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The airplane as an open source invention. Peter B. Meyer, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics * *Findings and views are those of the author, not the BLS Session K10: Innovation without patents IEHA, Utrecht Aug 7, 2009. Development of the airplane (heavier than air, with fixed wings). - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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The airplane as an open source invention
Peter B. Meyer, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics*
*Findings and views are those of the author, not the BLS
Session K10: Innovation without patentsIEHA, UtrechtAug 7, 2009
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Development of the airplane
(heavier than air, with fixed wings)1860s Clubs and journals on “aerial navigation” appear
It’s a niche activity – maybe hopeless, useless, and dangerous
Publications do not refer much to prior work
1894 Survey book by Chanute refers to 190 people/experiments
Increasingly publications refer to prior work.
Many designs were shared openly.
I seek to quantify this activity.
1903 Powered-glider flights by Wright brothers and others
1909 An industry arises
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Chanute’s 1894 overview Progress in Flying Machines refers to or quotes more than
190 personsExperimenter
/ groupPage
s
location (background)
Maxim 33 Britain (US)
Lilienthal 31 Germany
Pénaud 22 France
Mouillard 21 Algeria, Egypt (Fr)
Hargrave 19 Australia (Br)
Moy 19 Britain
Le Bris 17 France
Langley 16 US
Wenham 15 Britain
Phillips 14 Britain
These are counts of pages referring to
the individual.
The people are diverse and international.
They are central to the history of the
invention.
Their findings were mostly public.
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Alphonse
Pénaud
Horatio Phillips
Engineer in France, 1870sShowed importance of tail on model aircraft for stability
Examined shapes for upper and lower surfaces of wings, 1880s and 1890s
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Lawrence Hargrave
Made box kite findings circa 1894Presented and published many papers Did not patent, on principle.
Samuel Langley Professor; Smithsonian Institution Director
Tested lift and drag of planes on “whirling table” with 30-foot arm
1891: Published Experiments in Aerodynamics
Wrote to and visited other experimenters Helps make aviation study legitimate 1896: flew powered model gliders 1903: full size powered gliders
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Founded company making steam engines in Berlin 1860s-80s studied bird wings and experiments 1889: published Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation 1891-6: Flew inspirational hang gliders
Otto Lilienthal
Why? “. . . to soar upward and to glide, free as the bird” -- Otto Lilienthal, 1889
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Motivations of experimenters
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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Octave Chanute
Railroad / civil engineer, then writerHis 1894 book Progress in Flying Machines,
surveyed experiments, devices, theories Adopted “Pratt truss” 1896.Chanute preferred findings to be shared so as to speed progressWas in contact with many experimenters. Visited with Langley,
Santos-Dumont, Ferber, Huffaker, Herring, Maxim and others.Corresponded with Hargrave, Mouillard, Montgomery, Cabot, Zahm,
Kress, Wenham, Moy, Pilcher, Means, Lilienthals, and others.Letters back and
forth 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905
W Wright to Chanute 7 28 29 22 24 24
Chanute to W Wright 5 30 34 25 29 37 and continuing to 1910
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Selected letters and contacts of Otto and Gustav Lilienthal (Schwipps, 1993)
are with a similar cast of characters
Person Letters
Means 12
Chanute 11
Dienstbach 5
Langley Met with, 1895
Pilcher Met with, 1895
Correspondence of Lilenthals
Last name Pages
Chanute 49
Means 35
Herring 29
Langley 24
G Lilienthal 16
Wood 15
Muellenhoff 11
Dienstbach 10
Cabot 9
Maxim 8
Corresponding with Referring to
10
References in histories of aviation Counted references to persons or institutions in
the 11 books below, combined:
Crouch’s A Dream of Wings (1981/2002)Dale’s Early Flying Machines (1992)Garber’s Wright Brothers and the Birth of Aviation (2005)Gibbs-Smith’s The Invention of the Aeroplane. (1966)Hallion’s Taking Flight (2003)Hoffman.Wings of Madness (2003 biog of Santos-Dumont)Jakab’s Visions of a Flying Machine (1990)Penrose’s An Ancient Air (biography of John Stringfellow)Randolph’s Before the Wrights flew: the story of Gustave Whitehead. (1966)Runge and Lukasch Erfinder Leben (2005) (biography of Lilienthal brothers)Shulman’s Unlocking the Sky (bio of Glenn Curtiss)
Preliminary; almost all this is in English. Now up to 2000 persons referenced.Again the same names appear.
Last name Pages
Wright 443
Chanute 303
Langley 240
Curtiss 198
Lilienthal 177
Stringfellow 117
Cayley 103
Blériot 98
Herring 97
patents 81
Smithsonian Institution 75
Henson 66
Bell 65
Manly 60
Zahm 56
Maxim 49
Ader 47
Voisin 45
Brearey 44
Means 44
Wenham 44
Penaud 43
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Page references to institutions Page references
distinct instances
club, society, or association 219 37
periodicals, newspapers, magazines, journals 131 39
patents 81
company 75 35
prize, trophy, award, contest, medal, meet, or exhibition
67 18
book (fact or fiction) 47 21
university or school 46 19
lab, museum, institute, observatory, zoo, or fund 46 16
military institution 45 7
conference 14 2
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Hundreds of fixed-wing flying machine patents were filed before 1907. [Data for Germany and U.S.: Simine Short and Otto-Lilienthal Museum]
Patents
To my knowledge no patents were licensed until the Wrights 1903/06 patent.
Chanute, the Wrights, and aviation historians do not treat the patents and most of patent-filers as relevant to the main inventions.
Claim: Intellectual property ownership was mostly irrelevant.
Inference: the technology was too uncertain and immature for it to matter.The patent system exists in parallel to the network, but does not have traction.
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Wright brothers as open-sourcers 1900-1902
Wilbur and Orville Wright ran a bicycle shop.
They read up on gliders and try flight experiments. Motivations:
“I am an enthusiast . . . I wish to . . . add my mite to help on the future worker who will attain final success." -- Wilbur Wright, 1899
"At the beginning we had no thought of recovering what we were expending, which was not great . . ." -- Orville Wright, 1953
They published articles They spoke at conferences Chanute, others visited and stayed in contact
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Wilbur Wright, May 1900
First letter to Chanute: “Assuming then that Lilienthal was correct . . . ” “. . . my object is to learn to what extent similar plans have been tested and found to
be failures, and also to obtain such suggestions as your great knowledge and experience might enable you to give me. I make no secret of my plans [because] I believe no financial profit will accrue to the inventor of the first flying machine, and that only those who are willing to give as well as to receive suggestions can hope to link their names with the honor of its discovery. The problem is too great for one man alone and unaided to solve in secret.”
“I intend to employ [an apparatus] similar to the "double-deck" machine with which the experiments of yourself and Mr. Herring were conducted in 1896-7.”
Most cited in index of Published Writings of the Wright Brothers (Jakab & Young, 2000)
Person pages
Lilienthal 34
Langley 29
Chanute 24
Chanute’s reply: “I believe like yourself that no financial profit is to be expected from such investigations
for a long while to come.”
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Wright methods and inventions
Wind tunnel with smooth air flow Tested many wings systematically
Propeller invention: shaped like wings, with lift going forward This produces ~40% more pulling power . This design idea lasts to the present.
They are skilled, precision-minded toolsmiths, in a workshop every day.
They flew craft repeatedly as kites and gliders. No landing gear, no engine. Their piloting design had to be learned, like on bicycle
16
Wrights withdraw some from open source network
Late 1902: they become more secretive, apparently because of wing design success
1903: They filed for a patent on their control mechanism for the wings.Late 1903: Powered glider flight.
They held their patent rights tightly and enforce them.
It has been suggested that this delayed overall growth by US producers.
Wrights’ first powered, controlled fixed-wing flight
Dec, 1903
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Count of firms which start making airplanes or related products
(Main source: Gunston, 1993)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45UkraineSwitzerlandSwedenRussiaNetherlandsMexicoItalyDenmarkCzechoslovakiaCanadaAustria-HungaryUSGermanyFranceUK
• Most of these make airplanes. Can include others -- engine and propeller makers, pilot schools, exhibition companies -- given time.
• None of founding manufacturers were aero navigation experts of the 1800s!
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Parallels to open source software and user innovation
Autonomous innovators (not hierarchy, not cult) . . . with various goals
Want to fly! Hope for recognition, prestige, fame, maybe fortune Curious, interested in the problem Bring peace, or make own nation safer
. . . who share technical info with international public Intellectual property set aside
Authors, evangelists, organizers have valuable role
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More possible parallels Phase 1: Tinkerers worked in small groups (1800-1894)
Internal motivation. Not industrial motive. Experimenters not like economic models of employees, managers,
investors, consumers, social planners need model of “tinkerers” Phase 2: Tinkerers networked more (1894 to 1909)
High interaction -- correspondence, sharing networking, visits. Many open/shared designs. Measurement: who’s involved? What’s written? To whom do
inventors refer? To whom do historians refer? Who patented, how much, and were they cited?
Do these innovators evangelize, publish, and correspond? Do they specialize, modularize, and standardize the technology?
Phase 3: Commercialization (1909 and on) The open-type innovators are not the ones who industrialize it. Measurement of industry.
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An explicit reference to the person’s name or quote from the person• In a relevant book (11 so far; at least 15 to go)• Text in main content, preface, forward, introduction, appendices, pictures, tables, and figures• Table of Contents and indexes don’t count• References to something named for the person count. (Should they?)• Events after 1909 shouldn’t count (not done yet)• Only events related to aircraft work should count (not done yet)
• On this view, biographies “over-refer” to the subject person• sometimes they leave the subject person out of the index (!)
• Groups (brothers Wright, Lilienthal, Montgolfier , Tissandier, Voisin; likewise institutions or groups are referred to as groups and other times as individuals)
Counts are preliminary and can never be perfect
What’s counted as a reference