Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys

by Joseph H. Adams

The Flying-wedge and Double-plane Kite

Flying-wedge or double-plane kites are made in several shapes and sizes with the planes arranged at different angles and in broken surfaces.

The flying-wedge is an interesting gig to make and hold when up, for it is a strong puller. Its construction is shown in Fig. 23, and like the box kite the frame is made of half-inch pine sticks. The front frame is forty inches high and twenty-four inches wide, and the rear one two inches longer but the same width. The frames are attached at the top but held apart at the bottom by the sticks E E, which are eighteen inches long. Twelve inches below the top a cross-stick F is attached, and from the side-sticks down to the centre of the bottom cross-stick the sticks G G are made fast. Strings may be substituted for these sticks but they will not brace the framework so well. Diagonally across the back frame and at the bottom strings are made fast to brace the frame, while the back ones also help to relieve the strain of the wind on the paper or muslin drawn across the framework. Figure 24 will show the fields covered with paper or muslin, which are arranged so the wind passing through the triangular opening in front presses against the back plane and out at the sides and bottom, while some of it is forced up in the top behind the upper plane and helps in the lifting power. Small flags on sticks at the top add to the appearance of this flying-wedge which is an exceedingly unique sky-scraper.

The double-plane kite (Fig. 25) is another form of the wedge. The general plan and sizes for the frame of this wedge tally with those just given, but the slight changes in the arrangement of sticks can be seen in Fig. 26.

The plane at the front is just half the height of the kite, and at the back it would be well to use two cross-sticks from corner to corner as braces rather than string as suggested for the flying-wedge. Use paper muslin for the covering and stretch it taut; then sew it fast. Rig up two small flags on sticks for the top corners and arrange the yoke as shown in Fig. 25. If the wedge is inclined to wobble or dive hang two wind-anchors on the corners, preferably the front, as the action will be better than if hung at the back.

The wind strikes the front plane and upper part of rear bevelled plane, also the outer edges of the rear plane, and in this manner a double kite is made that will be found a strong and steady puller.

Kite-reels

Kite-reels are always useful things to help haul in long lengths of string, and particularly if the kite is a strong puller and in a stiff breeze.

A reel for kites with a good pull is shown in Fig. 27, and a boy with a hammer, a saw, and a few nails can quickly put it together from some box-boards sawed in two-inch strips. The reel is made of two thin boards half an inch in thickness, cut circular with a compass-saw, and the hub is shaped from an old rolling-pin that perhaps has been discarded from the kitchen. It is impossible to give exact sizes owing to the possible difference in the lengths of rolling-pins, but the round sides should be at least six inches in diameter and placed twelve inches apart. One end of the pin, or the handle, should be sawed and cut square so a crank may be cut and nailed to it as shown at A in Fig. 28. From wood seven-eighths of an inch thick cut the crank B, and attach a handle to the outer end of it. Bore a hole with a bit in the end that fits over the axle, and with a compass-saw or small chisel cut the hole square so that the axle will fit snugly into it. The flanges are to be made fast to the ends of the rolling-pin hub with nails or screws, and this revolving barrel is hung in the inverted V-shaped frame of the reel. To hold this reel down when winding in a line make several hard-wood stakes as shown at C. These are cut out with a saw; and to protect the head and prevent it from splitting off, bore two small holes through the head as indicated by the dotted lines and slip steel-wire nails through them. Place burrs over the pointed ends, cut the ends off, and with a light hammer rivet the nail-ends down on the burrs so as to bind the head securely. This is much better than winding wire about the head, since the nails act as pins and will prevent the head from splitting while the stake is being driven into the ground. The overhanging end of the head laps on the end cross-plates forming the platform of the reel, and two or three at the end opposite that at which the string is being hauled in will hold the reel securely to the ground.