i6 



The National Geographic Magazine 



Side View of the Frost King, showing how closely the cells are massed together 

 Photograph by E. H. Cunningham 



estimated at not more than about lo miles 

 an hour because it did not raise white 

 caps, but carried up a rope ladder, several 

 dangling ropes lo and 12 meters long, 

 and more than 200 meters of manilla rope 

 used as flying lines, and, in addition to all 

 this, supported a man in the air (page 



17)- 



The whole kite, impedimenta and all, 

 including the man, weighed about 131 

 kgs (288 pounds), and its greatest 

 length from side to side was 6 meters at 

 the top and three meters at the bottom. 

 The sloping sides measured 3 meters, and 

 the length from fore to aft at the square 

 bottom was 3 meters. It is obvious that 

 this kite might be extended laterally at 

 the top to twice its length without form- 

 ing an immoderately large structure. It 

 would then be 12 meters on the top (39 

 feet) and 9 meters on the bottom from 

 side to side, without changing the fore- 

 and-aft dimensions or the height. It 



would then contain more than double the 

 number of cells, and so should be able to 

 sustain in the air more than double the 

 load ; so that such a structure would be 

 quite capable of sustaining both a man 

 and an engine of the weight of a man and 

 yet be able to fly as a kite in a breeze no 

 stronger than that which supported the 

 "Frost King." 



An .engine of the weight of a man 

 could certainly impart to the structure a 

 velocity of 10 miles an hour, the esti- 

 mated velocity of the supporting wind, 

 and thus convert the kite into a free fly- 

 ing-machine. The low speed at which I 

 have been aiming for safety's sake is 

 therefore practicable. 



HORIZONT.^L 



AEROPLANES 

 STABLE 



FOUND IN- 



In the "Frost King" and other kites 

 composed exclusively of tetrahedral 

 winged cells there are no horizontal sur- 



