This is the particular Wright patent we are concerned with. The preamble (bolding mine),
Be it known that we, ORVILLE WRIGHT and WILBUR WRIGHT, citizens of the United States, residing in the city of Dayton, county of Montgomery, and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flying-Machines, of which the following is a specification. Our invention relates to that class of flying machines in which the weight is sustained by the reactions resulting when one or more aeroplanes are moved through the air edgewise at a small angle of incidence, either by the application of mechanical power or by the utilization of the force of gravity. The objects of our invention are to provide means for maintaining or restoring the equilibrium or lateral balance of the apparatus, to provide means for guiding the machine both vertically and horizontally, and to provide a structure combining lightness, strength, convenience of construction, and certain other advantages which will hereinafter appear.
The entire patent is at
Patent No. 821,343
Please point out to me where I err, but I don't see them as claiming to have invented the airplane. But then again, I'm not a patent lawyer. I note the patent is titled "Flying Machine", but the preamble cites "new and useful Improvements in Flying-Machines", not the invention of flying machines. To sum up, as I see it, they are claiming means of control and particular elements of construction.