History
Rogallo had been interested in the flexible wing since 1945. He and his wife built and flew kites as a hobby and, since they could not find official backing for the wing (including at Rogallo's employer NACA), carried out experiments in their own time. By the end of 1948 they had two working designs using a flexible wing - a kite (which they called "Flexi-Kite") and a gliding parachute (which they later referred to as a "paraglider"). Rogallo and his wife received a patent on a "V-shaped" flexible wing in March 1951. Selling the Flexi-kite as a toy helped to finance their work and publicize the design.
Read more about this topic: Rogallo Wing
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To summarize the contentions of this paper then. Firstly, the phrase ‘the meaning of a word’ is a spurious phrase. Secondly and consequently, a re-examination is needed of phrases like the two which I discuss, ‘being a part of the meaning of’ and ‘having the same meaning.’ On these matters, dogmatists require prodding: although history indeed suggests that it may sometimes be better to let sleeping dogmatists lie.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)
“There is no example in history of a revolutionary movement involving such gigantic masses being so bloodless.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)