Why didn't Orville and Wilbur become billionaires?

[CameronBornAndBred]

I was just informed via TV that Henry Ford did not create the first automobile, he just massed produced it first. The originator was Carl Benz. Little matter though, they both founded companies that made them tons of money. Alexander Bell had Bell telephone. Steve Jobs has Apple. (Not his name but still his company)
Why didn't the Wright brothers found Wright Aircraft or W&B Airways? They obviously were experts in their brand new field. I know they died well off, but I don't think it was because of their own company. Anyone know the story?

[CathyCA]

I was just informed via TV that Henry Ford did not create the first automobile, he just massed produced it first. The originator was Carl Benz. Little matter though, they both founded companies that made them tons of money. Alexander Bell had Bell telephone. Steve Jobs has Apple. (Not his name but still his company)
Why didn't the Wright brothers found Wright Aircraft or W&B Airways? They obviously were experts in their brand new field. I know they died well off, but I don't think it was because of their own company. Anyone know the story?

They litigated a lot over their patents, and while the Wright Brothers were busy litigating to protect their patents, the French were busy making better aircraft.

Also, weren't they bicycle guys anyway? Do you think they ever imagined that we would fly a guy to the moon? I wonder if they even had a vision of how commercially viable airplanes would become.

[hughgs]

I was just informed via TV that Henry Ford did not create the first automobile, he just massed produced it first. The originator was Carl Benz. Little matter though, they both founded companies that made them tons of money. Alexander Bell had Bell telephone. Steve Jobs has Apple. (Not his name but still his company)
Why didn't the Wright brothers found Wright Aircraft or W&B Airways? They obviously were experts in their brand new field. I know they died well off, but I don't think it was because of their own company. Anyone know the story?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_...rs#In_business

[captmojo]

1) There wasn't a billion dollars in the world.

2) No one could count that high.

3) Not enough room for flight attendant's cart.

4) Autopilot mechanism too heavy for aerodynamic capabilities.

5) Somebody else take a turn.

[hurleyfor3]

5) Somebody else take a turn.

Southwest undercut them on all their routes?

[DukieInKansas]

They litigated a lot over their patents, and while the Wright Brothers were busy litigating to protect their patents, the French were busy making better aircraft.

Also, weren't they bicycle guys anyway? Do you think they ever imagined that we would fly a guy to the moon? I wonder if they even had a vision of how commercially viable airplanes would become.

1)
5) Somebody else take a turn.

They were bicycle guys - a shop in Dayton, Ohio I believe. Perhaps they were too busy with bicycles so that decades later some American could go win le Tour de France 7 times in a row to get even for the better French airplanes?

[alteran]

I was just informed via TV that Henry Ford did not create the first automobile, he just massed produced it first. The originator was Carl Benz. Little matter though, they both founded companies that made them tons of money. Alexander Bell had Bell telephone. Steve Jobs has Apple. (Not his name but still his company)
Why didn't the Wright brothers found Wright Aircraft or W&B Airways? They obviously were experts in their brand new field. I know they died well off, but I don't think it was because of their own company. Anyone know the story?

My understanding is similar to CathCA's-- the Wright Brothers ultimately weren't that great at capitalizing on their invention and got tied up in litigating people that were.

We tend to think of the Wright Brothers as having invented aviation out of whole cloth, but a lot of people were sniffing around the general principles of aviation at the time, in the US and abroad. The glider had been invented in Europe something like 15 years earlier. The race was to strap an engine on one.

I know that sounds belittling (and I don't mean it to be), my bottom line is that even while the Wright Brothers were shaking out the Wright Flyer, a lot of folks had understood enough basics to build gliders for over a decade. The Wright Brothers won the powered flight race-- fairly, but barely. They had SERIOUS competition.

Since Glenn Curtiss was very close to powered flight himself, he kept working, and it turned out that Curtiss and Wright Bros, Inc (the Wrights themselves had largely sold out) BOTH had CRITICAL, can't-build-without aviation patents. Functionally, no one could build anything but the most crude airplanes without running afoul of a patent owned by someone else, INCLUDING Wright and Curtiss. Aviation in America was completely stymied.

And then WWI happened. The US government kinda went, "whoa-- how come we invented aviation out of whole cloth and haven't got one G-D decent airplane?" Curtiss and Wright were forced to pool their patents (I think the companies were forcibly combined), and even though the US couldn't get one serviceable plane into WWI, they were at least close by the start of WWII.

Oh wait, this isn't what you asked, is it?

To answer your question, the Wrights weren't really industrialists, and sold out their patents to investors and did well enough, but their lack of inclination towards industry building, plus the fact that aviation was artificially kept unprofitable through most of their lifetime, kept them from being gazillionaires.

--alteran

FWIW, the full story is WAY more complicated than the above, and I've forgotten at least as much as I remember, but that's the synopsis.

[Olympic Fan]

Good summary by alteran -- especially his last sentence. It WAS much more complicated.

In the first place, going back to the original post, it's awfully simplistic to suggest that Carl Benz "invented" the automobile. A lot of people were working on vehicles powered by various forms of internal cumbustion -- he created one of the first, maybe THE first (the point is hotly debated) practical vehicles.

The same with the Wright brothers -- they were the first of many inventors working on a practical heavier than air flying vehicle. Months before their success at Kitty Hawk, there was a test of a powered flying vehicle on the Potomac at Washington. It crashed, but subsiquent historical research indicates that the design should have succeeded -- it failed because the engine quit at an inopportune moment. There is a claim that an isolated Australian inventor succeeded before the Wright Brothers -- but news of his accomplishment never spread beyond the Outback.

You have to understand, the Wright Brothers' great achievement was in discovering a method of steering in the air. A lot of people were putting a light gasoline engine on gliders and trying to fly. Their patents largely involved their system of aerial control -- which basically involved wing-warping.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. The Wright Brothers protected their patents so fiercely that competitors had to come up with a different method of aerial control. Glenn Curtiss devised a system of wing flaps -- elevators and ailerons -- that accomplished the same thing. The great court battles over patents had to do with whether Curtiss' system infringled on the Wright's patents. After a long battle, the courts found in Curtiss' favor.

Now here's the REALLY interesting thing -- almost all modern aviation uses Curtiss' system and not the Wright Brothers' (although NASA has recently had some great results with modern aircraft using the Wright method). In many ways, Glenn Curtiss -- and not the Wright Brothers -- is the father of modern aviation.

On top of all that, the fact is that originally there was little or no market for the crude aircraft before WWI. They couldn't carry passengers (well, maybe one passenger) or cargo. The small pool of daredevil adventerers who did fly was too small to support an industry. The only real market was the military -- which bought a few Wright and Curtiss planes for observation (the Army picking the Wright Brothers; the Navy forming a bond with Curtiss). It wasn't until after WWI (and the incredibly rapid development of the airpline -- in the Curtiss mold) that ther aviation industry took off.

BTW, the Wright Brothers did benefit from their invention -- at least Wilbur did ... Orville died young. Maybe not billionaire wealthy, but financially successful nevertheless.

PS Like alteran, I should admit that the above is grossly simplified.

[alteran]

Good summary by alteran -- especially his last sentence. It WAS much more complicated.

In the first place, going back to the original post, it's awfully simplistic to suggest that Carl Benz "invented" the automobile. A lot of people were working on vehicles powered by various forms of internal cumbustion -- he created one of the first, maybe THE first (the point is hotly debated) practical vehicles.

The same with the Wright brothers -- they were the first of many inventors working of a practical heavier than air flying vehicle. Months before their success at Kitty Hawk, there was a test of a powered flying vehicle on the Potomac at Washington. It crashed, but subsiquent historical research indicates that the design should have succeeded -- it failed because the engine quit at an inopportune moment. There is a claim that an isolated Australian inventor succeeded before the Wright Brothers -- but news of his accomplishment never spread beyond the Outback.

You have to understand, the Wright Brothers' great achievement was in discovering a method of steering in the air. A lot of people were putting a light gasoline engine on gliders and trying to fly. Their patents largely involved their system of aerial control -- which basically involved wing-warping.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. The Wright Brothers protected their patents so fiercely that competitors had to come up with a different method of aerial control. Glenn Curtiss devised a system of wing flaps -- elevators and ailerons -- that accomplished the same thing. The great court battles over patents had to do with whether Curtiss' system infringled on the Wright's patents. After a long battle, the courts found in Curtiss' favor.

Now here's the REALLY interesting thing -- almost all modern aviation uses Curtiss' system and not the Wright Brothers' (although NASA has recently had some great results with modern aircraft using the Wright method). In many ways, Glenn Curtiss -- and not the Wright Brothers -- is the father of modern aviation.

On top of all that, the fact is that originally there was little or no market for the crude aircraft before WWI. They couldn't carry passengers (well, maybe one passenger) or cargo. The small pool of daredevil adventerers who did fly was too small to support an industry. The only real market was the military -- which bought a few Wright and Curtiss planes for observation (the Army picking the Wright Brothers; the Navy forming a bond with Curtiss). It wasn't until after WWI (and the incredibly rapid development of the airpline -- in the Curtiss mold) that ther aviation industry took off.

BTW, the Wright Brothers did benefit from their invention -- at least Wilbur did ... Orville died young. Maybe not billionaire wealthy, but financially successful nevertheless.

PS Like alteran, I should admit that the above is grossly simplified.

Thanks for the corrections, I knew I was missing some key points. The one I'm really embarrassed about is the flight controls. That's what brings the rest into focus, and that's what makes the Wright Brothers more than a couple guys strapping a two-stroke engine onto a glider.

There's a couple good books on this I've been meaning to read for a while.