KITES: WHERE FOUND; HOW MADE; THEIR PRACTICAL USES; CLOSELY RELATED TO
AEROPLANES--A GREAT SPORT
Spring winds favor kite flying. This is another world-wide sport, and
it was popular with old and young in China--the land of the kite--at
the time when the Egyptians were cutting stones for the pyramids.
Everybody knows, or should know, what the great Ben. Franklin did by
means of a kite, though the kite through which he learned the nature
of lightning was of a model that is not often seen at this time. This
was the old bow kite, the kind that every beginner learns to make, and
which needs no detailed description here.
The hexagonal or coffin-shaped kite is more reliable than the old
sort, and is quite as cheap and as easily made. Kites of both these
kinds have been used to get a line from a stranded vessel to the
shore, and engineers have used them. They did it when the first
suspension bridge was built at Niagara, to get a line across the
chasm, which gradually grew into the great suspending cables.
Kites have been used to draw light vehicles over smooth ground, and
they make good sport when made to draw sleds over the ice, or as "top-
loftical" sails for small boats. I have seen in New York a tandem team
of ten kites used for advertising purposes.
The Star Kite is easily made and is well worth doing. Get three sticks
or sections of light string, both of equal length. These are fastened
in the center, so that, with the ends of the sticks equal distances
apart, they will form a six-pointed star. The covering should be of
thin, close cotton cloth, or, better still, of light, strong paper,
which must be pasted so as to present the side of greatest resistance
to the wind, else it will soon be blown off. The tail band is simply a
loop fastened to the sticks at the bottom so that it will hang below
the kite, and balance it when it ascends. The belly-bands for support
and steering--in the latter case two lines are used--must never be
attached below the central cross-piece.
Boys often find fun in sending "messengers" up the strings to the
kites. After the kite is up a good height, round pieces of colored
paper with a hole in the center and a slit by means of which they are
slipped on the string, are sent up. They travel with the speed of the
wind till they reach the kite, where they stop. If too heavy, or too
many, the messengers may get the kite out of balance.
A messenger has been sent up 6,000 feet, or over one mile. That is the
height to which American scientists have sent kites with thermometers
and barometers attached, so as to record the elevation and the
temperature.
THE HARGRAVE, OR BOX KITE,
is something new and hitherto unheard of in the kite line. Rigidity
and strength, without too much weight, are the prime essentials of the
Hargrave. It may be made by a boy with a knack for mechanics in the
following way: Take eight stiff, slender pieces of bamboo, eighteen
and three-quarter inches in length, such as are sometimes used for
fishing poles. These pieces must be of uniform weight and length, and
as nearly alike as possible. Next cut six sticks, each eleven inches
long, and as nearly alike as possible. These are for the middle
uprights and end stretchers. After finding the middle of the longer
sticks, lash them together in pairs by means of stout waxed thread, or
light brass wire. Notch the ends of the sticks and make the spread
between A and C just eleven inches. This will give you four pairs of
crossed sticks. Next take one of your eleven-inch uprights, and bind
it to the two pairs of cross-sticks. Take the other eleven-inch
upright and fasten the other two pairs of cross-sticks in the same
way.
This done, cut two spines, or connecting rods of bamboo, each thirty
inches long and as nearly alike as possible. Next, with waxed thread,
or light wire, bind the two spines over the ends of the eleven-inch
stretchers. The spine must fit like the top of a letter T over the
stretchers and be square; that is, at right angles with the stretcher.
Each end of the spine must project beyond the uprights five and one-
half inches; that is, the ends must each be five and one-half inches
long, which leaves nineteen inches between points named. Bind the
other four stretchers to the ends of the sticks. Now string the frame
so that all the sticks, except the diagonals, shall be at right
angles, or "perfectly square," as boys say. This done, paint all the
joints with glue.
The frame when finished should measure 11 x 11 x 30. This is the
measure for each of the two boxes or cells, which should have eight
inches between. Cover the frame with a strong, light cloth that will
not stretch, and sew it on so as to form two boxes covered at the
top, bottom and ends. The two broadsides of each one are left open to
receive the wind. On the bottom boom, at or near the edge of the cloth
cover, fasten a small brass ring for a belly-band. If the foregoing be
well done, you will have a kite on the principle of a flying machine,
and you will be up with the times.
_Kite String_ must be considered. In a light wind and with an ordinary
kite, good, strong twine answers all purposes, but with large kites
and a stiff breeze, the best string is a twisted linen line. Learn how
to tie knots that won't come undone, and take care not to cut or
blister your hands in letting out or hauling in.
TAILLESS KITES
are fast superceding the old-time kind, and they are quite as easy to
make and are much easier to manage. Here are directions for making it:
They can be made in different sizes and flied tandem, from twenty to
hundreds of feet apart. The longitudinal stick should be of strong
spruce, sixty inches in length and about three-eighths or one-half
inch in width and thickness. It can be of any size, if these
proportions are maintained. The cross-piece should be a similar stick
and of equal length. When in position it is slightly bent, say four
per cent, of its length. The frame should be of light spruce, the same
size as the cross-pieces. Care must be taken to have the angles right.
When the frame is finished, cover loosely with manila paper, so that
there will be some concavity on the face of the kite on each side
below the cross-stick, so that it will belly like a sail; bind the
edges with thin wire which stretches less than string. This kite will
fly in a very light breeze. The string, particularly if you have a
tandem, should be flexible and strong. In a stiff breeze, and with
more than one kite, it is well to have a reel, as in a fishing rod,
for hauling in.
The best way with tandem kites is not, as is usually done, to fasten
one kite behind the other on the same string, but to hitch each kite
by means of a separate string to the main cord. The tail kite will do
for tandem, but as the tails are apt to get snarled, it is not so
desirable as the tailless kind.
THE BARREL KITE
As the bird and the butterfly kites of the Chinese can be bought at a
low price, I shall not attempt a description of them here, but the
barrel kite, which is distinctly American, cannot be ignored. This
kite was tried some years ago by the U. S. Weather Bureau officers in
California. It is cylindrical in form, about four feet long, and two
feet in diameter. The frame is made up of four light hoops, braced
together by four or more thin strips of wood. The twelve-inch space
between the pair of hoops at either end is covered with a collar of
paper, and the string, by which the kite is held, is attached to a
stick, which passes diagonally through the inside of the cylinder from
end to end. When this kite catches the wind it lifts quickly and
gracefully. As it is easily made, I should like some of my young
readers to try it.
I have not seen a barrel kite in a tandem, but I can't see why it
should not work. Between kites on a tandem line, flags of same size,
and of any designs that may be thought of, may be strung with good
effect.