This was a patent maneuver. They needed to have the fact that they had a flight published in order to head off anyone else who tried to patent on the basis of prior art if it came to a legal wrangle (which it did). This is down to the concept of the 'diligent researcher' who could find things out everything that had ever happened or been made public if only they were diligent enough - even if (in this case) it was deliberately put in the most obscure publication that could be found. Basically designed so that the Wrights knew about it and nobody else (in the avieation field) ever would.
On 22 November 2011 18:36, James Bowery <jabow...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 9:43 PM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> Oh well . . . the first reliable historical report of airplane flight was >> published in "Gleanings in Bee Culture" by Amos Root, in 1905. Still >> published: >> >> http://www.beeculture.com/ >> > > Now only in archive.com: > > > http://web.archive.org/web/20110715203128/http://www.rootcandles.com/index.cfm/Wright-brothers-story > >
