Using multinational patent data to measure a design change in early aviation

Peter B. Meyer ()
Additional contact information
Peter B. Meyer: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Productivity and Technology

Scientometrics, 2025, vol. 130, issue 1, No 8, 187-204

Abstract: Abstract Based on data from approximately 12,700 aeronautics and aviation patents from several countries between 1880 and 1914, this study measures the shift in designs over time, away from balloons and flapping wings and toward fixed-wing airplane designs. The data sets are eclectic and selectively coded, since the national patent classifications of technologies of the time did not always clearly make this distinction, although it is fundamental to the way in which a flying machine would work. We find that that the topics of aero patents had been shifting slowly toward fixed-wing designs, and away from balloon designs, since before 1900, and that it sped up after 1903. The transition in patents was clearly detectable and well underway by 1908 when many airplane-producing companies were founded around the world.

Keywords: Patents; Aviation; Aeronautics; Networks; Invention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O31 O33 O34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-024-05148-3 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:scient:v:130:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-024-05148-3

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11192

DOI: 10.1007/s11192-024-05148-3

Access Statistics for this article

Scientometrics is currently edited by Wolfgang Glänzel

More articles in Scientometrics from Springer, Akadémiai Kiadó
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().