1. Open Technology and the Early
Airplane Industry
by Peter B. Meyer,
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
(Findings and views are those of the author, not the BLS)
Oct 9, 2012 At Vinnova, Stockholm
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2. Pre-history of the airplane
1860s Clubs and journals incorporate fixed-wing designs
It’s a niche activity – maybe hopeless, useless, dangerous
1890s Public glider flights (especially Lilienthal)
Survey books (esp. Chanute)
1903-6 Powered glider flights (esp. Wright brothers)
1908-10 Big exhibitions; new industry
My conclusion: “Open source innovation”
Networking
Sharing designs, Copying
Intellectual property idea ignored
these practices led to technological success & new industry
2
3. Databases of pre-history of airplane
Publications – 13,600 from Brockett’s 1910 Bibliography of Aeronautics
Citations by Chanute’s 1894 Progress in Flying Machines (190)
and by Historical accounts (indexes of books)
Clubs and societies to 1910 (hundreds)
Letters between experimenters (>400)
Patents (>1500)
Firms (>600)
Individuals – from the above, thousands
There are many written sources for this innovation history
Because it was slow and done by dispersed literate people
4. Relevant clubs and societies
Ballooning is central – aeronautics joins that infrastructure
From 1860s societies in Paris, London, Berlin include “aerial navigation”
Exhibitions & conferences: 1868, 1885, 1893, 1904, many after 1907
• 78 exhibitors in 1868 Crystal Palace, organized by Aero Society of GB
Aeronautics-related clubs and societies
7. Exploring aerial navigation (3)
Curved
(“cambered”)
Phillips 1884, 1891
wings Lilienthal, 1889
Wind tunnels
Wright wing models, 1902
Balloons
and . . . And more technologies:
dirigibles engines, helicopters,
Santos-Dumont, rockets, parachutes, propellers, . . .
1901
Diverse creative exploratory “production” took effort
8. Getting in the air: Otto Lilienthal
Otto Lilienthal studied wing shapes in experiments on lift
Published book: Birdflight as the basis for aviation
1890s: Flew inspirational hang gliders in public (no secrets)– tried to control in air
Why? “. . . to soar upward and to glide, free as the bird” -- Otto Lilienthal, 1889
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9. Octave Chanute
Retiring engineer focuses on “aerial navigation” issue.
His 1894 book Progress in Flying Machines surveyed experiments,
devices, theories
Communicated with many experimenters, held conferences, visited
experimenters a lot
Chanute wrote Langley, 1895: “I propose to let you avail of whatever novelty and
value there may be in my own models or ideas. I should expect in return a like frank
access to your results . . .” (Short, p208)
Letters and telegrams between Octave Chanute and the Wright brothers
1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910
Wrights to Chanute 7 28 29 22 24 24 33 16 7 3 4
9
Chanute to Wrights 5 30 34 25 29 37 37 19 9 4 2
10. Motivations of experimenters
Why do this?
Would like to fly
Curiosity, interest in the problem
Prestige, recognition
Belief in making world a better place
Make one nation safer
Nobody refers to expected profits
“. . . 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
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11. Data on publications
Bibliography of Aeronautics
by Brockett / Smithsonian
Institution (1910)
Much cleanup necessary
Data: title, author, language,
year, journal, some key subject
words – not standardized
Ballooning, scientific
measurement, clubs/societies
12. Source: Brockett bibliography (1910)
Dip at end is because only first half of 1909 is included; another volume goes further
14. Open source practice: imitation
Chanute-Herring Wright brothers 1900 kite,
glider, 1896 1901-2 glider
Pratt truss
Wilbur Wright’s first letter to Chanute in 1900 says “the apparatus I intend to
employ . . . is very similar to [your] "double-deck" machine [of] 1896-7 . . .”
“. . . I make no secret of my plans for the reason that I believe no financial profit will accrue
to the inventor of the first flying machine, and that only those who are willing to give as
well as to receive suggestions can hope to link their names with the honor of its discovery.
The problem is too great for one man alone and unaided to solve in secret.”
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In response to uncertainty: isomorphism
15. Imitation (2)
Ferber, 1902, copies Wright design
based on report from Chanute
Voisin-Farman winning prize, 1908
Santos-Dumont 1906, 1st airplane flight in Europe
Farman, 1909-10
Fuller story: Gibbs-Smith’s Rebirth of European Aviation 15
16. Parallels to open source software
Autonomous innovators (not hierarchy, not cult)
with various goals: Want to fly! ; Hope for recognition; Curious, interested in the
problem ; Bring peace / make nation safe
who share their work with public
They don’t enforce patents (Hargrave & Santos-Dumont don’t patent)
They collaborate across distances and organizations
Authors, evangelists, organizers have valuable role
They create and manage clubs / journals
They encourage
They reduce duplication, via standards and specialization
emergent (opportunistic) progress
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17. Open source technology practices (2)
Phrased for both open source software developers and
airplane experimenters
And rationalizable in a model
Individuals choose what to make. They buy-in.
They start small
Community of practice/interest evolves, along with work groups.
They learn, copy, and often contribute to pool of knowledge
They accept empiricism
Hands-on imperative Learning from experience
The product evolves by iteration (not big plan)
Variants appear
Developers specialize (Projects are modular)
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18. Modeling open source innovation
Like user innovation (von Hippel) & collective invention (R Allen)
But no central organization; few rules
Copying actual designs
Not like R&D; nor “race” to the finish
Can be modeled micro-economically
Open-source behavior (giving design or implementation) is self-
interestedly rational if
Instrinsically or altruistically self-motivated
Trying to make progress on a technical project
Not much in competition with the others
(micro model Meyer 2007 “Network of tinkerers”)
19. Transition to industry
Wilbur and Orville Wright ran bicycle shop
They were “open sourcers” in aviation field 1900-1902
They have big technological successes in (1) control
system for gliders, (2) wing and propeller design
1902-3 They pull back from “open-source” involvement
File for patent in 1903; it’s granted in 1906
They plan to enforce their patent and manufacture airplanes
20. Transition and paradigm shift
Octave Chanute: Wright brothers
An open-technology It’s an industry now
person
• Wrights enforce their 1906 patent and sue a lot especially in U.S.
• In Europe they license more -- patent is interpreted more narrowly there
21. Startup industry and patents
In 1907-1909
Publications increase
Patents do too
Big public exhibitions, 1908-1909
100,000s people see
Huge prizes
Some exhibitions are very
profitable
“Legitimate” to start firm
(Hannan, Carroll et al 1995)
22. Startup industry
1908: Flow of new firms starts
Sample of early investors, founders, and designers suggest less
than 20% overlap with earlier experimenters
Number of entrant firms by year of first investment
(Sources: Gunston 1993 and 2005; Smithsonian Directory)
50
45 Britain
40 France
35 Germany
Number of entrants
30 US
25
Italy
Russia
20
Austria-Hungary
15
All others
10
5
0
1900 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916
23. Conclusions
Leading experimenters followed open source practices
They publish, and moderate/edit publications
share information ; meet ; write letters
and copy technology
No firms do this “research” (technological uncertainty)
motivation mostly intrinsic or altruistic (to fly! change world! Attempt challenge)
Communication imitation, progress 1890s standard glider
The new industry starts from this information
Entrepreneurial people and era was very different
Experts of 1899 did not become industrialists ten years later
24. How can we make use of this story?
(1) Watch new fields, knowing (2) Apply open-source practices in
what "prehistories of invention" government
look like What would help us innovate in governance?
• wikis to read, share & copy efficiently in
• In the air: quadrocopters,
govt (Intellipedia, Diplopedia, Statipedia,
personal flight Eurostat's, OECD, Canada's, Britain's)
• biotech, nanotech • search engines for our own pooled content
• hacker spaces, maker faires • source code control systems to share & co-
develop tools in public/nonprofit sector
• are open source behaviors
visible? suggests opportunity • try those that we might recommend ;
for improvement empower our staff with permission to use
• can identify innovative outside platforms
persons? • open data (for use in government)
• ask experimenters what • link to WikiData?
constrains them from progress • share source code examples across
• help with open-source copying government
of institutions, legal documents, • model good practices enable copying of
taxes, informational them
infrastructure • thus create new Chanutes (and Einsteins!)
