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TLS signed by Wilbur Wright, “Wright Bros.,” one page, 8.5 x 11, Wright Brothers letterhead, April 4, 1910. Letter to publisher Funk & Wagnalls, who were then compiling dictionaries and encyclopedias. In full: "The phrase 'ballon-sonde' is but the French of the English equivalent 'sounding balloon,' which is good English. It should be inserted with a cross reference to 'sounding balloon.' We are not familiar with the expression 'ballon d'essai,' but the expression 'pilot balloon' is common use in English, and refers to small unmanned balloons sent up prior to an ascension for the purpose of determining the direction and force of the upper air. The word 'beat' is not used in speaking of screw propellors, but only of flapping wing machines." In very good to fine condition, with scattered creasing and several tiny edge tears, with show-through from old tape reinforcements at the lower right edge. Accompanied by a full letter of authenticity from PSA/DNA.
Written at a moment when the language of powered flight was still being standardized, this letter finds Wilbur Wright serving as an expert authority for Funk & Wagnalls as its editors refined aviation terminology for their reference works. His precise distinctions between “sounding balloon,” “pilot balloon,” screw propellers, and “flapping wing machines” offer a remarkable glimpse of the Wright brothers not only as inventors, but as participants in defining the vocabulary of the new aerial age. Signed just over two years before Wilbur’s death in 1912, it is an unusually substantive example directly connected to the technical legacy of their pioneering work.
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