The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1896-02-08
a WEATHER KITE.
10 n Used IN Assert talnan4 The
oondision of tho Uppef Air


Tho meteorologists have admitted for
many wears that some knowledge Of the
condition Of the upper air viii be very
valuable a. IN aid to weather predic-
ton. The upper air strata are peculiar
" inaccessible in the ease OF An attempt
to suspend meteorological instruments
for many hours above any local point.
owing to sudden gusts and equally sud-
den calms. A captive balloon during
strong winds il apt to be disabled by
the variable pressure upon its immense
olobe OF confined gas. The wind, II
very powerful, may drive the tethered
balloon downward sidewise and force
the gas out Of its neck. causing loss OF
buoyancy.
According to recent drawings, made
in London, Prof. Willis L. Moore, chief
of the United States weather bureau. Is
experimenting with combination OF
the balloon and the kite, by which dur
inE dead calms the gas bags at the
back Of the kite may carry it upward,
while during strong winds the kite
would take the pressure and protect
the gas apparatus behind It.
The Moore kite, as drawn, has tail,
which may ultimately be dispensed
with. as in the case of the kites devised
ky me in 1891, says the writer. Prof.
william A. Eddy, and used recently in
the Sunday World photographic ex-
periments above New York. The tail
kites used by me on February 4, 1891,
for probably the first thermetric kite
observation in the world, were hexa-
conal, and carried upward very steep
string, almost equalizing the rerpen-
dicular ascending power of the tailless
kite, the first experiments with which
were begun in the spring OF the same
year.
Instead of very large kite, such a.
the drawing Of Prof. Moore's kite in
dicates, sent up several hexagonai
tail kites, about five feet in diameter,
flying in tandem from one main line.
or course, in using tail kites. the
branch line, extending to each kite,
had to be about three times as long az
that used for tailless kites, 80 as to pre-
vent the tails of the upper kites from
becoming entangled with the branch
inx tandem lines below.
/ found that when sufficient line was
allowed to each kite there was no
trouble in using tail kites with which
TO send up my thermometer. Prof.
Moore's possible plan for sustaining q
Lulloon by means of a tail kite is more
likely to be Immediately successful than
# he attempted to balance in the air
a balloon tailless kite, because I found
during hundreds of kite aseensions
that nobody knows what the wind will
do next.
Since fiat kites of light construction.
in mild winds, require little tail, 1T
seems to follow that gas-inllated kite
will need very small tail weights to
balance it If the wind is light. In q
strong wind tail about 800 feet in
length will be required. Prof. Moore's
proposed line Of experiment. is interest
ing and valuable, and If all the weather
bureau stations are equipped with such
un apparatus the predictions would be
more exact.
The experiments made with my kites
at Blue Hill observatory, near Boston.
where ink-recording instruments were
held up in the air during successive
days, amply established the fact that
cold waves reach the upper air several
hours in advance Of their appearance
on the earth's surface. I annouqced
this theoretically in the American Me-
teorological Journal for July. 1891, but
l had few observations from aloft in
support of it, and / thought then that
ii might have been due to o coincidence.
Since that time the elaborate expert
ments at the Blue Hill observatory in
1895, have rea1armed it. The
curves have been carefully worked ont
at the observatory by H. 81. Clayton.
indicating that abnormal coolness OF
he air aloft denotes the approach Of .
cold wave which soon reaches the sur
face When the air rushes up Mount
Nashingtousor Pixies Peak II carries
with il the kite observations. A re-
leased balloon drifts away with the ap-
cold wave, and 20 the de-
cline Of temperature aloft is not proper
II eowpansd With tie surface tempere-
Kites of light consEruction can main
tain tAamselyes alpft aix days IN raven
e NeW Ynfk. and prohehlT four days
n seven q Cincfnnatj, whsre the wind
g light. Il night winds n both cities
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