page_title: Kite types
section_title: B
hierarchical_section_title: Kite types / Glossary of kite types / B
caption_attribution_description: Domina C. Jalbert did work prior to his April 15, 1944 patent for the Kite Balloon with fabric (flexible) wings in the claims. The keel is a balloon member (he claimed the parts could be any size).
context_page_description: Kites are tethered flying objects which fly by using aerodynamic lift, requiring wind for generation of airflow over the lifting surfaces.
  Various types of kites exist, depending on features such as material, shape, use, or operating skills required. Kites may fly in air, water, or other fluids such as gas and other liquid gaining lift through deflection of the supporting medium. Variations in design of tethering systems and lifting surfaces are regularly introduced, with lifting surfaces varying in stiffness from limp sheet material to fully solid material.
context_section_description: Bag kites
  Made from single or multiple bags. Some use paper bags, others plastic. Bags simply as a source of material is a trivial use; other bag kites retain much of the form of the bag.
  Balloon kites
  Applies to both lighter- and heavier-than-air kite types. The lighter-than-air balloon kite is the kytoon, which is aloft whether or not the wind blows. When the kytoon is not kiting, it floats aloft as a pure balloon; when it is kiting, it is a true kite. Kytoons are used to loft radio antennas, rescue signals, and kite-line laundry.
  Balloon kite with "ballooning" spiderlings
  Not a mechanical balloon, but a collection of spider-silk threads used for dispersal of spiders. Richard Miller, in his 1967 book Without Visible Means of Support, described the mechanics of the double-kite system where the upper kite lifts and drags, coupled with the lower kite that lifts downwards and drags; the common kiteline results in a kiting system in free flight. In the chapter, "Flying Kites", he writes that in the nineteenth century Hiram Stevens Maxim observed the kiting of spiders; biologists continue to use the misleading term, "ballooning". Bug-hunter Darrell Ubick correctly recognized that ballooning spiders actually are kiting, as noted by Pamela S. Turner in "Super-Powered Spiders". In Tales with Tails: Storytelling the Wonders of the Natural World, Kevin Strauss demonstrates in three places (pages 184, and 185 and 187) his understanding of the "kiting" of the "ballooning" spider (since no true balloon is ever made). Three staffers of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board in Are Cobwebs Made By Spiders? recognized the kiting of ballooning spiders. A pest-control company has studied spiders and asserts it is kiting that is done by instars (spiderlings), even though the historical term is ballooning. The Rare Species Conservatory affirms that ballooning spiders actually do not balloon, but kite.
  Barish sailwing
  Beginner kites
  Kites of this type are separated by sellers, makers, and leaders.
  Bell kites
  Developed by Alexander Graham Bell
  Bermuda kite
  Traditional Bermudian kites flown at Easter; world-record holders for altitude and flight duration
  Biplane kites
  Bird kites
  Abstract or realistic-looking bird kites, dynamic bird kites, bird art on kite faces
  Boat kites
  A 1930 Peel Glider Boat was kited on a 1000-foot line, and would get about three miles of air-gliding distance after releasing its kite line. Many contemporary inflated boats being kited begin and end their kited session as towed boats.
  Bowed kite
  This term has several meanings: a class of parafoil kite, an early British bowing-top-edge-sparred kite, and the rotating-ribbon rainbow-like two-anchor one-line arch kite. Distinguished from Sky Bow or rotating-ribbon kites and arch-bow stick kites
  Box kite
  Box Delta kites
  Butterfly kites
  This type occurs at several levels: art, applique, and realistic motion.
caption: 15 April 1944 kite balloon
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