Page:Kitecraft and kite tournaments (1914).djvu/29

Rh Class D. Kites in Series. These are made up of combined kites also, but the combinations are so different that they belong in a class by themselves.

The plain kites are the more numerous for several reasons. They are more easily constructed, take less time, use less material, fly in lighter breeze, and are usually more stable in air. The construction as a rule consists of two or three sticks as a framework with a covering stretched over it so as to form a simple plane that is exposed to the breeze. Of course, there are tricks in making the plain kites, but almost any of them can be made to fly by either warping the surface or attaching a tail.

Box-kites require considerable time and are more difficult in construction. They are a built up framework with cloth or strong paper coverings. The frames must be kept light and strong, and a process of trussing is necessary to accomplish this. The covering seldom covers the whole framework but usually is made in bands. The space enclosed by a band is called a cell. Most box-kites consist of a forward and rear cell, that is a band is found at each end around the framework, transversely to the length of the kite. Some of the most practical working kites are of the box-kite type. By working kite, I mean kites that are used for a purpose other than pleasure.

Some box-kites have extended wings of plain surfaces to gain more lifting power, or for poise, and the application of these appendages serves to explain the combination of kinds that form this group.

In the group "Kites in Series" we have kites of the same kind fastened rigidly together making one kite, called a compound kite, also kites fastened one after the other a few feet apart on one line and all started up at one time, and still another set of similar kites in which a numbrnumber [sic] of kites are put up on individual strings, one at a time, for