• @zalgotext
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    42 months ago

    Wait, why fuck the Wright brothers? I’m out of the loop

    • @[email protected]
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      fedilink
      52 months ago

      they were patent trolls, essentially. tried to patent the entire concept of an airplane, and tried to sue Curtiss over him creating a plane that actually didn’t use the technology they had patented.

      • @zalgotext
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        42 months ago

        Oh right, gotcha. I think I’ve read somewhere that they were pushed into suing by other outside influences, and that at least one of the brothers was opposed to suing at all, but that very well may have been from a whitewashed source. Either way, fuck patent trolls

      • @[email protected]
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        42 months ago

        Wait, really? I heard that what happened is they’d decided to be sneaky by patenting the control system for a heavier-than-air flying machine since they couldn’t patent the idea of the machine itself. Do you have sources I can research?

        • @mindbleach
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          12 months ago

          Their control system also sucked. The Wright Flyer at the Smithsonian has aftermarket ailerons.