Page:Kitecraft and kite tournaments (1914).djvu/85

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moving devices
77

If the fans will not remain curved, a wire can be run around the outer edge, thus keeping the fans in place and at the proper angle. Other windmills are made with wooden axles that have little diagonal cuts to receive pieces of thin stiff cardboard as fans. These can usually be purchased, but they can also be made; Fig. 153, has one fan removed. Make a small block and with small saw, make little cuts on the diagonal and set the fans in with glue. Some make little windmills of aluminum, which are similar to the ones made of light cardboard. Windmills can be applied in many ways; for example, they may represent wheels on an automobile kite, Fig. 154, in which the tires are large and the windmill serves as the center of the wheel. When turning around it cannot be seen that the tire is not turning. Another wheel is shown at a in which small slanting fans are attached.

Fig. 153.

The most difficult part in making the auto kite is to keep it light and in poise. It will readily be seen that the automobile is a triangular box-kite. The hood of the engine should be open at both ends, with string across to represent screen The hood instead of being a dead weight will have considerable lifting power, being part of a barrel kite. A framework is shown in Fig. 155. The top of the auto might be black or tan, the body red, black, grey, green or brown, the tires light tan, and the moving part of the wheels light yellow.

The steamboat kite, Figs. 156 and 157, is another application of the moving wheel but this construction is simpler and the attachment of wheel is better. In this model a part of the wheel is shielded from the breeze, so the uneven pressure causes it to revolve. This is a very feasible and interesting problem. Fig. 158 shows a kite with a wagging head above it. When we understand this device, we should be able to plan many others. The windmill is set in the open part of the kite. Two cross-sticks are used so it is quite easy to attach a vertical piece to the two for support of the aluminum wheel. A little hub has a groove in it that a cord belt runs in, and from that to another grooved wheel to the back of the kite Fig. 159. A lath nail cut off for a small crank pin, j, is located near the outer edge of this grooved