Professor Samuel Pierpont Langley, the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was a leading scientific figure in the United States in the latter nineteenth century, well known especially for his astronomical research. Langley had also begun serious investigation into heavier-than-air flight with model and full-size aerodromes. Although successful in his 1890s demonstration with an unmanned heavier-than-air aircraft, his 1903 attempts to demonstrate a manned aircraft were unsuccessful. His request for further funding was refused; he suffered much public ridicule and died in 1906.

In 1914, the Smithsonian contracted with Glenn Curtiss, a prominent American aviation pioneer and aircraft manufacturer, to rebuild the earlier 1903 unsuccessful Langley Aerodrome A and conduct further flight tests. With significant modifications and improvements, Curtiss was able to coax the Aerodrome A into the air for a number of brief, straight-line flights at Hammondsport, N.Y.

This propeller is an artifact of those flights, with a clipped leading edge being one of the modifications.