SERIAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
The emphasis upon publications as a means of diffusing knowledge wasexpressed by the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Inhis formal plan for the Institution, Joseph Henry articulated aprogram that included the following statement: "It is proposed topublish a series of reports, giving an account of the new discoveriesin science, and of the changes made from year to year in all branchesof knowledge not strictly professional." This keynote of basicresearch has been adhered to over the years in the issuance ofthousands of titles in serial publications under the Smithsonianimprint, commencing with Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge in1848 and continuing with the following active series:
- Smithsonian Annals of Flight
- Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology
- Smithsonian Contributions to Astrophysics
- Smithsonian Contributions to Botany
- Smithsonian Contributions to the Earth Sciences
- Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology
- Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology
- Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology
In these series, the Institution publishes original articles andmonographs dealing with the research and collections of its severalmuseums and offices and of professional colleagues at otherinstitutions of learning. These papers report newly acquired facts,synoptic interpretations of data, or original theory in specializedfields. Each publication is distributed by mailing lists to libraries,laboratories, institutes, and interested specialists throughout theworld. Individual copies may be obtained from the SmithsonianInstitution Press as long as stocks are available.
S. Dillon Ripley
Secretary
Smithsonian Institution
The Wright Brothers' Engines
And Their Design
Kitty Hawk Flyer with original Wright engine poised onlaunching rail at Kill Devil Hill, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 24November 1903, the month before the Wrights achieved man's firstpowered and controlled flight in a heavier-than-air craft.
Reproduction of the first engine, built by Pratt &Whitney, as displayed in Wright Brothers National Memorial at KittyHawk. Engine is mounted in a reproduction of the Wrights' Flyer builtby the National Capital Section of the Institute of the AeronauticalSciences (now the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics).Engine and plane were donated in 1963 to the National Park ServiceCape Hatteras National Seashore.
SMITHSONIAN ANNALS OF FLIGHT * NUMBER 5
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION * NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM
The Wright Brothers' Engines
And Their Design
Leonard S. Hobbs
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTI