Kite balloon

“ In the World War captive balloons were extensively used by both sides, an important development being the kite balloon. The common spherical captive balloon is very unsteady except in perfectly still air. It bobs around and swings and turns, making an unfavorable base for careful observation. In heavy winds it is liable to be dashed to earth by sudden gusts. The kite balloon is held up not only by its own buoyancy, but also by the wind in the same way that a kite is supported. ”

“ The kite cannot be efficiently operated in a wind of less than twenty miles an hour, and the spherical balloon cannot be operated in a wind of more than twenty miles an hour. The balloon except in the lightest of breezes, and the kite at all times, give a very unsteady platform for observation, so that field-glasses are difficult to use. The merits of both kite and balloon were combined and the faults of both were remedied in the kite balloon. ”

“ They always had parachutes strapped to them, so they could leap without an instant's delay in case of sudden danger. At the very first approach of an enemy airplane, the kite balloon had to be hauled down or it would surely be destroyed, and so kite balloons were not very dependable observation stations for the side which did not control the air. ”

“ Captive Balloons, although constructed so as not to be driven down by wind, cannot rise nearly so high as kites on account of the weight and resistance of the cable necessary to control them, and even the German kite-balloon, on account of its large surface, would hardly withstand the strong winds in which kites can fly. ”

“ A kite balloon will ride steadily in a wind that would dash a common round balloon in all directions. Observers in these kite balloons are provided with telephone instruments by which they can communicate instantly with the battery whose fire they are directing. But a kite balloon is a helpless object;175 it cannot fight the enemy. The hydrogen gas that holds it up will burn furiously if set on fire. In the war an enemy airplane had merely to drop a bomb upon it or fire an incendiary bullet into it, and the balloon would go up in smoke. ”

“ Bruce experimented with guy ropes, and gave a most successful exhibition of their efficiency before military experts at Stamford Bridge grounds, though a stiff wind was blowing at the time.
It must be perfectly obvious, however, that a captive balloon in a wind is greatly at a disadvantage, and to counteract this, attempts have been made in the direction of a combination between the balloon and a kite. This endeavour has been attended with some measure of success in the German army. Mr. Douglas Archibald, in England, was one of the first to advocate the kite balloon. ”

“ Advantages of Kite Balloon. It became a necessity to resurrect the captive balloon and bring it up to date, not simply because the Germans were employing it in numbers, but because experience demonstrated that it possessed numerous advantages over the aeroplane for artillery observation. The observer in an aeroplane is carried back and forth over and around the location he wishes to watch, at high speed and at a constantly varying altitude. ”

“ Fig. 28. French Kite Balloon Observers about to Ascend
Copyright by Committee on Public Information, Washington, D.C. Risks Incurred. Enemy Fire. While the observers in a kite balloon are not subjected to all the risks that the aviator must encounter when he goes aloft or, at least, not to the same extent, their lot is far from being free from danger. One of the duties of the reconnoitering aviator is to destroy observation balloons by means of incendiary bombs equipped with fishhooks which catch in the fabric or by the use of his machine gun. ”

“ At once we break off, and hurry down the dim crooked gangway connecting the aft deck with the balloon deck forward. Soon we break once more into the sunlight, with the tall canvas wind screen on the left, and on the right the clumsy orange bulk of the kite balloon lying along the wide wooden deck, on which it is held by rows of canvas bags filled with sand, which are hooked in clusters, like ripe fruit, to its netting. ”

“ This kite system is like fitting a gigantic sail to a lilliputian boat, d’ye see?”
“I see, father. But I wish it had been a balloon. It would have been greater fun to have gone to the Pole in a balloon!”
“A balloon will never go there, nor anywhere else, Benjy, except where the wind carries it, for a balloon cannot be steered. It’s impossible in the nature of things—as much so as that dream of the visionary, perpetual motion.” ”

“ In case of the breakage of the cable, which usually results from a strong wind coming up suddenly and putting a terrific strain on the steel line by jerking it, the observers are guided in their actions by the direction in which the balloon moves. When it is carrying them back over their own territory, they navigate in the same manner as a free balloon, coming to the ground as soon as a favorable landing place can be reached. Instruction in free ballooning is accordingly an important part of the curriculum that the kite balloon observers must go through. ”

“ In the kite balloon, the ballonet serves the purpose of a rudder, filling itself through the opening being kept pointed toward the wind—there is an ingenious type of air scoop with non-return valve which assures perfect inflation. In the S. S. type of airship, two ballonets are provided, the supply of air being taken from the propeller draught by a slanting aluminium tube to the underside of the envelope, where it meets a longitudinal fabric hose which connects the two ballonet air inlets. ”

“ The kite suffers because the camera it supports must be manipulated either from the ground or else by some elaborate mechanism, both for pointing and for handling the exposing and plate changing devices. The free balloon is at the mercy of the winds both as to its direction and its speed of travel. The dirigible balloon, as it now exists after its development during the war, is, it is true, not subject to the shortcomings just mentioned. ”

“ The British Cruiser Curacoa, Admiral Tyrwhitt's flagship, leading out one column of British cruisers at the surrender of the German navy. Overhead is a captive or "kite" balloon. As used in naval work, it is attached to an anchored or moving ship by a small steel cable, by which it is regulated for purposes of observation. The tubular surfaces which give the balloon the appearance of an elephant's head are not filled with hydrogen gas, but are inflated by the winds at high altitudes, thus keeping the balloon relatively steady like a kite with a long tail. ”

“ When made in sections, they are very much like the upper one-third of a balloon. They are made from the size of your hand to beauties that are eight feet across; when made of brilliantly colored paper, they are very interesting. They have a weight suspended underneath to keep them upright in the descent. Parachutes are usually taken up on a kite line and are released well up in the air. The usual method of shaking them off the line is not as good as a definite release by a tripping string from the ground. ”

“ In a high wind a large kite is used in place of a captive balloon. It is a box-kite made of bamboo and carries a passenger in a car, the car running on the cable which attaches the kite to the ground. Now suppose a kite with a motor and pro [186] peller in place of a string and a boy to run with it, and that the kite is able to balance itself, then it will sail against a wind of its own making and you have a flying-machine heavier than air.
The first aeroplane that would fly under perfect control of the operator was built by the Wright brothers at Dayton, Ohio. ”

“ The kite fails when there is little or no wind at the ground, but it seems possible in such cases to lift the kite into the upper air, where there usually is wind, by attaching it to a small balloon that, after the kite can support itself, shall be detached automatically. While the height to which kites can rise is limited, and the limit is probably being approached, judging from the less gain of altitude in recent flights, yet it seems reasonable to expect that, with favourable conditions, a height of at least three miles will be reached. ”

“ Science has perfected the kite almost beyond recognition. It has been shorn of that crucial feature of the schoolboy article, the tail. Even the kite "string" has become several miles of steel piano wire, wound around the drum of a power-driven winch, with elaborate apparatus for recording the force of the pull, and the angles of azimuth and altitude.
Captive balloons are sometimes used for similar investigations. When, however, it is desired to attain great altitudes the meteorologist has recourse to the so-called "sounding-balloon," which is not tethered to the earth. ”

“ An Air-ship Kite The air-ship kite (Fig. 9) , if large and well made, will present a very realistic appearance when well up in the air.
The frame is made from dry spruce or pine sticks half an inch square for the long ones and a trifle smaller for the shorter ones. The frame as shown in Fig. 10 is seven feet long from A to A, and at the middle the balloon is twenty-eight inches—that is, from B to B. The middle upright stick is four feet long and the end sticks C C that support the car are forty-five inches long. ”

“ In the present day most nations use balloons of about 20,000 cub. ft., made of varnished cambric; but the British war balloons, made of goldbeater skin, are usually of comparatively small size, the normal capacity being 10,000 cub. ft., though others of 7000 and 4500 cub. ft. have also been used, as at Suakin. The usual shape is spherical; but since 1896 the Germans, and now other nations, have adopted a long cylindrical-shaped balloon, so affixed to its cable as to present an inclined surface to the wind and thus act partly on the principle of a kite. ”

“ Again, it is not possible to study the progressive changes in the atmospheric conditions at one place, because observations in a drifting balloon are not comparable with simultaneous ones made at a station on the ground below. With kites, however, the possibility of making frequent and nearly vertical ascents and descents permits observations to be obtained almost simultaneously in superincumbent strata of air. The height of the kite can usually be determined with an accuracy not attainable by the barometer in a balloon. ”

“ It is here that the captive balloon has done good service to meteorology, as we have shown, but still more so has the high-flying kite. It must long have been recognised that instruments placed on or near the ground are insufficient for meteorological purposes, and, as far back as 1749, we find Dr. Wilson, of Glasgow, employing kites to determine the upper currents, and to carry thermometers into higher strata of the air. Franklin's kite and its application is matter of history. ”

“ The kite and the balloon are only two instruments to help the child play with it. Little windmills made of colored paper and stuck by means of a pin at the end of a whittled stick, make satisfactory toys. One of their great advantages is that even a very young child can make them for himself. Blowing soap-bubbles is another means of playing with air. ”

“ The long sticks D D, forming the top and bottom of the car, are four feet and four inches long. One is lashed to the lower ends of the three long drop-sticks and ten inches above that the top one is made fast.
With thin spring or hard brass wire bind the forms of the two occupants of the car and make them fast to sticks D D with string. Then cover the entire balloon and car as well 127as the men with dark-colored paper muslin. Make the yoke of linen thread so that the kite will balance well. ”

“ The bridle is usually attached at many places on this kite.
Fig. 40a. ↑
Regular forms of kites are many. In Fig. 41 the circle is of reed or split bamboo. It would be well to fasten the bridle at four points. Fig. 42 needs no special explanation as the construction is similar [Pg 31] to Fig. 41. The balloon kite is another modification. The ship kites, Figs. 43, 44, 45, 45a, show the construction in the drawing. A piece of pasteboard is used for the hull. They make pretty kites.
Figs. 41, 42. ↑
Fig. ”

“ Hardly has it nestled, with much heaving of billowy sides, into its hollow, when the eye is attracted by something dancing up and down among the brushwood close to it. It is an oblong framework, partially covered with dirty gray canvas, which has commenced to make sundry abortive little swoops up into the air, ending in abrupt dives down again to earth. Finally this weird kite—for kite it is—makes up its mind and sails steadily upward to the tune of its whining cable-drum. Up, up it goes, holding well in the strong breeze till it becomes a mere speck in the sky. ”

“ We cannot, however, as we watch, say, a hawk, hovering in the air with motionless wing, help being struck by its resemblance to the schoolboy’s kite, kept afloat high in the sky by the action of the wind properly applied to its surface, and we can at once see that the bird makes use of the same principle as the kite in its soaring or hovering flight. Indeed, just as a kite sinks to earth when the wind drops, so in a dead calm even an albatross has to flap its wings to keep afloat.
It is to the principle of the kite, therefore, that the inventor of the flying machine must turn. ”

“ By pulling still more on the red line, the traction-power is still further reduced, and, with a good pull, the kite can be made to present its head altogether to the wind, and thus to lie flat on it, when, of course, it will descend slowly to the ground, waving from side to side, like a dropped sheet of paper. ”