Intro to Kites

Benjamin Franklin and his son flying a kite during a storm. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS!

American Founding Father and Inventor, Benjamin Franklin demonstrated that lightning
was electricity, when he and his son flew a kite with a key attached to it in the year 1752
during a storm.

Luckily, the kite was not struck by lightning. A key attached to the flying line collected an
ambient electrical charge, enabling him to demonstrate the connection between lightning
and electricity.

His experiment lead him to create the lightning rod, saving homes and ships from being
damaged by lightning.
Alexander
Graham Bell,
inventor of the
telephone, also
experimented
with aeronautics
in the 1890's.
While living in Nova Scotia, Bell embarked on
a program of kite tests aimed towards
establishing the most stable form of kite
capable of carrying a man and an engine.
 He decided upon the tetrahedral cell kite, a
structure found to possess great lift as well as
strength.
In 1907, a huge tetrahedral kite lifted a man to
200 feet while towed behind a boat.
A powered version of the kite proved
unsuccessful.
Nonetheless, Bell's kite experimentation led
him to other more conventional designs
which eventually resulted in a successful
powered aircraft
The tetrahedron is
theoretically the
strongest, most rigid
symmetrical structure
that can exist in
nature. Cover any two
sides of the
tetrahedron with
fabric, and you have
the basic cellular
structure that Bell
used in his kites.
Note the uncanny similarities between this and the Wright
Brother’s first designs. Can you figure out what the Wright
Brothers gliders and airplanes had that made them
successful ?
The Wright Brothers, inventors of the first successful airplane.

Orville Wright Wilbur Wright

First flight of the Wright Flyer I, December
17, 1903, Orville piloting, Wilbur running
at wingtip.