Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/787

 ���KITES and airplanes are associated in the mind of the present-day boy. The former came down to us from great antiquity; but the flying machine, as we know it, is of such recent origin that the wonder due to its performances has not yet abated. It is singular that the one great weakness in airplanes is lack of control — the inability to stabilize the floating de- vice. That has always been the difficulty with kites. The box-kite is not an old invention. That and the Malay kite have no tails, but possess inherent stability. The development of the air- plane has brought out a stabilizer — the well-known gyroscope, which, when set in motion, objects to a change in the plane of its rotation. This device is now applied to a kite in such a manner as to give it a steady motion and to add wonder- fully to its attractiveness when in flight.

The outline of the kite ap- proaches the ordinary air- plane structure. The gyro- scopic wheel is at the forward end of the main plane, mounted on a horizontal axis, so that it rotates on a vertical fore and aft plane, giving an air of vitality to the kite, and making it ap-

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��pear as though the wheel actually propels or sustains the kite 'in its flight through the air.

The frame is made of a pair of pine strips, each 4 ft. long, of straight clear pine, J2 by ^ in. in thickness. These are secured to- gether at their rear ends and separated 5 in. from each other at their forward ends. They are held in permanent alinement by a cross strip, also 4 ft. long, of the same material and dimensions, this strip being located 16 in. from the forward ends of the parallel strips. At the crossing points the pieces

����GYROSCOPE WING »««/■

���A wheel is interposed between the front ends of the main frame; the wind gives it speed for gyroscopic action

��are provided with shallow gains, so they will fit together snugly, and are then se- cured by means of small wire nails and wrapped with a strong fine cord.

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