Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him (1 Corinthians 7:17, ESV).
From the office where I write Interruptions, I can look out my window and see the building where the patents for Orville and Wilbur Wright were filed.
If it wasn’t for a Springfield lawyer named Harry Toulmin, the Wright brothers might not have received due credit for originating powered flight.
Yes, from downtown Springfield we get both Interruptions and the patents for airplanes. Which interruption in our lives has the greater impact?
I admit – Orville and Wilbur Wright!
Orville and Wilbur didn’t file patents for a flying machine.
Their lawyer came up with the brilliant idea of patenting the control systems of an airplane. Many had attempted to build an airplane before the Wright brothers, so it would have been difficult to patent the airplane they flew at Kitty Hawk.
Their lawyer, Harry Toulmin, instead focused on filing patents for the control systems of the Wright brothers’ airplane.
The next time you take a flight, look out the terminal window and note that your plane has a rudder, elevators, and stabilizers enabling the plane to be controlled in the air. The underlying technology for these systems was invented by the Wright brothers.
Warning! If your plane doesn’t have these parts, don’t get on the plane!!!!
After the filings of their attorney, the Wright brothers held patents on the technological ideas behind rudders, elevators, and stabilizers!
Statue of Harry Toulmin in downtown Springfield, Ohio.
(No, that is not a cigar he is holding, but a pen
indicating that he was a patent attorney!)
Yes, it was keen insight by the Wright brothers’ lawyer to file patents on the controls of an airplane and not the plane itself! Nobody could build a plane afterward without dealing with the Wright Brothers and their attorney.
Wow! I wish I could hire Harry Toulmin for my Interruptions!
What he did for the Wright Brothers would be like copyrighting the ideas of justification, sanctification, and grace found in Scripture but not the Bible itself.
The genius of the Wright Brothers, along with the keen insight of their lawyer, makes Springfield, Ohio, the origination point of proper recognition for the two brothers who invented modern flight.
Throughout history, in the fullness of time, ideas and people come together for breakthroughs!
This Interruption details Wilbur and Orville Wright, along with their attorney Harry Toulman.
You have a story and a calling too!
As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:17, “Focus your life on what God has called you to do!” (OGV)
HHHHMMMHHM . . . if I could copyright the words “justification” and “sanctification,” there would be plenty of resources for Discipling Another (where I serve) to support one-to-one disciple-making around the world.