Combating Submarines with Kites 



By Stanley Yale Beach 



THE sinking of the Lusitania has 

 caused many inventors to suggest 

 new means for protecting ships from at- 

 tacks by submarines. Among the best 

 suggestions is that of Mr. Samuel F. 

 Perkins of Boston, Mass., who proposes 

 to use kites to detect the approach of 

 submarines. 



The following experiments carried out 

 by Perkins show that he was able to ob- 



At the Right: Starting a Leading Kite 

 from the Rear Deck of the "Pennsyl- 

 vania." Below: Testing the Lift of Kites 

 from the Deck of a Flat Boat Towed by a 

 River Steamer. In the Oval: A String of 

 Kites Carrying up a Man. 



January, 1911, Perkins demonstrated 

 his man-lifting kites for army purposes, 

 and in a duration test he remained aloft 

 for i l /2 hours at a considerable eleva- 

 tion. Finally, in September, 1911, at 

 the Nassau Boulevard Aviation Meet, 

 over 350 people were taken aloft by fif- 

 teen kites in a single afternoon, includ- 

 ing all the aviators who participated in 

 the flying events of that meet. 



tain practical results without meeting 

 with any serious accident: At the Har- 

 vard-Boston Aero Meet, held in Sep- 

 tember, 1910, he sent up a number of men 

 to a height of about 200 feet by means of 

 a string of from six to fifteen of his 

 huge i8-foot aeroplane kites. At Forest 

 Park, St. Louis, on Thanksgiving Day, 

 1910, he was raised to a height of 350 

 feet by his kites, breaking all previous 

 records; and at Los Angeles, on Christ- 

 mas day, he ascended to 400 feet, and 

 for the first time sent wireless messages. 

 At San Francisco Aviation Meet, in 



In sending up his kites Perkins gen- 

 erally sends two or three leader kites up 

 about a half mile in order to get them in 

 the steady wind. Then he sends up a 

 group of six, eight or ten lifting kites, 

 directly beneath which, on the main line, 

 is suspended a sort of bo'sun chair or 

 swinging cradle. If there is a heavy wind 

 this cradle sometimes swings violently 

 and the occupant has to be careful not to 

 be thrown out. In light winds an ordi- 

 nary hexagon kite is used, but in heavy 

 winds a special kite called an aeroplane 

 kite which has a square hole in its 



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