The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-03-08
LEWIS & CO.,
Agents. Honolulu. II. I.
KITE EXPERIMENTS.

Prof. Willis Moore, in mis- annual re
port, has an interesting chapter to the
review Of kite experiments. He says:
ON one occasion an altitude OF 1000
feet was attained, and but 5000 feet
of wire was played out from the reel
This is believed to be the greatest
height attained by any experime inter-
with kites. II was found that both
the form and the body of the kite and
the action of the forces that affected
it demanded much fuller analytical
consideration than they had hitherto
= ceived
From the results OF the kite work
thus far it has been demonstrated that
for readily attaining elevations ex-
ceeding, say 1000 feet, wind veloci-
ties exec ding ten to fifteen miles per
hour must prevail When conditions
of favorable winds prevail, it has been
shown that one or TWO kites of the
| improved forms, produced rs result
of weather bureau Investigations,
suffice for reaching elevations of
from 5000 to 1000 feet, depending up
on the force and steadiness OF the
winds and the load carried. The use
of kites is always limited by the con-
dition of the wind, and expert nee has
shown that at many Of our stations
it often would be necessary to wait
several days for a single occasion of
favorable winds. There appears to
remain but one other means of eX-
posing meteorological instruments at
approximately fixed points in free air.
namely, by the use of devices sustain
ed by the action of propellers. which
either lift the apparatus directly or
give it spirally ascending or descend
Jag motion. Many devices of this
character have been proposed by in
genious inventors, and several models
of small size have proved that the de-
sired effects on a large scale are within
the range of possibilities.
The frequency with which kites
may be successfully employed for
reaching very high elevations will no
doubt be greatly increased as the kite
is brought TO a more perfect state of
ment more completely developed.
There must always be, however, times
when the upper air observations can
not be obtained by such means. Cap
tive balloons, which have been so re-
peatedly/ tried for military purposes,
prove TO be of little value for reaching
lofty elevations. From the great
amount of surface which must neces-
sarily be exposed it results that the
balloon is blown away far from the
zenith point over its anchorage by
even moderately strong winds. Com
binatiOns of the kite and balloon alone.
and in many respects is inferior to the
kite. Free balloons may reach great
elevations, but they drift with the cur
rents of air and their return is I'M
certain.
Perfect appliances of this character
will prove of such value of meteOro-
lOgy that their development requires
a share of the attention 10 be given TO
the greater problem of securing mete-
geological observations in the free air.
Such observations are now generally
conceded by meteorologists to be the
means by which further and more
complete knowledge is to be sequence
of atmospheric phenomena The idea
may seem visionary now, perhaps, but
it is a possibility that important mete-
geological stations of the future will
be dual in character. One portion will
remain, as at present, at the surface
of the earth; the other portion will be
poised at great height in midair, rid
ing at anchor TO the base of station, (
as it were, much in the same fashion
as light ships now ride at anchor at
sea, sustained, however. by the opera
ton or other forces than the buoyant !
action of the air. Simultaneous obser- |
vatiOns from a system OF widely dis
tributed stations of this character /
would enable the future forecast Of /
fetal to map out the atmospheric con-
both horizontally and verti /
cally. and arrive at a more exact /
knowledge of the gradients of temper |
lture. pressure, etc, than is possible at /
the present with a limited knowledge !
Of surface conditions only. wash
ington Star.