14 October 1913

Orville Wright was granted US Patent #1,075,555 on October 14, 1913 for the first effective Automatic Stabilizer for airplanes. He won the prestigious Collier Trophy, recognizing the most significant contribution to aeronautics made during 1913. However, the Wright device was quickly rendered obsolete by the more sophisticated stabilizer developed by Elmer Sperry and demonstrated at Paris in June 1914. Sperry's device won him the 1914 Collier.