Goggles & Lenses Used by Louis P. Christman During Test Flights, Ca 1910s 

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Jun 12, 2015 - Jun 13, 2015

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• Lot Description
  Lot of approx. 13 items, featuring the goggles and lenses that were used by Louis P. Christman during test flights (with other pilots) in open cockpit airplanes. This work was done prior to and during World War I, when Christman was working at Dayton Wright Aeroplane. 
   
  The consignor shares the following quote obtained from Christman during the Oral History Project of 1967: 
   
  "...in later years, in 1917, I flew with Howard Reinhart, on radiator tests. That is where I had to observe instruments, that is thermometers, because the, I think the propeller shaft went down to the radiator, and that inter portion of that radiator was never cooling. They would go up on days just like today. While it was about fifty here [ground level], it [was] mighty cold up in the air..."
   
  "...I'd sit up there, you know, in an open plane and have to try to write, and I had a pair of flying mittens and used them. I don't know how I held that pencil and tried to make figures on how it was cold..."
   
  In talking with his grandfather in 1967 about the DH-4 project for an enclosed plane and about these temperature observations, the consignor relates that Christman added that he wore the goggles to keep his eyes from watering, and also to keep the tears from freezing to his eyelashes. 
   
  The goggles and lenses are accompanied by 9 small, mirrored pieces, each approx. 2.5 x 3.5 in., housed in a tobacco bag, and the consignor also asked his grandfather about these pieces. His only comment was that sometimes he had to lean out a bit and look at the reflection of a thermometer or gauge. When he asked why he had so many pieces, Christman chuckled and said that he dropped plenty and didn't want to have to make another trip for equipment. He wanted to be prepared in the first place. 
   
  Louis P. Christman (1893-1972)
  
  As an employee of National Cash Register, with his experience in aircraft and machine design, Louis P. Christman was called upon by prominent engineer and inventor, Colonel Edward Deeds, to undertake the restoration of the 1905 Wright Flyer, which resides at Carillon Park, Dayton, Ohio. Christman was given the opportunity to work closely with Orville Wright in order to produce an accurate set of drawings, or blueprints, for the 1900, 1901, and 1902 gliders as well as the 1903, 1904, and 1905 Wright Flyers. Since no complete drawings were ever produced by Orville and Wilbur Wright during the building and flying of the planes, it was required that Christman travel to Washington, D.C. to the Smithsonian Institution to take measurements and make drawings from the original 1903 Flyer that is displayed there and to discuss these drawings with Orville Wright.
  
  Continued meetings and conversations between Orville Wright and Christman resulted in a very refined set of drawings of the three planes and their engines – drawings that were quite satisfactory to Orville Wright. Christman, under the direction of Colonel Edward Deeds, then began the restoration of the 1905 Flyer in 1947, on the grounds of the National Cash Register Co. This project involved not only incorporating as many original parts as could be obtained, but the designing and machining of matching parts in order to complete the aeroplane. This restoration project took Christman approximately 19 months, from the drawing stage to the completion of the frame. Final construction and assembly was completed at Carillon Historical Park, where the plane was reassembled and fabric was stretched.
  
  Christman’s drawings are well documented in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. Knowledgeable men and women who have produced models and full-sized planes since 1948 have relied most exclusively on the “Christman Drawings.” The Smithsonian Institution has recently produced framed copies of Christman’s three view plate, with consideration in print concerning the works of Christman. The work that Christman did for Orville Wright, Dayton Wright Aeroplane, Charles F. Kettering, Inland Manufacturing, NCR Corp., Colonel Deeds, and Carillon Park is of considerable historical importance and interest.
  
  Lots 284-290 represent a portion of items given to Christman for his work in restoring the 1905 Wright Flyer, and they have descended directly in his family.

  Condition

  Some soiling to goggles and lenses, indicating that they have been untouched since used by Christman. Small, mirrored pieces are as they were originally stored by Christman, wrapped in paper and housed in tobacco bag.
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