KITE 



3263 



KITE 



called by the English a kite, is unknown. But 

 it is certain that it has existed for a very long 

 time. The first thought on hearing the word 

 is of the kites which boys use as toys, "kite 

 season" in many localities coming with the 

 first winds of spring and lasting all through the 

 summer. It is not only as a toy, however, that 

 the kite is used. The paragraphs immediately 

 below will give some interesting information 

 as to how kites have been of value to scientific 

 men. 



The Useful Kite. Perhaps the most famous 

 use of a kite for a scientific purpose was that 

 of Benjamin Franklin, but he was not the 

 first thus to use it. Three years earlier Alex- 

 ander Wilson, an astronomer of Edinburgh, 

 fastened thermometers to kites and sent them 

 far aloft, to record the temperature of the 

 clouds. Then, in 1752, came Franklin, who 

 Brought electricity out of the sky 

 With a kite and a string and a key ; 



and from his time more and more use has 

 been made of the kite in science. Instruments 

 to measure wind velocities and thermometers 

 innumerable have been sent up, and in 1898 

 the United States established daily kite ascen- 



sions in seventeen weather bureaus. Ascen- 

 sions to heights of almost five miles have been 

 made, and much has been learned in this way 

 as to the conditions of the upper air. 



The engineer, too, often finds the kite of 

 value. If he has to throw a line across a 

 chasm he first floats a kite across; then with 

 the aid of the light kite string he draws over 

 a strong cord, and, finally, the heavy cable. 

 This was the method employed in the begin- 

 ning of the construction of the great suspension 

 bridge at Niagara Falls. In advertising, too, 

 kites have played a part, and frequently over 

 crowded streets or a large outdoor assemblage 

 they are to be seen floating, with banners 

 hanging from them bearing political or adver- 

 tising notices. 



For military purposes kites have been used 

 for signaling, and by the addition of lights 

 have been made to do duty by night as well 

 as by day. A special kite-balloon, too, has 

 been invented, which is strong enough to hold 

 a passenger car at a height of several hundred 

 yards above the earth and which has an advan- 

 tage over the spherical balloon, in that the 

 wind does not force it downward. 



How to Make a Kite 



This is one of the first things that the aver- 

 age boy wants to make, and in its simpler 

 Top of Spine End of Bow 



Wire"! 



Bo\ 



View/of Frame 

 /and Wirincj 



Lower End of Spine 



DIAGRAM OF KITE FRAME 

 If a kite is constructed according to this plan, 

 it will be strong and durable. 



forms it is easy to construct. The commonest 

 form is made of two sticks of different lengths 



placed in the shape of a cross, with the shorter 

 one above the center of the long one. From 

 arm to arm, all around this framework, is 

 stretched a stout string, and over the whole is 

 pasted a light- 

 weight paper 

 newspaper will do, 

 but a stout tissue 

 paper is more at- 

 tractive. Strings, 

 rather slack, fol- 

 low the line of the 

 framework, and 

 where these cross 

 is fastened a long 

 string by which 

 the kite is held 

 when it floats far 

 aloft. To the very 

 bottommost point 



is fastened a "tail" COMMON KITE 



of rags or bits of " Framework and cover; tail 

 paper, for the kite not yet attached 

 needs this weight to "steady" it and keep it 

 from "diving." The length of the tail, from 

 six to twelve feet, is determined by the weight 

 of the kite and the wind velocity. Here is 



