The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-23
WENT ALOFT ON A KITE.
SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT By
LIEUT.. n. D. WISE.
What May Be Expected in Case I'M
,provements Are Kept Up-A
Novel Method of Navigating the
Air.

New York, JAM 22.-The kite-hying
experiment of Lieutenant H. d. wise,
on Governors island, has at last been
successful, and the lieutenant is the
first man in America to go aloft on a
kite string He made an ascent yes
terday when the wind was blowing 10
miles an hour.
The kites used were of the Har-
grave type. They are parallel pipe
frames, stiffened by wire braces. -Four
of them were used, forming two tan
dems. The cloth spread about the ENDS
forms the lifting surface. On the
smallest kite the lifting surface was ~
square feet. and on the kite winch
went on the same line with it, tan
! dem, but $50 feet lower, the spread was
80 square feet of lifting surface. THESE
two were raised first, till the lower one
had been run out $50 feet, and then the
other two were raised similarly ana
the two strings connected to common
one.
of the second two kites, one had
! lifting surface of 40 square feet and
the other 100 square feet. The lieu
tenant was assisted by Corporal Lewis.
In raising the first tandem quarter
inch manila rope was passed around
a windlass that had been secured to a
! tree. Four additional men were then
required to hold them while the line
was being connected with that of the
second tandem. Each was made fast
to an iron ring, to which the main line
! was attached and passed about the
windlass. This line was of one-half
! inch MANILA rope, 100 feet long. A
boatswain's chair hung from one end
of this line, while the other end was
held by two men on the ground. The
main line was then paved out till the
! iron ring was about so feet above the
earth. The chair was held down to the
! ground and the check line run off
through the pulley till it vas taut. The
wind was then from the southeast and
! the kites were pulling about 400 pounds.
Presently, the wind velocity fell from
Is to u miles an hour. Lieutenant Wise
got into the boatswain's chair and di-
rected the men who had hold of the
check line to hoist him UP. AS they
pulled the line through the block how
| ever, it only Sagged the main line The
kites were not able to lift him with the
wind then blowing. The wind then in
creased and the main line tautened
and the men pulled on the check line
and the lieutenant was swung off his
feet. They pulled him up about 20 feet
and as the wind varied in its velocity
| the main line Sagged and tautened al
ternately, letting him up and down.
As the check line passed through a
| device close TO the chalr, 1t was sub
! ject to the control of the lieutenant,
sitting in the chair, as well as of those
who held the end on the ground. The
lieutenant came down presently and
waited or a sitter wind. 1t came pres
emily and he was again hauled up all
! the way to the ring, and with the sag
his weight caused was then ~ feet above
| the ground, or a little higher than the
caves of the officers quarters. By pay
ing out the main line from the windlass
! he could, of course, have gone higher,
in which case the check rope would
have been made fast at the chair and
the ground and let go. In view of the
collapse of the 90-foot kite at the start.
the lieutenant was not inclined to take
the risk, especially as he was not pro-
vided with a parachute.
! Lieutenant Wise is making his ex-
periments on his own responsibility.
He believes that sthe kite can be made
of value for military reconnaissance.