic

atio

ns

Aeronautically-relevant pate 1850-1909

BritainGermanyFranceUS

Startup industry

In 1907-1909 Publications increase Patents do too Big public exhibitions, 1908-1909

100,000s people see Huge prizes Some exhibitions are very

profitable “Legitimate” to start firm

(Hannan, Carroll et al 1995)

Startup industry 1908: Flow of new firms starts Sample of early investors, founders, and designers suggest less

than 20% overlap with earlier experimenters

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

1900 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916

Num

ber o

f entrants

Number of entrant firms by year of first investment(Sources: Gunston 1993 and 2005; Smithsonian Directory)

Britain

France

Germany

US

Italy

Russia

Austria-Hungary

All others

Early experimenters rarely entered industry -- contrast

Early experimenter

location (origin)

Pages referring to,

Chanute (1894)

Publications listed in Brockett

(1910)

Maxim Britain (US) 33 25+

Lilienthal Germany 31 50+

Pénaud France 22 12

Mouillard Algeria, Egypt (Fr) 21 6

Hargrave Australia (Br) 19 25+

Moy Britain 19 10

Le Bris France 17 0

Langley US 16 40+

Wenham Britain 15 10+

Phillips Britain 14 3

Chanute US (France) * 50+

Entrepreneurs, designers, investors of 1907-1916 Wright brothers, Voisin brothers, Bleriot

Heinkel, Heinrich, Etrich, Junkers, Goedecker, Fokker, Farman brothers, Fairey, Flanders, Denhaut, Donnet, de

Haviland, Caudron brothers, Karl Caspar, Short brothers, Howard and Warwick Wright (Britain), Charles Willard, Sir

George White and sons, Jose Weiss, von Zeppelin, Louis Verdet, Sopwith, Sikorsky, Seguin brothers, Savoia,

Sommer, Saulnier, Pomilio, Frederick Handley Page, Glenn Martin, Frits Koolhoven, Robert Esnault-Pelterie (R.E.P.), Leveque, Levasseur, Marcel Dassault, Clerget, A.G. Bell,

Bechereau, Alessandro Anzani, A.A. Anatra

Glenn Curtiss, Boeing, Cessna, Loughead (Lockheed)

In preliminary samples, only: • 4% of company people had early patents • 12% had aero publications before 1910 • 12% were referred to in publication titles before 1910

Conclusions

Leading experimenters followed open tech practices They publish, and moderate/edit publications ; share information ; meet

in clubs ; write letters ; and copy technology No firms do this “research” (hopeless, useless, dangerous)

motivation mostly intrinsic or altruistic (to fly! change world! Attempt challenge) Communication imitation, progress 1890s standard glider

Entrepreneurial people and era was very different Experts of 1899 did not become industrialists ten years later Hypothesis: open technology practices are less common

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Motivations of experimenters

Why do this? Would like to fly Curiosity, interest in the problem Prestige, recognition Belief in making world a better place Make one nation safer Nobody refers to expected profits

“. . . A desire takes possession of man. He longs to soar upward and to glide,

free as the bird . . .” -- Otto Lilienthal 1889 “The glory of a great discovery or an invention which is destined to benefit

humanity [seemed] dazzling. . . . Enthusiasm seized [us] at an early age.” - Gustav Lilienthal

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Parallels to open source software (1)

Autonomous innovators (not hierarchy, not cult) with various goals: Want to fly! ; Hope for recognition; Curious, interested in the

problem ; Bring peace / make nation safe

who share their work with public They don’t enforce patents (Hargrave & Santos-Dumont don’t patent)

They collaborate across distances and organizations

Authors, evangelists, organizers have valuable role

They create and manage clubs / journals They encourage They reduce duplication, via standards and specialization

emergent (opportunistic) progress

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Open source technology practices (2)

Phrased for both open source software developers and airplane experimenters And rationalizable in a model

Individuals choose what to make. They buy-in. They start small Community of practice/interest evolves, along with work groups.

They learn, copy, and often contribute to pool of knowledge They accept empiricism

Hands-on imperative Learning from experience The product evolves by iteration (not big plan) Variants appear

Developers specialize (Projects are modular)