From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aviation company founded by the Wright Brothers
Wright Company
Wright Company factory, Dayton Ohio, 1911
|
Founded
| November 22, 1909
(
1909-11-22
)
|
---|
Founders
| |
---|
Defunct
| 1916
(
1916
)
|
---|
Fate
| Merged with
Glenn L. Martin Company
in 1916
|
---|
Successor
| Wright-Martin
|
---|
Headquarters
| ,
United States
|
---|
The
Wright Company
was the commercial aviation business venture of the
Wright Brothers
, established by them on November 22, 1909, in conjunction with several prominent industrialists from New York and Detroit with the intention of capitalizing on their invention of the practical airplane.
[1]
[2]
The company maintained its headquarters office in
New York City
and built its factory in
Dayton
,
Ohio
.
History
[
edit
]
The two buildings designed by Dayton architect
William Earl Russ
and built by Rouzer Construction for the Wright Company in Dayton in 1910 and 1911 were the first in the United States constructed specifically for an airplane factory and were included within the boundary of
Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park
in 2009.
[3]
The Wright Company concentrated its efforts on protecting the company's
patent
rights rather than on developing new aircraft or aircraft components, believing that innovations would hurt the company's efforts to obtain royalties from competing manufacturers or patent infringers. Wilbur Wright died in 1912, and on October 15, 1915, Orville Wright sold the company, which in 1916 merged with the
Glenn L. Martin Company
to form the
Wright-Martin
Company.
[4]
Orville Wright, who had purchased 97% of the outstanding company stock in 1914 as he prepared to leave the business world, estimated that the Wright Company built approximately 120 airplanes across all of its different models between 1910 and 1915.
[5]
Many of the papers of the Wright Company are now in the collection of the
Museum of Flight
in Seattle, while others are held by the
Library of Congress
in Washington, D.C.
[6]
[
failed verification
]
The Library of Congress also holds the papers of
Grover Loening
, the second Wright Company factory manager, while the papers of
Frank Henry Russell
, the first plant manager, are at the University of Wyoming's American Heritage Center.
[7]
[8]
Products
[
edit
]
Aircraft
[
edit
]
Engines
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
"Big Men of Finance Back the Wrights"
.
The New York Times
. 23 November 1909.
- ^
Tom D. Crouch. "Aero Club of Washington: Aviation in the Nation's Capital, 1909-1914": 44.
- ^
Entries for 27 August 1910 and 5 April 1911, Box 3, Frank Henry Russell Papers, Collection 11624, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming; Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, P.L. 111-11, 30 March 2009.
- ^
Roach, Edward (2014).
The Wright Company: From Invention to Industry
. Athens: Ohio University Press.
ISBN
9780821420515
.
- ^
Sales number in Orville Wright to
Pliny W. Williamson
, telegram, 21 June 1915, General Correspondence: Williamson, Pliny W., 1915, Box 66, Wright Brothers Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
- ^
O’Neill, Craig (26 February 2002).
"Museum of Flight Acquires "Lost" Wright Archives"
.
Seattle Southside Regional Tourism Authority
. Archived from
the original
on 28 October 2019
. Retrieved
14 May
2021
.
- ^
"Inventory of the Frank Henry Russell papers, 1901-1947"
.
Rocky Mountain Online Archive
. 2009
. Retrieved
25 July
2021
.
- ^
"Grover Cleveland Loening papers"
.
Library of Congress
. Retrieved
25 July
2021
.
- ^
Thede, Kyle (22 June 2017).
"Flying Boats, Part II: "The Wright Brothers"
"
.
Wright State University
. Retrieved
25 July
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Eckland, K. O. (7 October 2008).
"Wright, Wright-Bellanca, Wright-Martin"
.
Aerofiles
. Retrieved
25 July
2021
.
- ^
"1916 Wright Model L"
.
Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company
. Retrieved
25 July
2021
.
External links
[
edit
]
Media related to
Wright Company
at Wikimedia Commons