The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-11
EXPERIMENTS IN MTE-FLYING.
,,rrT, WISE, u. :. A., WILL SEND
THEM Up FOR THE GOVERNMENT.

,i,,o "a Line 2,6OO Feet Across the
,,ovfcan CanyOn-Eddy In BayOnne
mean In Maine and Hargrave All
ut work.
l-,,-ernor's Island. July S.-The busiest
,,s, around here is Lieut.. Wise, U. D A.
vbo is completing some important ooser-
,,afions by means of his kites Inc re-
srlts are reported TO the weather bureau
and m scientific societies. The bureau
cots dates for its records, and the scien-
ts+s find new and easy ways of accom-
,lsbing difficult tasks. BY the heuten-
snr.s observation, it is found that mes
saqas can be sent to worl1men at lnacces-
sf5le noints in steeple buildings, and that
lines can be carried easily across precl-
Dioes and up mountains, for foundations
for bridges and the laying out of roads
crr,evors are specially interested.
There Will be a score of experimenters
q, work during the summer months, but
the Wise kites are the most noted for
their success-probab because flown
upon such scientific principles.
1T is as safe to go up on kite as in
a balloon" says Lieut.. Wise of the
United States army Elf the wind is steady
and has velocity enough. Indeed, If the
wind blew with great violence, an ascent
on A kite would be much less dangerous
than in a balloon car, for balloon, on
account of its unwieldy bulk is at the
mercy of the elements, and would be torn
to shreds in gale that would make
kite sail only more merrily.
Il should be willing to go up LOCO feet
with the kites If | were sure of wind
with a fairly constant velocity of over
twelve miles an hour. 1 tried it here last
January l think it would not be worth
while to make the attempt with velocity
of less than twelve miles an hour with the
kites I used when l made that attempt.
They we're the Hargrave cellular kites,
which give a large sail area, or lifting sur
face, in a compact form. Perhaps with
the tandem kites invented by William E.
Eddy of Bayonne, N. j., could go up in
a compare lively light wind, but the draw
back to making ascensions on kites in the
region around here is the uncertainty
about the wind. You cannot trust 1t to
remain constant for ten minutes, either
in force or in direction.
u had half a dozen kites arranged tan
dem flying here the other day and each
one of them was pulling in differenet di-
rection. The lowest was off to the SOUTH
west the next above it was west by south,
the next west by north and so on till the
highest was well off towards the east.
That would not interfere so much With
making an ascension, perhaps, but Varia-
tons in wind velocity are dangerous.
Il had had a mind TO go up to an att
tude of over 1000 feet, and Mr. Eddy ana
l experimental together. l went up forty
feet on Jan o. here on Governors Island,
and enjoyed the novel sensation highly,
but as Mr. Eddy pointed out, IL would
have been unsafe to go up TO great night,
especially as l did not have parachute.
l should have been all right while the
strain on the kite line was only 400 ponnds
because the line was good for a l,5OO-pound
strain, but a squall might have come up,
and this 400-pound strain be quadrupled
at any moment. Then, where should be
in Brooklyn, or Staten Island or at the
bottom of the bay?
Il shall leave here soon to rejoin my
regiment in Michigan, where l shall nave
better conditions for experimenting.
There I shall improve my kites, and l
hope to demonstrate to the satisfaction of
all interested that kite-hying, though, of
course a thing with a limited field of &C
ton, is still much more than a pasume'
"a and can be made of much use. nope 10
make ascensions, and to prove that under
favorable conditions they are safe. Al
ready II l am given a certain weight to
raise and a certain hight to reach, can
build kite or a series of kites that will
do the work exactly. 1t is wonderful with
what nicely the calculations can be made.
This is because in the last few years men
have studied kites - scientifically. Mr..
lee k1,a n
working out automatically the proper
proportions for kite construction. The
Eddy kite" is perfectly adapted to the
end for which Mr.. Eddy invented it-that
is, to rise in extremely light Withstand
he cannot be commended too highly.
Mr. Lamson, too, who has been work.
ing down in Maine and who so recently
made an ascent of 100 feet, is doing a
Great deal towards solving the problems
nat are making kite-hyers think hard.
MS last achievement was as successful
as anything that has been done so far.
re uses what is practically Hargrave
KITE. such as Mr.. Hargrave invented in
Australia in 1892. and refused to patent,
as he wished every one interested in kites
10 make The freest possible use of his de-
Signs Mr. Hargrave has invented
score Of flying machines, and has had
rome success with almost every one Of
men, although none of them supported
M go tlAt ait anu new rs lOHB dc A-+G
machine which Prof Langley launched
80 successfully at Quantco, May 8, last
Year.
ln stin breeze the Hargrave kites
are good, because their lifting surface is
~ compact form, but they are not adapt
el 10 hight winds. i used the Hargraves
N1eh 1 went up. They were built on the
s.me general principle as the huge kite
,lI' Lamson used at Falmouth Foreside,
yNue i5 Iney were marked with letters
- r, p, to distinguish them, and had
'o'a hitting area Of 3l26 square feet. As
l's noated on they looked something like
~, racks one used to see In laundries for
sMs clothes upon. Each rack appar-
IVY had an endless towel In band
'ouua each end. The frame of a Harerave
a., Is IKE the skeleton Of book case.
." ,nt cloth has been put on Il is still
u "a. both ends and naked around the
1n's' leaving the frame work bare. The
'It formed by the bands Of cloth that
.-t ''t'd round the ends.
. dimensions Of the kites were as fol-
,-' Kites varied ga size from ~ feet
1 ,' Z feet square. The width Of the
A lhi' Is the distance between the
"dH from about pa r. OF 10 AZ feet