The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-25

the reel should be drawn up a. little taut.
SO that when the kite Is released the slack
VIII not be taken up with jerk When
everything is in readiness the assistant sim
ply releases bis grasp OF the kite, which
Immediately thereafter should ascend al
most directly upward. The operator at the
reel must permit the wire to, unwind some
what in case the wind is very strong, so
that the strain, which is ther. apt to be very
great If the reel Is held rigid. may be eased
on by the unwinding of the wire Skill and
judgment, resulting only from experience,
are required in manipulating the kite under
i me various conditions intermediate between
light and strong winds.
In landing the kite in light winds, allow
1t to fall in the hands of an assistant stand
ing under ii. This sort of landing can be
effected at various distances from the reel.
but it will generally be best to bring the
kite in to within two hundred or three hun
dred feet. While the kite is being reeled in
to keep it sustained in the air and when it
is near the ground, an assistant must take
up position directly under it. The opera
the crank. will find it possible to gently
drop the kite while the assistant catches
the central longitudinal sticks somewhere
should so catch the kite that his body
passes up through the open space between
the compartments.
LANDING THE KITE.
When landing the kite in heavy winds it
should be wound in until not more than $50
feet from the reel. The landing pulley is
then placed over the wire, and the assistant
walks out to point as nearly as possible
to that at which the kite will reach the sur
face. The small rope attached to the land
ing pulley should be allowed to run slack,
and the effort should be made to avoid, as
far as possible, running the pulley over this
line while the rope is under tension. as this
action tends to impair the line somewhat.
When a point nearly underneath the kite
has been reached the assistant must pull it
on the landing line, pulling rapidly as long
as the kite flies steadily, but proceeding
cautiously when the kite shows a disposi-
ton to dart about. If the kite tends to dart
seriously, allow the landing line to run out
has eased up. The assistant must change
his position to keep directly under the kite
and as he pulls in the landing line he must
gauge his position so that, by the time he
reaches the pulley, the pulley will have run
up to the extreme end of the wire, at which
moment he quickly grasps the bride of the
kite, and thereafter the kite itself
The successful landing of the kite in all
such winds as more or less completely sus
tain 1t will generally require the use of the
landing pulley, and the operations must be
varied from moment to moment to suit the
conditions, the nature of which can best be
judged by the action of the kite itself Dur
ing more or less heavy winds the currents
of the air within a few hundred feet of the
surface Of the earth are exceedingly turbu-
lent and constitute q Vertable, though in
visible surf, in which the kite is unavoid-
ably buffeted about, sometimes in the most
dangerous manner. by carefully watching
the behavior of the kite and with more or
less practice, however, 1t is possible to land
the kite under almost any circumstances
with comparative safety.
In the present state of the art of flying
kites to great elevations 1t is impossible to
avoid great risks of more or less disastrous
accidents due to the breaking of the kite
itself or the parting Of the main line The
kite and the line must be so light in weight,
and therefore, weak in strel 9Th that only
a small factor Of safety is possible, and for
TINS reason a certain degree of canton
be exercised against undue strains when the
wind is unusually high. When the strain
on the line and the kite is observed to be
more or less steadily from eighty to one
hundred pounds the danger point is reached
and while the whole system might sustain
this strain for a considerable time without
accident, yet, owing to the fact that the
force OF the wind varies over extremely
great ranges Il is very probable that some
unusually strong blast may be attended
with an accident to the apparatus, and it
may under such circumstances be best to
pull in the kite
1t should be observed, however, that dur
ing fairly strong winds there will frequent
~ be periods of maximum force during
which time the pull on the kite may reach
the danger point, but such periods are often
followed by a period of lower wind force
throughout which the kite will fly with per-
feet safety.
'On occasions of the obvious approach of
local storms which threaten to be violent
1t will be well to avoid accident by the time
~ landing OF the kite"
Kite flying can no longer be classed as
a boyish amusement. 1t has surely become
an important aid to the advancement of
scientific knowledge.