History of Kites

Re:History of Kites by aksss on Monday April 17, 2023 @01:18PM (#35603689)

> Many of the experiments and developments during the 1800s led directly to the eventual development of the powered airplane and transatlantic wireless communications in the early 20th century.

The article goes on to explain that the Wright brothers we avid kite fliers, but doesn’t pick up the other thread about transatlantic wireless comms. I would presume it has something to do with lifting an antenna, perhaps?

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Re:History of Kites by JoeDaDude on Monday April 17, 2023 @01:40PM (#35603958)

I have no source for this, but I did read somewhere that the word "aerial" used to denote an antenna derives from early experiments where kites were used to hoist a wire high up.

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Re:History of Kites by aksss on Monday April 17, 2023 @02:13PM (#35604368)

Evidently, "The Cradle of Aviation Museum" in New York has an exhibit of a replica "Marconi Kite". This was, I gather, a "Levitor" kite modified to lift an antenna.

Of this exhibit, the Museum's website says:

"A pioneer of the heavy-lift kite was Baden Baden-Powell, pre-WWI aviation pioneer and guiding force behind the Royal Aeronautical Society. In the 1890s he developed large hexagonal-shaped "Levitor" kites which were intended to be used by the army in order to lift a man for aerial observation. In 1901, radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi made the first successful transatlantic wireless (radio) tests by raising the antenna 400 feet by means of the Baden-Powell Levitor Kite. Marconi also experimented in shore-to-ship radio communication from Babylon in 1901, possibly using these kites to raise the antenna."

https://www.cradleofaviation.org/history/exhibits/exhibit-ga...

Pretty neat! Imagining Marconi's experiences with his first wireless radio communications fills me with wonder. How fascinating that must have been.

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