1 Beyond computer exceptionalism: Open source aeronautics before 1903 Peter B. Meyer, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics * SHOT conference, Oct 21, 2007, Washington, DC *All views expressed in this paper are those of he authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2 Open-source technology Defn: Advanced through openly-shared designs Parallels open source software developers and the aerial navigation experimenters: –contributors are autonomous and geographically dispersed with own objectives or projects by hobbyists, experimenters, tinkerers, hackers –some are drawn to the activity or technology it has charisma or potential –they share information and progress without explicit payoff –radical differences about intellectual property

3 Development of the airplane –early 1800s: George Cayley proposal for fixed wing, mechanically powered flying machines –1840s and on: experiments and demonstrations –Late 1860s and on: aeronautical journals and books a niche activity maybe hopeless, useless, and/or dangerous –1894 – Octave Chanute’s great overview book –1903 – Wrights fly famous powered glider –1910 – an industry exists

4 For 20+ years Otto Lilienthal studied birds and experimented on shapes in wind to test “lift” effect in and around Berlin, Germany Published Birdflight as the Basis of Aviation, 1889 Motivation: “... 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, 1912 Lilienthal’s wing experiments

5 Lilienthal’s hang gliders,

6 Samuel Langley Professor, then Director of Smithsonian Institution Published Experiments in Aerodynamics, 1891 describing his specialized equipment and careful measures of the effect of rectangular planes whirled on a 30-foot arm Made successful powered gliders in 1896 Invited audiences to 1903 piloted experiments on Potomac river

7 Lawrence Hargrave Retired near Sydney, Australia He experimented on engines and kites for more than a decade. He patented nothing, published all because: “Patent fees are so much wasted money. The flying machine of the future... must be evolved gradually. The first difficulty is to get a thing that will fly at all. When this is made, a full description should be published as an aid to others.” – Hargrave, 1893

8 Octave Chanute Wealthy former engineer in Chicago Takes interest in flying machines in late 1880s Experimented on gliders, wrote and published Corresponded actively with experimenters around the world. Surveyed such work in 1894 book Progress in Flying Machines to establish that there was some hope of success and to save duplicate efforts of experimenters The book helps define “flying machines” work, based on kites and helps interested people find this work.

9 Motives and approaches of these experimenters Wanted to fly Curious and interested in this problem Prestige, recognition Belief in making world a better place Make own nation safer Hoped-for profits, but not usually a plan They work autonomously, not in hierarchies They form networks and share information Some publish a lot, specializing in evangelism

10 Chanute’s 1894 overview book Progress in Flying Machines cites almost 200 experimenters Experimenter / group Pages Location (Background) Maxim33 Britain (US) Lilienthal31 Germany Penaud22 France Mouillard21 Algeria, Egypt (Fr) Hargrave19 Australia (Br) Moy19 Britain Le Bris17 France Langley16 US Wenham15 Britain Experimenters are not a local club, but international In retrospect, Wrights treated Lilienthal, Langley, and Chanute as central.

11 U.S. aircraft patents to 1907 Falconnet 6 Quinby 5 Beeson 3 Bell 3 Blackman 3 Cairncross 3 Fest 3 O’Brate 3 German patents to 1907 by aerial navigators (including non-aircraft patents) Lilienthal, O. 25 Lilienthal, G. 9 Baumgarten 7 Gaebert 6 Lehmann 6 Hofmann 4 Ozeyowski 4 Wellner 4 Czygan 3 Fischer 3 Israel 3 Riedinger, A. 3 (Zeppelin 2, Moy 1) Lists were collected by Simine Short and the Otto Lilienthal Museum of Anklam, Germany. Little overlap with names in Chanute’s book references in the Wrights’ published papers histories of the airplane’s development Counts of early patents

12 Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright ran a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. They are skilled toolsmiths. They are in a workshop every day. Motivations: "I am an enthusiast... I wish to... if possible 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 Open sourcing: They published, spoke, and had visitors. Here, Wrights help test Octave Chanute’s triple-wing glider near Kitty Hawk, Oct 1902

13 Wrights’ tools and a discovery Wrights made high quality tools Wind tunnel made smooth air flow Balance device measured lift precisely They tested many wing shapes Then they try propellers shaped like wings, with lift in forward direction This pulls with much more power This idea lasts

14 No longer open-sourcers This violated Chanute’s principles and in the end they were no longer on speaking terms. Wrights started a company to make airplanes. The Wrights became more secretive after successes. They kept their control mechanism for the wings secret, filed a patent, and enforced it fiercely.

15 Conclusions The airplane’s mostly invented in the public domain –by self-motivated, autonomous, dispersed tinkerers –who were drawn to this subject for various reasons –with a variety of tools and projects –who share technical information without explicit payoff Analogously we get inventions by: hobbyists, user groups, scientific societies, basic researchers, “skunkworks” inside organizations, Alternatives: secrecy, hierarchy, intellectual property Open-source outperforms those sometimes, and vice versa An industry can arise this way

16 Kites, kite/gliders, then powered glider They flew kites a long time, then made gliders. Didn’t try adding an engine till they were pretty sure it would work 1902 glider can be still flown as kite

17 Alternative models of invention (1)Network of tinkerers: a population of agents with i nterest in a problem, good opportunities, information flows between experimentation and socially constructed “progress” No pool of information, no incentives, no technical measure of improvement. (2) Race to be first (space race; genome project) (3) Collective invention (Allen, 1983) –but those are (a) firms, (b) not paying costs to experiment (4) To earn income or wealth indirectly –Start company, or license patented invention –signal to employers; get hired as engineer (Lerner and Tirole, 2002)