Samuel P. Langley's Inventions

Professor Samuel P. Langley (1834-1906) was a Professor of Astronomy and Physics as well as the Observatory Director at the Alleghany Observatory in Pennsylvania when he became interested in flight in early 1887. He became the Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute that same year and began building model aircraft that were powered by rubber bands. He called them aerodromes. In November 1887 he became the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute and continued his experiments with his model aerodromes and scientifically studying wing designs, engines and flight. In June 1897, after many design failures of quarter-sized aerodromes that were powered by steam and later gasoline engines, Langley concluded his experiments in flight (Gray,
At that time, the Spanish-American War was just starting and the War Department and the U.S. Army granted Langley $50,000.00, a significant fund at that time, to cover 2 years of construction materials and experimentation (Gray, 2006). According to EconomicThinking.org, the government’s selection of Langley to develop a heavier-than-air flying machine was logical since he was one of the most renowned scientist of the time and held a prestigious position at the Smithsonian Institute. Langley was also able to leverage technical and financial resources in his position at the Institute, making him seem the most likely person to succeed at the endeavor (Wolfe & Semmens, n.d.).
With the U.S. Army funding, Langley was able to construct quarter size models of his aerodrome that successfully flew unmanned up to 2,500 feet. Encouraged by his successful model flights, he built the full size Aerodrome A” that was designed to carry 2 men. Langley hired Charles M. Manly to assist in building an engine that was powerful enough to propel the new design, while being light enough to not slow it down. In December of 1901, the modified Balzer engine was installed. It was a 5 cylinder engine that produced 52 horsepower at 950 rpm; an innovation of its time (Gray,