Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-12-26
THE BIGGEST KITE.
MADE BY WILLIAM II. MARKLE, OF
SOUTH BETHLEHEM, PA.
HIGH Is 4 TWO-STORY HOUSE.
The Most Astonishing Thing About
the Kite Is That 1t Scars AlOft as
Readily as schooI-Boy's Paper
TOY.
nnishinr Thing AbOut
written for the Dispatch.)

written for the Dispatch.)
A kite that would have served as
toy for the youthful residents of Guilt
ver's brobdingnag. has just been con-
structed by a man of large ideas-Mr. w.
II. Markle, of South Bethlehem, Pa.
The kite is a monster. II the world has
its equal no one has ever made the fact
known. Imagine a kite as big as two
story house, capable Of raising high in
the air an able-bodied man who tried to
hold on to the soaring flyer. The man
who built the great kite and raised 1t
heavenward has written especially for
this paper the description that follows:
South Bethlehem, Pa, December 18th.
When 1 began to build the big kite
many of my townspeople told me that 1t
would never be raised. They refused o
be convinced that to multiply by so many
the size of a school-boy's kite and make
it mathemitically a copy on large
scale of the kite that every one has
flown, does not destroy its carrying
powers. / had not set myself the task
of making a kite on new-fangled notions.
All | wanted was a kite built on ordi-
nary lines but on such mammoth scale
that II would be the biggest kite in the
world, / have succeeded beyond my ex-
pectations The kite is a wonder. The
accompanying photograph Will give
better idea of its size than the figures
that follow although it conveys no idea
of the remarkabel steadiness Of the
monster when it sails aloft and the ease
with which the unwieldy object can be
managed by one who understands its
little peculiarities of temper. The I'M
mense surface of the kite catches the
wind as readily as the sails of a raching
Yacht, and il rises in the air as grace
fully as a bird, holding its position in
the strongest wind more steadily, by rea-
son of it's great weight. than does the
ordinary sized kite of the small boy.
I have made the kite and flown 1t
chiefly for my own amusement. The
question Of the usefulness Of the great
flyer / leave to men Of a more scientific
bent of mind than mine. l merely give
the facts and state what 1 have found
the great kite capable of doing. If there
can be evolved from this any plan for
utilizing the waste force of the kite In
some way that will be of benefit to other
neopIe. / am sure 1 shall be only too
pleased TO have been instrumental in do
ing so.
To begin with the dimensions OF the
kite: 1t is rs feet high and % feet wide,
and is of the ordinary triangle pattern
The sticks are made of white pine, b12x
inches. and are tapered from the cross
to ~ inches at the ends. AT each corner
of the cross there are two inch screw
eyes. On these screw-eyes are tied the
four corners of the canvas sail, when
Is made of sail drilling. The sail is sew
ed on the bias, and along the edge OF the
canvas Is sewed a rope three elghtns OF
an inch thick, with loops at the corners
These loops are tied with separate rope
in the screw-eyes on the frame. the
frame being bolted at the cross with an
eye-bolt; making 1t easy 10 take eIe
kite 10 piecese, very necessary thlng,
hv the way. with a kite as big as
house.
The centre-bands are made OF rope
three eighths Of an inch thick, win
heavy harness snaps, which are also
hooked in the eye bolts. in the crosssand
serew-eyes in the corners.
used. when l made the first trial or
the kite. $500 feet of silver lake sasn
cord. but found the strain too great, ana
had TO procure the highest grace Oh
Manila rope three eighths of an inch
thick. This rope stood the strain OF
high wind without signs of breaking.
In q strong breeze the pull, ACCORDING
TO careful estimates, was from 4P 10 Wv
mounds. l have at different times at
tached n bar a few hundred feet from
the bitching point, and allowed mysei1
IN he pulled into the air to height OF
a hundred feet The kite floats at an
angle of from so to 50 degrees, and my
weight is 1c5 pounds. The weight OF the
kite, rugged, is 70 pounds
1t is a very easy matter 10 RAISE the
kite. With the assistance or rev men
the sticks and canvas are put together,
and the fiying rope securely hitched about
a tree the slack In the rope being nearly
all taken In. The kite is laid fiat on the
ground. with the top towards the hitch
ing point. and in fair breeze the monster
q lifted up q little, so as TO eaten the
breeze. 1t does this very quickly,
STRENGTHENING up like thing OF life ana
rising with the wind, as though anxious
to be as oblging as possible. In order
to counterfeit any tendency that the KITE
, NAV have for fitting sideways. guide
rones are hung at the wings, and, II
| necessary. they can be used TO keep the
| kite straight, while ii Is rising from the
| earth to the clouds.
I have never had any serious difficulty
in flying the kite. At the first trial.
made in the presence Of vast crowd OF
| Bethlehemites, IT rose and flew amid
| hurricane OF cheers from the spectators
| who followed US 10 the suburbs Of the
| city. where the trial was to be made
| I had not courted publicity. but the kite
| IS too big flyer to stay hidden, and the
! sight OF IL in the air sets the whole
| countryside on q dead run for tho scene
| Of the raising.
WILLIAM II. MARKLE.