Aerial Locomotion 



25 



A Floating Kite, adapted to be Towed Out of the Water 



Kite consists of a bridge, or truss, of tetrahedral cells with wings of Japanese waterproof paper 

 upon two floats of light framework covered with oilcloth. A stout towing pole extends later- 

 ally across the lower part of the wing-piece at the front. Photograph b}' Douglas McCurdy 



that the water level rises at least to the 

 middle of the supporting cylinders, so 

 that the raft is not at all adapted for 

 propulsion and cannot attain great speed. 

 The great and unnecessary weight of this 

 machine has led to an interesting and 

 perhaps important discovery that might 

 have escaped attention had the apparatus 

 been lighter and better adapted for pro- 

 pulsion (page 26). 



Under the action of her aerial propel- 

 lers, this clumsy raft is unable to attain a 

 higher speed than four miles an hour; 

 and 3^et she is able to face a sixteen-mile 

 white-cap breeze and make headway 

 against it, instead of drifting backward 

 with the wind. Under such circum- 

 stances her speed is materially reduced; 

 but the point I would direct attention to is 



this : that she is not stopped by a current 

 of air moving with very much greater 

 velocity than her maximum possible 

 speed in a calm. Of course, there would 

 be nothing remarkable about this if her 

 propellers were acting in the water in- 

 stead of the air ; but they were not. They 

 acted e.xclusively in the air, and the water 

 was only an additional resistance to be 

 overcome. 



It is worthy of note in this connection 

 that the rapid rotation of the propellers 

 yield a theoretical efficiency of thirty or 

 forty miles an hour, and that the mass 

 of the machine and the resistance of the 

 water drag this down to an actual per- 

 formance of only four miles ; so that at 

 first sight it appears probable that the 

 effect noted may be a result of the 



