316 ON AERIAL LOCOMOTION. 



■niiitl, which also exerts (iousiderable force on thesuspeuded cord, which 

 for more tlian half its length hangs nearly perpendicularly. But the 

 kite, as a means of obtaining unlimited lifting and tractive power, in 

 certain cases where it might be usefully applied, seems to have been 

 somewhat neglected. For its power of raising weights, the following 

 quotation is taken from vol. XLI of the Transactions of the Society of 

 Arts, relating to Captain Dansey's mode of communicating with a lee- 

 shore. The kite was made of a sheet of holland exactly 9 feet square, 

 extended by two spars placed diagonally, and as stretched spread a 

 surface of 55 square feet: "The kite, in a strong breeze, extended 

 3,100 yards of line five-eighths of an inch in circumference, and would 

 have extended more had it been at hand. It also extended 360 yards 

 of line, 1^ inches in circumference, weighing 60 pounds. The holland 

 weighed 3^ pounds ; the spars, one of which was armed at the head 

 with iron spikes for the purpose of mooring it, 6f pounds; and the tail 

 was five times its length, composed of 8 pounds of rope and 14 of elm 

 plank, weighing together 22 pounds." 



We have here the remarkable fact of 02| jiounds carried by a surface 

 of only 55 square feet. 



As all such experiments bear a very close relation to the subject of 

 this paper, it may be suggested that a form of kite should be employed 

 for reconnoitering and exploring purposes, in lieu of balloons held by 

 ropes. These would be torn to pieces in the very breeze that would 

 render a kite most serviceable and safe. In the arrangement there 

 should be a smaller and upper kite, capable of sustaining a weight of 

 the apparatus. The lower kite should be as nearly as practicable in 

 the form of a circular flat plane, distended with ribs, with a car attached 

 beneath like a parachute. Four guy-ropes leading to the car would be 

 required for altering the angle of the plane — vertically with respect to 

 the horizon, and laterally relative to the direction of the wind. By 

 these means the observer could regulate his altitude so as to command 

 a view of a country in a radius of at least 20 miles ; he could veer to a 

 great extent from side to side, from the wind's course, or lower himself 

 gently, with the choice of a suitable spot for descent. Should the cord 

 break or the wind fail, the kite would, in either case, act as a i)ara- 

 chute and as such might be purposely detached from the cord, which 

 then being sustained from the upper kite, could be easily recovered. 

 The direction of descent could be commanded by the guy-rope, these 

 being hauled taut in the required direction for landing. 



The author has good reasons for believing that there would be less 

 risk associated with the employment of this apparatus than the recon- 

 noitering balloons that have now frequently been made use of in war- 

 fare.* 



*The practical application of these suggestious appears to Lave beeu anticipated 

 some years preA'iously. In a small work, styled the " History of the Charvolant or 

 Kite Carriage," published by Longman & Co., appears the following remarks: 



