Sistersville oil review. [volume] (Sistersville, W. Va.) 1896-1901, 1898-02-23
A SCIENTIFIC KITE.
IN USE BY THE WEATHER BUREAU
AT WASHINGTON.

The KITE Carries Condensed Apparatus For
Recording Atmospheric Conditions at
High acknowledgements In Shape.
Serious Difficulties Overcome In Flying 1t.
The latest achievement of the weather
bureau scientists is the successful fly
ing of new cellular kite which presents
a surface of about 20 square feet to the
wind and balances itself at height of
one and half miles. AS in the other
kites now used for upper air observa-
tions, the spruce framework is Joined
together with wires instead of nails,
while the white muslin covering is as
durable as the black silk used in the
earlier forms of scientific kites and
much cheaper.
The big kite is rectangular In shape
like the Hargrave fier, but the details
of its construction are very different,
and it is altogether superior to the Aus
tralian kite.
Much time and labor have been ex-
pended in cOndensing the apparatus for
recording atmospheric conditions to the
minimum weight, which is bat 212
pounds. The thermometer is attached to
a truss which projects forward from
the topmost support Of the front cell.
The meteorograph is ct present dashed
to the lower side of the center truss,
but as its being beneath the kite en-
dangers its safety in descending this
delicate instrument is in future TO be
fastened where the framework will less
en- the chances Of injury.
Not having time to supervise person
ally the experiments made with kites,
Mr. Potter long ago relegated that
branch of the weather bureaus work 20
G. f. Marvin, professor of meteorology.
The latter gentleman has said III rela-
ton to the flying of kites at the very
greatest elevation: eff we could employ
a string or wire having no weight, and
so fine that the wind pressure upon 1t
would be wholly inappreciable, then
as more and more Of this wire Is paid
out to it the kite would pass cutw9rd
and upward along the same straight
line, retaining always the same angular
elevation. A kite could be flown to an
unlimited height under suca circum-
stances, provided the wind remained
unchanged. Unfortunately, however,
we cannot fly kites with wire having
no weight and against which the wind
will not press, and in consequence our
actual kite behaves in very different
manner from that described above. "
The necessity for using string
which, like the other materials in their
respective elements, would combine the
greatest strength with lightness will
be plainly seen from the foregoing quo
tation.
Very fine steel wire was selected be-
cause it was strong enough to prevent a
kite breaking away and weighed but
five pounds to the mile. AS three miles
of wire are required for an elevation Of
one mile the total weight sustained by
kite at that altitude, including the
recording apparatus, would be about II
pounds, or % pounds at height of p
miles, which is the limit of ascent as
yet attained by a weather bureau kite.
This wire is cut in lengths of 1000
feet, and after each thousand is reeled
out the flight is arrested until the in
clination can be determined by focusing
telescopes upon a scale marked IN black
ink upon the inner surface of the white
muslin covering.
When a kite has risen above the
treacherous Inducements Of air, it is
out of danger until, in descending, it
strikes the breakers again.
A number of kites are sent up from
the flying grounds near Washington
every windy day, small engine being
used for paying out the wire.-Soien'
tific American.