Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-11
KITE FLYING FROM
a STEAMSHIPS DECK.

the ship can make q. turn to accommo-
date itself to the changed conditions, and
that If any breeze proyes too stiff for
the kite the vessel can be Steered slowly
in the direction of the air current thus
virtually modifying its velocity.
This ezof Kites on shipboard is not q
matter Of mere theory, however. It: has
already been pretty thoroughly tested on
the sea route from Boston to, Liverpool,
on one of the Dominion Line steamships.
The methods adopted and the results
secured have been described in paper
by Mr.. Rotch, published In the recently
issued report of the Smithsonian 1nstitu-
ton. The facts are certainly interesting
enough to bear summarizing.
Mr.. Rotchs and his assistant, Mr.. Street.
land. installed huge Kite reel on the
stern of the steamer Commonwealth on
August q. 1851 and made the first re-
corded exploration Of the nlid-At1antic
atmosphere. On the five of the eight
days occupied by the voyase they were
able to raise the Kites, though the breezes
We're so5light that the ships speed Of SIX.
teen knots an hour had to be utilized to-
create an east wind, sufficient to lift the;
kites to the height Of two thousand feet
With larger kites and stronger wire this
could easily have been exceeded. Auto
matte records were taken of barcmetr1cr
I pressure, air temperature, relative humid
ity and the wind Velocity. No especially
+; noteworthy discoveries resulted nor was
,, this expected, for the flights were not high
enough to explore the upper currents and
the region traversed IS not especially In
teresting to the meteorologist. The most
remarkable fact noticed was that in four
Of the flights the temperature decreased
far more rapidly as one assembled than
the normal rate would have led to sup
pose, suggesting possibly that great
streams of cold air drift down the Allan
tic from the Pole; and that on one of the
flights the air was found actually to be
six degrees warmer at the maximum
height attained by the kite than at the.
surface Of the water. These phenomena
are at present ineSplicabie. They will be
!. explained, if ever Mr.. Rotch believes. by
study nf the great equatorial air currents.
The apparatus which was used On the
earlier trial trip. and which will undoubt-
edIy be the mainstay OF the new expedi-
ton, has been brought to a high degree
Of perfection in the nine years that have
passed since the Blue Hill observers first
learned scientific kite-tlying from A1r.
William A. Eddy, of Bayonne, Nj. Their
sh4.es are of the well-known "hox'' pat
tern. of two distinct types, one the Har-
grave, an Australian invention modified
/ by Mr.. Clayton, of the blue Hill Observa-
tory; the other the Lamson invented by
MT. c.. H. Lamson, of Portland, Maine.
Each has its peculiar uses, and both are
| frequently used in tandem, the more pow
eriul Lamsen serving as leader followed
| by two or more OF the steadier Har-
graves.
The string employed is steel piano wire,
| which was long ago found in deep sea
| soundings to- be of great strength and
| very slight liability to sagging. A steam
winch. a modification CT Lord Kelyin's
steam-power windlass for sea soundings,
is placed on the stern OF the vessel. This
works almost automatically, for the pull
Of the kite sufflces to unwind the drum:
| only when drawing the kite in does the
observer have to resort to steam-pover.
An automatic register keeps account Of
the length Of the wire paid out and the
pressure exerted, facts necessary to be,
known in order that the tandem may not
break loose.
The self-recording Instruments are all
included III so-called metsorograph, a
compact lantern shaped carrier which
| contains an thermometer that records
| continuously the velocity OF he wind; an
! alcohol THERMOMETERS, the liquid ofwhich
as it contracts or expands constantly al
tiers the curvature of the tube itself and
ord. microscope, consisting in essence
of a bunch of human hairs which lengthen
| in moist air and shorten in dry, thus re-
vealing the relative humidity Of the at
| i1losphore; and a barometer which rec
ords the heights reached and substantiates
the calculations made trigononae trically at
the sea level station. These last are, Of
course, performed with greatest accu-
racy. the error caused by sagging of the
line having been calculated to a. nicely.
| All changes in direction OF the wind are
also infinitely recorded by. the shift of the
| wire at the windlass. The deck of yes
sci, 1t should be noted, offers especially
good vantage ground for sea level obser-
Yations contemporaneous with those Of
the instruments aloft in the air.
If this joint American and German ex-
ploration Of the tropical atmospheric
depths should not be made, it is pretty
clear that somebody is going to under
take it before very long, for Mr. Rotc-. s
idea of flying kites from a moving vessel
has already caught on in Europe. This
past summer Count Won Zeppelin, the
Swiss scientist Of airship fame, has been
towing kites up and down Lake Con-.
stance from the stern of a small steamer,
while TWO German meteorologists. Messrss
Berson and Elias who, by the way, have
been appointed to attend Mr.. Rotch on
his prospective tour, have already taken
records from shipboard in the Arctic
waters about Spitzbergen. Furthermore,
tbs German Antarctic exploring vessel
Gauss and the English ship Discovery
both set sail more than a year ago
equipped with meteorological kites; and
they viii undoubtedly bring back inter-
esting reports from the South Seas. Oft
the coasts of Scotland Mr.. Dimes, of the
British Royal Meteorological Society, has
been cruising. with kites, and declares
himself Very enthusiastic regarding their
possibilities. It appears, therefore, that
this plan of oceanic kite flying has; album
dainty justified itself; and it is only 3,
question whether the country where It
was evolved will have the credit of max
ing notable scientific discoveries or will
leave it entirely to the ambitious
Germans.
The route to be chosen for, the trip has
not been. definitely. decided upon, nor the
time. In a general way, however. Mr..
Rotch approves of July ]. 1903, as the
date for setting forth, and would be in
clined to follow the itinerary suggested
by Professor Fl. II. Hildebrandsson. Of