THE BOX KITE.—The most marked improvement in the form of kites was made by Hargreaves, in 1885, and called the box kite. It has wonderful stability, and its use, with certain modifications, in Weather Bureau experiments, have proven its value.
It is made in the form of two boxes, A, B, open at the ends, which are secured together by means of longitudinal bars, C, that extends from one to the other, so that they are held apart a distance, approximately, equal to the length of one of the boxes.
Fig. 39. Hargreave Kite.
Their fore and aft stability is so perfect that the flying cord D is attached at one point only, and the sides of the boxes provide lateral stability to a marked degree.
THE VOISON BIPLANE.—This kind of kite furnished the suggestion for the Voison biplane, which was one of the earlier productions in flying machines.
Fig. 40 shows a perspective of the Voison plane, which has vertical planes A, A, at the ends, and also intermediate curtains B, B. This was found to be remarkably stable, but during its turning movements, or in high winds, was not satisfactory, and for that reason was finally abandoned.
LATERAL STABILITY IN KITES NOT CONCLUSIVE AS TO PLANES.—This is instanced to show that while such a form is admirably adapted for kite purposes, where vertical curtains are always in line with the wind movement, and the structure is held taut by a cord, the lateral effect, when used on a machine which does not at all times move in line with the moving air current. A condition is thus set up which destroys the usefulness of the box kite formation.
Fig. 40. Voison Biplane.
THE SPEAR KITE.—This is a novel kite, with remarkable steadiness and is usually made with the wings on the rear end larger than those on the forward end (Fig. 41), as thereby the cord A can be attached to the spear midway between the two sets of wings.
Fig. 41. Spear Kite.