What are kite sticks made of?

A box kite is a high-performance kite, noted for developing relatively high lift; it is a type within the family of cellular kites. The typical design has four parallel struts. The box is made rigid with diagonal crossed struts. There are two sails, or ribbons, whose width is about a quarter of the length of the box. The ribbons wrap around the ends of the box, leaving the ends and middle of the kite open. In flight, one strut is the bottom, and the bridle is tied between the top and bottom of this strut. The dihedrals of the sails help stability.

For more information, please visit eooe.

The box kite was invented in by Lawrence Hargrave,[1] an English-born Australian, as part of his attempt to develop a manned flying machine. Hargrave linked several of his box kites (Hargrave cells) together, creating sufficient lift for him to fly some 16 ft (4.9 m) off the ground.[2] A winged development of this kite is known as the Cody kite following its development by Samuel Franklin Cody. Military uses also involved a kite/radio transmitter combination issued to pilots during World War II for use in liferafts.[3]

Large box kites are constructed as cellular kites. Rather than one box, there are many, each with its own set of sails.

Most of the altitude records for kite flying are held by large box kites, with Dacron sails, flown with Spectra cable. However in Robert Moore and a team of kite experts flew a 12 sq metre DT delta to 16,009 ft above their launch point. The location of the flights was near Cobar in Western NSW, Australia. While this was primarily a triangular winged delta kite, it has a triangular box centre cell for additional stability.[4][5] Future attempts on either the single kite record or multiple kite record (trained), may use Hargrave box kites or a variant. Before Dacron, Spectra, and Kevlar were available, high performance box kites used oiled silk, linen or hemp sails, and were flown with steel cable. Silk, linen and hemp were used because they could be spun finer than cotton and stretched relatively little when wet. Steel had the highest available strength for its weight. After Hargrave invented the box kite, weather stations from around the world saw the potential for his design. Blue hill observatory and the German weather station at Lindenberg[6][7] used kites routinely until weather balloons took over in the s and s.

See also

References

• Cellular kites at the Virtual Kite Zoo

An excellent way for students to gain a feel for aerodynamic forces is to fly a kite. Kite flying is fun when done safely and you can learn many of the fundamentals of airplane aerodynamics because a kite is very much like an airplane. In fact, the Wright brothers used kites and gliders to learn the fundamentals before their first successful airplane flight.

Like an airplane, a kite is a heavier than air craft. Kites depend on surfaces to generate the aerodynamic forces necessary for flight and use rigid structures to support the surfaces and transmit the forces. Differen kites. have different types of surfaces and structures; on this slide we show a simple box kite. The left side of the figure shows the kite as it would appear in flight and the right side shows the inner structure.

Kite flying is a delicate balance between aerodynamic forces, the weight of the parts of the kite, and the distribution of these forces. In flight, the kite is connected to the flyer by the control line and the flyer can feel the tension in the line created by the aerodynamic forces on the kite. The line is connected to the kite by a string bridle. The place where the bridle connects to the line is called the bridle point and the kite pivots about this point in flight. The bridle point can be adjusted to change the flight characteristics of the kite. The surfaces of the kite are covered by a thin covering of paper, plastic, or cloth, which deflects the wind downward and creates the aerodynamic forces of lift and drag on the kite.

If we remove the covering, we can see the structure which transmits the aerodynamic forces to the bridle. A box kite structure is made from several sticks and some string. The sticks can be made of a light but strong piece of wood such as balsa or bamboo, or a light but strong plastic tube. In the box kite, there are four main "leg" pieces of equal length and four "cross" pieces which are made from two sticks. The structure is held together with strings wrapped around the legs at the location of the cross members. The surface covering is attached to the strings. Notice that the structure is small, light and strong. It must be made strong to withstand the forces of the wind and weight, but it must also be light to keep the weight low. To save weight, only two "cross" pieces are used on some box kites. The trade of strength and weight must be considered in every flying thing from a kite to a large airliner. Compare the structure and coverings of this box kite with the Wright brother's aircraft and note how similar they are.

• KiteModeler
• Forces on a Kite:

Navigation ..

Are you interested in learning more about bamboo round stick machine fabrication? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

Beginner's Guide Home Page