The engine powered two wooden prope

The engine powered two wooden propellers that were driven by chains affixed to a cogwheel on the engine drive shaft. The chains resembled bicycle chains, only larger, and they were geared down so that the maximum revolutions of the engine drive shaft could be turned into slower, more powerful propeller rotations. The extreme pitch of the propellers (the higher the pitch, the more propeller surface strikes the air) required power, not speed, to bite into the still air and accelerate it rearward, creating the necessary thrust for flight. This gearing solution was how the Wrights solved the early problem of finding an engine light enough to propel a man and an airplane on its own power. It was only one of several major obstacles that the Wrights eventually overcame.6