CHARLES TAYLOR
Building the wind tunnel was the first job that Charlie Taylor did for the Wright brothers that had any connection with aeronautics.
or Charlie on a piece of paper. After a thorough discussion about it, Taylor would pin the drawing above his workbench and go to work to complete it. Using these sketches and specifications, he finished the engine in six weeks — an amazing accomplishment. I want to describe in some detail
of how Charles Taylor made the engine so you can appreciate the craftsman he was. The first problem that Charlie and the Wrights faced was the crankcase. The case had to be light and strong. Aluminum was still a rare metal in those days, and it was difficult to get a good sound casting. John Hoban, foreman of Buckeye Iron and Brass Foundry in Dayton, took on the job of making the crankcase using the strongest aluminum he had. The cylinders were turned from fine-grain gray cast iron and had a bore of four inches. The top and bottom of the cylinders were threaded so they could be threaded into the crankcase and a water jacket could be threaded on them. The next major task for Charlie
was making the crankshaft. Being a mechanic most of my life, I would never even attempt taking on a project of making a crankshaft with the equipment that Charles Taylor had — a drill press, a lathe (both run by a natural gas engine) and hand tools. Charlie secured a plate of high carbon tool steel that measured 1-5/8 inches thick, six inches wide and 31 inches long. On the plate he traced an outline of the crankshaft and carefully, painstakingly drilled hundreds of holes along the outline
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of the crankshaft. This weakened the plate enough so he could knock the excess material away with a hammer and metal chisel. Once this was done, he had the rough-cut crankshaft ready for the lathe and the finish cut. With the small natural gas engine chugging away at full power driving the large wide leather belts that turned the lathe, Charlie turned out a near perfect crankshaft to the thousandth of an inch. The next part that Charlie worked on was a fly wheel from a solid block of cast iron. The connecting rods, intake valves, exhaust valves, pistons, valve guides, rocker arm and numerous other parts that made up the complete engine were carefully thought out by Charlie and tailored to fit the operation of the engine. Charlie painstakingly assembled the engine part by part, fitting and refitting each piece with the meticulous care of a jeweler making a watch. He scrutinized every detail. He assembled and disassembled the parts, time and time again, making sure of their operation until all the parts were working in harmony.
It took a lot of genius and ingenuity and the engine was finally complete and assembled in February 1903. It was mounted on a test stand and ran well, producing eight horsepower at 670 rpm and 11 hp. at 1000 rpm. Charles E. Taylor had successfully built the first aircraft engine. As a result of the engine producing
12 horsepower at full rpm, the Wright brothers were able to add another 150 pounds to the aircraft which allowed them to strengthen
the wings and framework. The engine, with its dull propeller drive, drove two counter-rotating pusher propellers by means of chains. The Wright brothers designed and tested propellers in the wind tunnel and built several propellers that would be used for the first successful flight. Charlie also made all of the metal parts such as all of the metal fittings where the wooden struts joined, and spruce spars and Roebling truss wires were attached.
On September 23, 1903, the
Wright brothers left Dayton for Kitty Hawk to start preparation for man’s first powered flight and the Flyer followed on September 25. The Flyer was assembled, and the engine was installed on November 2. To reduce the danger of the engine ever falling on the pilot in case of a wreck, it was placed on the lower wing to the right of center. When the engine was started, the vibration from the irregular firing caused failure of the prop shaft extensions. Charlie made new shafts out of solid steel which held up during the first flights. On December 17, 1903, in the mid-morning after a run of about 40 feet at a rate of approximately seven to eight mph, the first successful powered aircraft lifted off and flew 120 feet in 12 seconds thus introducing a new era of transportation. Although the first flight wasn’t publicized that much, Charlie and the Wright brothers were very excited. The Wright brothers decided to
build another flying machine, but decided against going again to Kitty
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