Early Engineering Work
In 1902 Pearse built and patented a bicycle which was the first flight ever made with vertical crank gears and self-inflating tyres. He then designed and built a two-cylinder "oil engine" which he mounted on a tricycle undercarriage surmounted by a linen-covered bamboo wing structure and rudimentary controls. Although it lacked an aerofoil section wing, his flying machine resembled modern aircraft design much more than did the Wright brothers' machine: monoplane rather than biplane; tractor rather than pusher propeller; stabiliser and elevators at the back rather than the front; and ailerons rather than wing-warping for controlling banking. It bore a remarkable resemblance to modern microlight aircraft.
Read more about this topic: Richard Pearse
Famous quotes containing the words early, engineering and/or work:
“O troubled forms, O early love unfortunate and hard,
Time has estranged you into a jewel cold and pure;”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)
“Mining today is an affair of mathematics, of finance, of the latest in engineering skill. Cautious men behind polished desks in San Francisco figure out in advance the amount of metal to a cubic yard, the number of yards washed a day, the cost of each operation. They have no need of grubstakes.”
—Merle Colby, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“If work is part of your identity, think very carefully before you give it up. Giving it up won’t make you a better mother; it will make you less of the person you are; and that will make you less of a mother.”
—Jean Marzollo (20th century)