Malay kite

Malay kite
The common and widely popular "Eddy" kite design, shown here behind its patenter, W. A. Eddy.

The Malay kite is a model of tailless kite. First introduced to the West in a New York newspaper article from October 1894, the Malay kite was used for recreation for centuries before this in parts of the Far East. The article detailed how a university professor ("Clayton") had erected a series of kites and bound them all together to one kite. These kites had no tail, were bowed and diamond shaped, and were referred to by the article writer as "Malay kites". However, the existence of a Malay-like design may have already been heard of in the United States sometime before the publishing of the article; in the last edition of the American Boy's Handy Book, another tailless kite is described (there referred to as a "Holland" kite). The description of this kite, which was to be included as a chapter in the book, was sent in to the author sometime around 1882, eleven years before the Malay kite was mentioned in the newspaper.[1]

Contents

Design

The Malay is similar in design to the standard Eddy design.[2] The precise design of the kite consists of two flexible cross sticks, diverging at right angles, to form a lozenge-like shape. The horizontal stick is preferably slightly longer than the vertical one. Once they have been bound together, a string or cord is tightened around the resulting lozenge. The design is then enveloped in the kite material, such as paper. This particular design, when correctly executed, allows the wind to carry the kite to great heights, despite its lack of any kind of tail.[3]

This diamond-bowed design gave inspiration to other designs, such as the aforementioned and now popular "Eddy" kite, designed by William Abner Eddy of Bayonne, New Jersey. The "Eddy" model, created four years after the Western appearance of the Malay in 1894, and patented approximately twenty months after that — application for "Kite" filed on 1 August 1898, by "William A. Eddy of Bayonne, New Jersey", U.S. patent number 646375 (issued on 27 March 1900) — has grown to become one of the most common and popular designs of kite in the 21st century.[2]

The Malay kite design is also known to be capable of holding a man aloft for a substantial period of time. W. A. Eddy himself demonstrated this when he remained suspended in the air for approximately 15 hours. Using nine Malay kites tied together by a two mile long cord, Eddy reached—at his highest point—somewhere around 5,595 feet (1,705 m) in altitude.[4]

See also

Notes

References

  • Beard, Daniel Carter (2000). The Outdoor Handy Book: For Playground Field and Forest. The Minerva Group, Inc.. ISBN 0898751357. 
  • Chanute, Octave (1997). Progress in Flying Machines. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0486299813. 
  • Eden, Maxwell (2002). The Magnificent Book of Kites. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.. ISBN 1402700946. 

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Malay kite — Eddy kite Ed dy kite Called also {Malay kite}. [After William A. Eddy, American kite expert.] A quadrilateral, tailless kite, with convex surfaces exposed to the wind. This kite was extensively used by Eddy in his famous meteorological… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Kite types — Colorful delta wing kite Kites are tethered flying objects which fly by using aerodynamic lift, requiring wind, (or towing), for generation of airflow over the lifting surfaces. Contents 1 Kite …   Wikipedia

  • kite — kite1 kiter, n. kitelike, adj. /kuyt/, n., v., kited, kiting. n. 1. a light frame covered with some thin material, to be flown in the wind at the end of a long string. 2. any of several small birds of the hawk family Accipitridae that have long,… …   Universalium

  • Kite — s. [ [http://www.kitelife.com/magazine/issue39/altitude39/content.php Flying High, Down Under] When the kite line broke, the kites still received tension from the very long kite line.] The anchor point of the kite line may be static or moving… …   Wikipedia

  • Eddy kite — Ed dy kite Called also {Malay kite}. [After William A. Eddy, American kite expert.] A quadrilateral, tailless kite, with convex surfaces exposed to the wind. This kite was extensively used by Eddy in his famous meteorological experiments. It is… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Black Kite — Black Kite, Milvus migrans Conservation status …   Wikipedia

  • Bowed kite — Bowed kites such as the Japanese rokkaku, and traditional versions of the more familiar diamond shaped kites such as the Malay or Eddy, are tensioned into a bow in order to improve their stability to the point where a tail often becomes… …   Wikipedia

  • Hangin Kite Resort — (Боракай,Филиппины) Категория отеля: 1 звездочный отель Адрес: Road 1A, Malay, Ak …   Каталог отелей

  • Chapi-chapi — A chapi chapi constructed from broom sticks and plastic sheet from a discarded plastic bag, on top of other kites. Chapi chapi is a small, two stick kite that can be quickly constructed from cheap materials such as newspapers, broom sticks, or… …   Wikipedia

  • Ethnic Malays — This article is about the Malay ethnic group. For the Malay race, see Malay race. For other uses, see Malay (disambiguation). Malay Melayu ملايو …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”