Читать книгу The Rise of the Flying Machine - Hugo Byttebier - Страница 27

Lawrence Hargrave

Another important aeronautical event that took place in August of 1884 was the publication of the first of a long series of papers by Lawrence Hargrave, a keen and original researcher who lived in Australia. He had just started a study of aeronautics that would lead to several practical and important discoveries; it is interesting to note here that Hargrave and Goupil would both 21 years later be instrumental in saving the first French flying pioneers from continuing along a mistaken path resulting from serious errors of conception.

Hargrave was convinced that only international cooperation could lead to worthwhile results and he always resolutely refused to take out patents on any of his numerous discoveries. In a letter he later wrote to Chanute, he stated his beliefs as follows: “Workers must root out the idea that by keeping the results of their labours to themselves, a fortune will be assured to them ... The flying machine of the future like everything else ... must be evolved gradually. The first difficulty is to get a thing that will fly at all. When this is made, a full description should be published as an aid to others.” These were wise and true words which, had they been heeded, would have prevented many a personal tragedy among the hardworking searchers after the heavier-than-air machine and the internal combustion engine.