The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1896-12-18
KITE PHOTOGRAPHY.
Recent Experiments In Eostoa by
an Expcr5 Operator.
possibilities OF the Method In War Time
for Armies and Navies-Higii Build-
inAs Would Not BE Necessary
for Observations.

yet in aAponeer STATE, anu iAaiS III
proyehe%ts remain to be made in tn
apparatus with which / took the frs
Kite mid-air photograph of Boston o.
August rs, 1896, at 10:40 a. IN. I'll
wind on Monday had been too high
enable me to raise my camera to sui
Gent height TO enable me to expose th
film. There is nothing kite seems /.
resent Sc much as the addition Of
weight to the line running up to il. II
order to lift a camera weighing thre.
pounds to a height of 1000 feet stroni
uplifting pull of 20 or 80 pounds mus
be exerted If the wind is light, q
many as eight kites, each one seven fee
in diameter, must be employed, but
the wind is strong, say 20 miles an hour
the same work may be better done b.
means of the upward pull of five kite
OF the same size.
1.-THE obstacles to be overcome in mid
air photography are formidable, eS
pecially when the kites are sentup froT
a grass plot or from ground covered b
bushes. The sudden decline of T.
kites, Cue to falling off in the win
may drop the camera-snapping line
the ground, where it may become G
tangled in weeds. In flying kites hF
buildings, like the new fremont builG
ing in Boston, where my recent exper'
mcnts were carried out, the chief d'f
Guilty to overcome was the urdraft an
whirling air currents which pertain
all high buildings, especially at nool
when the sun shining upon Yert;e;
walls gives rise to strong vertical GU
rents. Another difficulty to be obvatt
in regard to kite Photography fro
high buildings arises from lowe
tandem kite catching in an ovcrhangir
cornice when the wind is light and T
line of six or seven kites is stead
falling, owing to want of wind. II
inside kite by becoming stalled at u
cornice may make it impossible to dra7
in the declining kites, causing the wA2l
line to 20 down over tree tops, chinne.s
ard roofs.
There are many great Improvements
to be made in kite photography, t.
PRINCIPAL one of which is the rXpoeur
OF film which is very wide ard wh'e'
would include more of the horizon lin'
At the same time the camera shuttle
VIII be opcned and closed by clcetr'ci:y
which will also turn new flG IN
place. This would do away with til
haulinS down of the camera Mt the cor
plet;on of each exposure. So uncerta
is the wind that any device which w
save time must greatly facilitate IT,
work.
r, -, - 1.;4a ,,bot = r-,.o,,fv n
the army IS beyond question. because J
costs far less than that of balloons, anf
because the cameras can be kept above
a local roint in strong winds, which
would press a balloon downward anc
force the gas out of it, destroying its
buoyancy. Encampments en- he seer
beyond very high hills. The photo
graphs taken at a height of several hun
Ilred feet above Blue Hell Observatory
reveal valley and horizon line beyon'
an adjacent high Hill of the range. lh'
smoke Of camp fires, the dust CT Wagon
trains. would certainly reveal the ap
proach Of an army. In the navy tn
rapid motion of a man-of-war wouI'
keep the camera in the air during
dead calm, while by the use OF stean
launch camera in mid-air SUPPORTED
by kites could be lowed toward shor'
in shallow water where n man-ot-wa'
could not enter. I propose TO MAKE
further experiments to enable me u
point my camera nearly in the direct'oI
from which the sun is shining. thlnl
this can be done by excluding part o
the suns rays by means of PROJECTING
roof to the lens, and with the size OF TIM
colored glass.
"should this succeed, then eigh
cameras, back to back. in the form OF al
octagon, could be snapped at cnce' re
vealing the smoliepennantof an cnelny
vessel 40 miles away, should the octai'oi
camera I,e raised to height of 600 feet
Such a camera could be readily lifted u
n dead calm at sea by means OF eigh
kites. 90 feet in diameter, should TN
nnn-of-war move at the rate of 10 mile
an hour.
ave all like to look out from noun
tains. and nearly all the aeronauts hay
mentioned their exhilaration Mt the vas
hollow bowl-like earth Below then
with it's horizon line forming rih,
level with the eye. All our high hullo
ines are sought for purposes G! sue
observations. In the level LANDSCAPE
often extending hundreds Of miles ;,
the central west, such vistas, tafen WI
the aid of the kite-air camera must 9
ALWAYS interesting to many people. ~
coAdjnr TO the weather bureau records
AUGUST is usually the mildcst month 0
the year. In photographing Bosf9,
with my kite camera have been de
1aved several days by unfavorab'e ron
ditions which prevented me from tax
inc MS many photographs of irarortan
historic parts of the city rs | wouI'
like. to have taken. l am ind'pIsN :,
]. ~ Smith, of the weather bureau .