Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/586

* KITE. 530 KI-TSE. and that of the kite-line, or fine steel wire, which may amount to twenty or thirty pounds in high ascensions. But the principal obstacle to liigli flights is the pressure of the wind on the wire. Some authorities prefer to lly several kites at tandem, but the Weather Bureau experience is in favor of one kite for elevations up to 7000 feet. Among the highest lliglits hitherto recorded at Blue Hill is a vertical height of about 14,000 feet, when seven kites were flown tandem and five miles of wire were used. Following American examples, L. Teisserenc de Bort, at Trappes. near Paris, and R. Assmami, at Berlin, have systematically used the kite as a means of obtaining ol)scrvations in the free air at moderate elevations. For all greater heights the balloon, especially the so-called scmnding balloon, must be used. The kite can be xiscd in windy weather when the balloun cannot: but the special ad-antage of the former lies in the fact that the self-recording apparatus is thoroughly ventilated by the wind that supports the kite, and must therefore give the temperature and moisture of the free air with the least possible error intro- duced by solar heat or instrumental radiation. The use of kites to carry lines across streams of deep chasms and to convey life-lines to stranded ships is a familiar practice in engineer- ing and life-saving work. Kites have also re- cently been used to hold suspended in midair ac-IO% less than abc AB=CD=5 CE=20%ofCD EF-60%ofED ■i. MALAY KITE. banners for advertising and other purposes, and for taking photographs. For all of these pur- poses, as has been stated, either Hargrave or jialay tailless kites are employed. The Malay kite is well shown in the accompanying illustra- tion, taken from a pa])er by ilr. -J. B. Jlillet pub- lished in the Aeronautical Annual for 1896; this illustration also gives Jlr. Millet's notions as to the proper proportions for kites of this type. The military use of kites has Vieen especially developed by the Aeronautic Division of the German Army, which has adopted the balloon kite invented by Parseval and perfected by Cap- tain von Sigsfcld. This consists essentially of a cylindrical gas-bag filled with hydrogen and flown as an ordin.ary kite. When the wind blows, its pressure tends to keep the kite tip by the re- action of the cord attached to the balloon, and does not bear it dowji to the ground, as in the ease of a captive splicrical balloon. When there is no wind, the buoyancy of the hydrogen sulliees to keep the balloon u|). For military jiurposes the balloon kite is not expected to rise more than a few hundred yards above the ground, and wben in that position, a signal ollicer can be raised sufficiently high to scrutinize the surroimding country. BiuLioGRAPiiY. Consult: Proceedings of the I n- tcrv.itliiiiHil Conference on ACrial y'aiigalion, held in Chicago, August 1. 2, 3, and 4. 18'J3; Marvin, ilecliiinic.s of the Kile; Inslrueliuns for Aerial Ob^ercutiona; Invesliyulion of the HUiiiyishness of the Meteoroiiruph. and other bulletins of the Weather Bureau (Washington, D. C.) ; A. L. Rotch and H. H. Clayton, Observations at the Blue Hill Observatory ; L. Teisserenc de Bort, "Etudes sur la temperature et ses variations." in the Annals of Ike Central ileteoroloyical Bureau (Paris, 189"). Also: "Sur I'organisa- tioii des sondages aeriennes," in the Memoirs of the International Coniprss for ilctcoroloyfi (Paris, 1900) ; and especially: Assmann and Berson, Ergebnisse tier Arbeilen am aeronauli- achen Obsrrvatorium in den Jahren IDOO und I'JlJl (Berlin, 1902). KIT-FOX, PbaikUl-Fos, or Swift. A small, pale, active fox ( Vttlpes vclox), of the Western plains from Kansas and Colorado north- ward, east of the Rocky Mountains. Its total length is ab(mt 25 inclies; its color, a yellowish grizzle above, the legs and under parts lighter; belly and tip of tail, white: a black jiatch on each side of the muzzle. It dwells in burrows of its own making, and has tlic habits of its tribe elsewhere. See Plate of Fo.E.s a,d .Jackals. KIT-KAT CLUB. See Kit-Cat Club. KI-TSE, ke'tse', or CHI-TS£, or KI-JA, ke'ja'. Viscount Ki. A ('liiiio>e stali-sman. an- cestor of Confucius, and reputed founder of the civilization of Korea. He was one of the feudal barons of the Shang dynasty, and one of the nobles of the Empire during the reign of the aban- doned tyrant Chow-sin. who came to the throne in B.C. 1154, and showed himself one of the most liceniious and cruel nionarchs who ever sat on the throne of China. Viscount Ki vainly en- deavored to turn him from his evil ways, and for his pains was thrown into prison, from which he was released wiien Wu-wang defeated the tyrant and ended the Shang d>niasty (B.C. 112:!). Despite his sufferings, the loyalty of the Viscount ■was so great that he could not acknowledge the sovereignty of the conqueror, whom he regarded as a usurper; so retiring with a large following to the Far East, he set up a kingdom which had its capital at Ping-.vang (q.v. ). on the Ta Dong River in Korea, where his tomb is still shown. One of the most important sections of the fihu- King or Book of History entitled The Great Plan is attributed to him. He is said to have taught the Koreans propriety, integrity, agriculture, the rearing of silkworms, and the spinning and weaving of silk, besides giving them a code of