MOVING DEVICES.
Most of the moving devices on kites are operated best by means of
windmills. The windmill can be placed back of the kite out of sight.
Various movements can be devised such as opening and shutting of eyes
and mouth and moving of ears. Feet and hands can be made to dangle
without any device. The windmill can also be used for decorative
purposes.
[Illustration: FIG. 148.]
=Windmills.= There are two general kinds of windmills. Those turning
from left to right and vice versa, and those turning fore and back. The
last named type is used for eyes that turn. The eyes are set in little
rims of some stiff material, a thin piece of bamboo, shaving, or stiff
cardboard. Holes are cut in the covering of the kite and these rims are
pasted in so as to stand edgewise. These rims prevent the interference
of any obstruction to the revolving eyes. The eye may be set in place
by means of a wire running thru each side of the rim and thru the
eye. The eye has a smaller rim on which two half circles of paper are
pasted, see Fig. 148. A little paper wound into a little ball would be
made by the Chinese boys, but a glass bead will answer to keep the eye
away from the rim of the opening. The two semicircles of paper are on
the two halves of the eye. In Fig. 148, _a_ is on the upper half of the
front side while the other semicircle, _b_, is on the lower half of
the back. Sometimes little mirrors are pasted to the eyes, as at _m_,
to reflect the light as they spin around, which they certainly do, if
nicely set in their places. Some use considerable black on one half
and white on the other, giving a blinking effect. This same kind of
revolving disk is sometimes used on wires or cord to the outside of the
kite, see Fig. 134.
[Illustration: FIG. 149.]
[Illustration: FIG. 150.]
[Illustration: FIG. 151.]
[Illustration: FIG. 152.]
=The revolving device=, while not as familiar as our little windmills,
is more easily secured in position but it is not impossible and in fact
is not a very difficult task to fasten the windmills. The windmills
can be made of stiff paper, any stiff cover paper will do; they spin
well and are very light. They are usually made of a square piece of
paper which is cut on the diagonal nearly to the center, Fig. 149;
one of the points of each section is then brought a little past the
center and a pin pushed thru, Fig. 150. These little whirligigs can be
attached with the pin to the framework of the kite at various places.
Larger mills can be made of stiffer paper, as bristol board, but the
larger sizes will need more anchorage. The wheel will need an axle of
wire and to secure it, a paper, perhaps several, will need to be pasted
to the wheel and on the wire to prevent its flopping over. The wheels
are made from a circular piece and are slitted from the circumference
to near to the center and the sections are curved by drawing the paper
over a pencil or similar object until the right curvature is obtained,
Fig. 151. All the sections of a wheel are curved the same way but where
there are more than one, part should turn to the right and the others
to the left. The framework supporting the axle should reach across the
opening and there should be a strip on each side as shown in Fig. 152.
If the fans will not remain curved, a wire can be run around the outer
edge, thus keeping the fans in place and at the proper angle. Other
windmills are made with wooden axles that have little diagonal cuts to
receive pieces of thin stiff cardboard as fans. These can usually be
purchased, but they can also be made; Fig. 153 has one fan removed.
Make a small block and with small saw, make little cuts on the diagonal
and set the fans in with glue. Some make little windmills of aluminum,
which are similar to the ones made of light cardboard. Windmills can
be applied in many ways; for example, they may represent wheels on
an automobile kite, Fig. 154, in which the tires are large and the
windmill serves as the center of the wheel. When turning around it
cannot be seen that the tire is not turning. Another wheel is shown at
a in which small slanting fans are attached.
[Illustration: FIG. 153.]
The most difficult part in making the auto kite is to keep it light and
in poise. It will readily be seen that the automobile is a triangular
box-kite. The hood of the engine should be open at both ends, with
string across to represent screen. The hood instead of being a dead
weight will have considerable lifting power, being part of a barrel
kite. A framework is shown in Fig. 155. The top of the auto might be
black or tan, the body red, black, grey, green or brown, the tires
light tan, and the moving part of the wheels light yellow.
[Illustration: FIGS. 154, 155.]
[Illustration: FIGS. 156, 157.]
[Illustration: FIG. 158.]
The steamboat kite, Figs. 156 and 157, is another application of the
moving wheel but this construction is simpler and the attachment of
wheel is better. In this model a part of the wheel is shielded from the
breeze, so the uneven pressure causes it to revolve. This is a very
feasible and interesting problem. Fig. 158 shows a kite with a wagging
head above it. When we understand this device, we should be able to
plan many others. The windmill is set in the open part of the kite.
Two cross-sticks are used so it is quite easy to attach a vertical
piece to the two for support of the aluminum wheel. A little hub has a
groove in it that a cord belt runs in, and from that to another grooved
wheel to the back of the kite, Fig. 159. A lath nail cut off for a
small crank pin, _j_, is located near the outer edge of this grooved
wheel. A vertical lever, _h_, with axis at _i_, has an elongated hole
at the lower end that works over the crank-pin and as _k_ revolves, the
lever operates from side to side. The hole must be long enough for the
crank-pin to reach its highest and lowest point easily. The elongated
hole can be effected by extending a wire loop down from the end of the
vertical lever to work on the crank-pin. The wire should be lashed with
linen thread to the vertical lever and coated over with glue. An object
can be used on the upper end, such as a head, a flag, etc. In the same
manner, hands and feet may be extended and withdrawn, a turtle might be
made to draw in head and feet and many other interesting operations,
but in all of these the machinery must work easily, must not lop over
against anything else and above all we must remember not to load down
our kite with weight or overbalance it with undue leverage at any part
of the kite.
[Illustration: FIG. 159.]
[Illustration: FIG. 160.]
[Illustration: FIG. 161.]
Another way of attaching to windmill is to make the wire axle long
enough to pass thru and at the back bend into a crank, Fig. 160. The
lever _h_ would work direct on this crank as it does on the crank-pin
in the device with the second grooved pulley, _k_, Fig. 159. To make
the head go up and down, use a round hole instead of the elongated ones
in the vertical shaft. A loop of wire, Fig. 161, should hold the upper
part of the vertical lever in place, and in case of the head bobbing
up and down, the lever is not attached at _i_, Fig. 159, but the loop,
Fig. 161, must not be omitted.
=Other Devices.= But windmills are not the only means of operating
moving parts of a kite. An extra line to the ground will give
opportunity to the kite flyer to open and shut eyes and mouth and move
ears at will. Ears could be made to grow a foot and then be drawn back
by light elastic bands. The mouth might open and a red tongue run out,
or a pocket in the mouth might be turned inside out, thus releasing
a shower of bits of paper, white, colored, gilt, and silver. Let the
imagination play for a time, then set the inventive machinery of the
brain to work and “watch us grow.”