Talk:Samuel Langley

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Commercial Time Service[edit]

As yet, a serious absence from the article. I've added: "Starting with his tenure at Allegheny Observatory in the Pittsburgh area in the late 1860's, Langley was a major player in the development of astronomically derived and regulated time services in America through the later half of the 19th century. His work in this area is often cited as central to the establishment of the Standard Time Zones system. His very successful and profitable time sales to the Pennsylvania Railroad stood out among the many non-government based observatories of the day who were largely subsidizing their researches by time-service sales to regional railroads and the cities they served. The US Naval Observatory's increasing dominance in this field threatened these regional observatories' livelihoods and Langley became a leader in efforts to preserve the viability of these programs." - I will collect the references and add them to the article once I have it adequately sourced... (Primary source: Bartky, Ian R. "Selling the true time: nineteenth-century timekeeping in America", 2000, Stanford University Press ISBN 0-8047-3874-2

Earrach (talk) 21:37, 18 August 2011 (UTC) 75.149.16.115 (talk) 21:30, 18 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Manly[edit]

Without Q, his (152hp?) engine would have made Flyer I more successful. He deserves to be far better known than he is. Trekphiler 12:11, 3 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, if his engine was copied, he seems to have contributed more to aviation than Langley did, excluding Manly's work. David R. Ingham 03:27, 17 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Spelling and other details[edit]

Usually, Google gives more hits for the correct spelling, but I get about the same number for "Charles M. Manly" and "Charles M. Manley". The "Manly" hits seem to be the relevant ones. Milestones of Aviation, Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 1989, says "Charles Manly", 53 horse power and 200 pounds. (152 would seem excessive for an ultra-light.) (It says that Curtiss made 93 separate technical modifications before Langley's "Airodrome" flew.)

Aviation, the Pioneer Years, Ben Mackworth-Praed, 1990, Chartwell Books Inc., says "Manly" and 52 horse power, five cylinder radial, 340 pounds. There is a picture of the engine and a picture showing structural failure of the aircraft. David R. Ingham 05:28, 17 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Otto Lilienthal[edit]

The article is missing the connection to German aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal whom Langley even seem to have visited (according to the Wikipedia article on Otto Lilienthal). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:541:8202:A1C0:3876:45B:2A79:90D9 (talk) 17:16, 19 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Tesla[edit]

The following passage makes very little sense to me: "Although in 1897 and 1898 radio controlled boats had been demonstrated to the military and to the public by Nikola Tesla, the state of radio was very primitive. Though he experimented with rotating structures...." The sentence beginning, "Though he...." is quite unclear as to who 'he' is: Tesla? Langley? What does 'rotating structures' refer to? The radial engine? I plan to rewrite the passage so it makes more sense and will probably eliminate the reference to Tesla, who I believe to be quite irrelevant to Langley's efforts. Please comment if you have a better understanding of the meaning here. DonFB 04:13, 1 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

from the TED video[edit]

I came here trying to find a lot longer section on his airplane stuff but I don't have any books or research rticles index that are subscription. If anybody can search a couple pay article databases and copy/paste them here please? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.52.199.48 (talk) 23:20, 14 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Assessment comment[edit]

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Samuel Langley/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Needs inline citations. The structure could also be improved by adding more subsections. Hemmingsen 16:07, 19 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Last edited at 16:07, 19 October 2006 (UTC). Substituted at 05:23, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

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