Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-26
SCIENTIFIC KITE FLYING.
EHPerfmenters Who Seek to Turn . Popu
Pastime to Economic Use.

EHPerfmenterS Who Seek to Turn . Popular
Pastime to Economic Use.
From the New York Sun
Nowadays. when men are examining the most
trivial things with q view to getting something
usefui out of them. kites have not escaped
serious attention. Perhaps the start of this
was In q japanese story that came this way .
good many years ago about japanese robbers
using huge kites to let one Of their number
down on the roofs Of houses, and then raising
him again and pulling him away with his load
OF booty. This story, which may or may not
be true. but is certainly possible, suggested to
some one that kites might be used In The
resuit~as a series Of experiments In France,
where the bureaucrats Investigate and report
voIuminously upon everything.
IL was found that kites might be made so
that they could be perfectly controlled, that
they might be raised and lowered at viii and
that they might be used to carry bombs or
messages. But it was also decided that sharp
shooters with long-range rifles could destroy
their usefulness, because. to be Of anv account
the kite must be controlled By q string and
must thus be weighted to within shooting dis
vance OF the earth during all its flight. Like
balloons and a good many other air-supported
devices, yunpowder made them almost worth
less But a young man named DIR. Wood
bridge, professor in preparatory school in
tins city, thought of another way of using kites
which may yet make them invaluable. He had
read good teal about shipwrecks and the
difficulties of getting line over a sea in which
no boat could hive 70 gain the shore As We all
know, every life-saving station has an apparatus
Tor shooting the line over wrecked vessel as
means for drawing to the craft the safety rope
But how often IL the distance too great or
the wind too powerful, not to speak Of the
difficulties always encountered in taking accu-
rate aim.
DIR; Woodbridge. who had always been de-
voted flyer Of kites. thought that the kite, If it
could be properly controlled, would answer for
sending a line better than gun. So be manu-
featured big kites, with powerful sticks and
strong canvas coverings, and Experimental
with them until he arranged an apparatus that
was completely successful. By ingenious ar
rangements of the belly bands and Of the
tail, and of strings attached to the tops Of the
sticks, be vas able to lower or raise kite, to
make 1t go to the right or left in a wide angle
and to send IL forward for several miles. And
ne can do all this without any regard to
whether the wind is heavy light, provided
that 1t il not dead against the direction in
which he wishes to send his kite. He also has
mace some pretty successful experiments for
compelling kite to tow a small boat at good
rate OF speed. All this has been accomplished
by ingenuity in fitting out the properly built
and properly shaped frame, covered with mus
lin or oiled cloth
80 "podbIhuSt ~ ONLY one OF a 0urnDer OF
experimenters who are endeavoring TO raise
kite flying to ascience and make il a. useful as
Franklin made IL when he used it in the study
OF electricity. Every one of these kite flyers
has his own method of rigging. The arrange
ment of belly band and tail will make all tho
difference in the world in the speed, grace and
tractability, as it were. The sticks, too, must
be carefully made to prevent difficulties of
balance that cannot be corrected. And when
everything Is just it ought TO be. boy or a
man has under his control something that will
rejoice his eye and give him both exercise and
amusement.
While the orientals, the japanese and
Chinese, have the credit of inventing the kite
they have not made much progress beyond the
hrst stages OF kite flying, owing to their failure
to apply the laws of nature The first kites
were made in imitation of the birds and the
orientals still love these shapes best, although
The palmer kites of the occident have more
real sport in them. There is a certain fete day
in China when everybody gets out with his kite.
and when the police are present TO maintain
order For the object of this great holiday
sport is that kite may cut down all other kites
that come within reach Of it, The ends of the
sticks are armed. and the kites go darling
about under the skillful direction of their own
ers. stabbing and slashing like so many birds
fighting In the air. The result is plenty Of fun
for the people and plenty Of work for the
police.