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> we pioneers always worked together That is an overly broad characterization. We can look to the Wright brothers as pioneers who vigorously enforced patent.

> we pioneers always worked together That is an overly broad characterization. We can look to the Wright brothers as pioneers who vigorously enforced patent. As the Wikipedia entry puts is: "The Wright brothers did not have the luxury of being able to give away their invention: It had to be their livelihood. Thus, their secrecy intensified, encouraged by advice from their patent attorney, Henry Toulmin, not to reveal details of their machine." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers http://wintonhistory.com/ http://wintonhistory.com/ adds "[Winton] was also generous in passing the technology along to competitors when safety was an issue." The steering wheel described fits that characterization. https://archive.org/details/1001inventionsth0000unse/page/498/mode/2up?q=%22Alexander+Winton%22 https://archive.org/details/1001inventionsth0000unse/page/49... goes on to describe how other companies of the time were no so eager to share in the "over 1 00,000 patents [that] went into the creation of the first practical automobile." ] Unfortunately, Winton's local competitors were simultaneously working on a very similar system and beat him to the patent. The Ohio Automobile Company, later renamed the Packard Motor Car Company, added their version of the steering wheel, based on Winton's early developments, to the second car they launched in 1899. It was immediately successful, and Winton, whose company custom-made every vehicle, found the competition difficult and was forced to stop production in 1924.

kibwen 3y ago
Except that the Wright brothers would never have pursued powered flight without the prior pioneering example of Otto Lilienthal: "Of all the men who attacked the flying problem in the 19th century, Otto Lilienthal was easily the most important. ... It is true that attempts at gliding had been made hundreds of years before him, and that in the nineteenth century, Cayley, Spencer, Wenham, Mouillard, and many others were reported to have made feeble attempts to glide, but their failures were so complete that nothing of value resulted." ~ Wilbur Wright, 1912
- eesmith 3y ago
  What is your point? That the Wright brothers were not pioneers of flight? In that case, Winton also was not a pioneer in the automobile industry, as he too built on previous work. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen came out a decade before Winton's first car, which in turn built on previous work. Yet Winton called himself a pioneer. And people at the time definitely considered the Wrights pioneers. Eg, the Aero Club of the United Kingdom gave them gold medals in 1908 for their "pioneer work".

kibwen 3y ago

Except that the Wright brothers would never have pursued powered flight without the prior pioneering example of Otto Lilienthal: "Of all the men who attacked the flying problem in the 19th century, Otto Lilienthal was easily the most important. ... It is true that attempts at gliding had been made hundreds of years before him, and that in the nineteenth century, Cayley, Spencer, Wenham, Mouillard, and many others were reported to have made feeble attempts to glide, but their failures were so complete that nothing of value resulted." ~ Wilbur Wright, 1912

eesmith 3y ago
What is your point? That the Wright brothers were not pioneers of flight? In that case, Winton also was not a pioneer in the automobile industry, as he too built on previous work. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen came out a decade before Winton's first car, which in turn built on previous work. Yet Winton called himself a pioneer. And people at the time definitely considered the Wrights pioneers. Eg, the Aero Club of the United Kingdom gave them gold medals in 1908 for their "pioneer work".