Historical

 

On this page we would like to give you a small insight on how kite building has developed over the last 130Years. As my Homepage has a limited amount of space, we shall concentrate on only a small group of Kite builders.If you would like to know more about Kite builders there is a wide range of literature to be obtained. Through the following list you can also find links to interesting pages about kites. The inventor of the Telephone and Gramophone :
     Alexander Graham Bell.
     Also experimented with kites. Although at first it was more out of fun than research.
Bell at first built Weelwingkite, he then developed the Tetraeder. In 1905 while testing with different combinations, one of Bell’s men was lifted by pure accident to a height of 10m by his already well known kite Frost King. In 1907 with a much larger version of the Frost King, Lieutenant Thomas E.Selfridge was lifted to a height of 51m.The Tetraeder was also pulled by a steam ship but
     unfortunately after a flight lasting 7 Min the kite was destroyed on landing.In the Alexander Graham Bell Museum in New Scotland there is still a large collection of his kites to be seen.
The first person to fly in a kite was:
    Charles J.Lamson.
     Lamson began to experiment with a Hargrave Box Kite mid 1896.The pilot could also regulate the kite through different wing settings.One year later Lamson built a double winged kite and this gave the kite more stability.The so called Aero curve kite is probably the nicest looking historical kite there is. The double and triple wing kites that Lamson built were  the forerunners for the later to come Bi and Tri Planes. The experiments that Lawrence Hargrave made with kites were
     basically to try and develop a motorised flying object.Hargrave,born 29.1.1850 in Greenwich England emigrated to New South Wales (Austalia) in 1866. He was a remarkable and conscientious Man.He refused to patent his inventions, he believed that everybody should have the benefit of his ideas. He made very detailed notes about his inventions and is basically the father of the Box Kite.His experiments with aerodynamics were the basics used in the development of the double and triple winged kites. Unfortunatley because of many failures in his experiments his finances declined and he had to cancel any further development of his inventions.The Box Kite, which was his idea was later further developed by Samuel Franklin Cody.

     If you want to know more about Kite inventors click here.

 



 
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