The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-26
KITE FLYING WITH A ruRrosE.
Ascertain Many U.eful
Facts From the Upper AIR.


Facts From the Upper AIR.
New York Independent.
During two summers previous to the
present, Messrs. Clayton and Ferguson.
OF the Blue Hill meteorological OBJ
servatory, assisted by William A. Eddy.
Of Bayonne, N. j., have made certain
Investigations in meteorology by mea ns
of kites. The scene OF operations was
Blue hill, an eTninenee few miles
south OF Boston,, 635- feet in height
Numerous kites of the Malay pattern.
in sizes varying from five to over nine
feet in height, have been brought in
to service in these experiments The
larger kites require, Of course. a cord
of large size, yet ianyc great length of
this is sufficient to pull them down il
the breeze be light, and often several
or the smaller kites have to be sent up
In advance to pull up-a larger one
On few occasions they have had UP
at once as many as a dozen kites, all
attached by branch strings to the main
line In fresh breeze the combined
pull from the usual number Is about I20
pounds, and is much greater in gusts
A huge reel on trucks has been devised
for holding the string, the length run
out being registered by q wheel and
dial. Nearly every day during this
and the two previous seasons there
have been sent up on the line an
aneroid barometer and self register
ing thermometer, by which the at
moSpheric pressure and the tempera-
ture at the highest altitude reached
are asceftained, comparison being made
with similar records at the surface of
the earth for the same time A spe-
cia1 apparatus contained in a. tin case
has now been constructed for these
purposes-for the. humidity and for
measuring the speed Of the wind.
Changes of weather are indicated at
the high attitudes many hours earlier
than on the hilltop. This apparatus
has recently been sent to a height of
about q mile e
Last year experiments were begun
in bird's-eye photography, the camera
being suspended from the kites and
| operated by cords from the ground.
Most of the views obtained were quite
clear and very pleasing from their
uniquenesS. several interesting phe-
romena have been noticed in these ex-
periments.< Early one August after
noon, while a five-foot kite was aloft
in a breeze so light as to barely keep
it from falling, a large cumulus cloud
approached the zenith. When directly
above the kite the latter began to as
cend rapidly and almost vertically,
only ceasing when it's string was all
out and drawn taut.n 1t followed the
course of the cloud, across the sky at
short distance, but when it was quite
past rapidly fell to its former position
/ Another phenomenon in the Blue hill
flying is the electrical manifestations
on the kite string at all attitudes. but
! in greatest extent when the kites are
highest. On account of the pull on the
string by the wind our Blue hill flyers
have adopted f1nel piano wire for kite
cord, as 1t has the smallest surface
In proportion to its weight Of anything
yet found With this, however, the
electric sparks often proved very an
noying to the person, holding the kite
until relief was found by thrustins
the end Of connecting wire into the
ground. Even with this the manipu-
lators of the kites sometimes exhibited
amusing jumps and contortions when
a m1sch1evous boy happened to kick
| Off the stone that held the wire down.
Boston people will be interested to
learn that its celebrated east wind at
| It's beginning enters like a wedge be-
| tween the earth and the stratum OF
atmosphere next above it. A norther-
ly wind, on the contrary, slides along
the lower stratum and chills downward
also tending downward in mass.
warm upper stratum does
not affect the lower atmosphere
so SO quickly Up to the present
time the greatest altitude to
| which kite has been flown has been
| nown is 1888 feet-1,00O feet higher
than Mount Washington This was ac-
cGmpi1shed at Blue hill on Aug. /.
| the Kites used being a nine-foot kite.
I LED .by a7smaller one, with a second
smaller one below. The wind surface
FURNISHED by these was about sixty-fiye
square feet.