The Wright Company: From Invention to Industry

Roach, a historian, traces the history of the Wright Company, founded by Orville and Wilbur Wright in Dayton, Ohio, in 1909 to manufacture their airplanes, prosecute patent infringements, and train aviators. The company built about 120 airplanes before Orville Wright sold it in 1915 to New York-based industrialists. Roach draws on the papers of the Wrights, the company and its leaders, period trade journals and newspapers, and scholarly literature to document the company’s history, including its founding, its exhibitions, how the brothers resisted implementing suggestions for corporate growth from executives and managers, and how they focused on patent litigation over business development and technological innovation, keeping it a small operation. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)