#ALEXANDER G BELL HUMAN KITE CARRIER HOW TO#
#ALEXANDER G BELL HUMAN KITE CARRIER ARCHIVE#

Bell’s tetrahedrals reached their apex with 1907’s Cygnet, his kite made from 3393 cells, which flew to a height of 51 meters and stayed aloft for over 7 minutes. The kites were structurally stronger, and by combining the cells of smaller kites into one large kite, the surface area-to-weight ratio was retained.

(A tetrahedral figure is one in which three equilateral triangles are joined to form a four sided shape.) This configuration had many inherent advantages. But by 1902, Bell was incorporating the tetrahedral cell into his kites’ designs. Then his attention turned to the lifting properties of different airfoils or wing designs, and he had begun his kite experiments in 1896 not only to come to some understanding of lift but to study the properties of wind currents in his pursuit of manned flight.īell had worked chiefly with kites based upon Australian Lawrence Hargrave’s box kite, a design that had proven its worth in meteorological flights.

#ALEXANDER G BELL HUMAN KITE CARRIER HOW TO#

He began his flight experiments by trying to understand thrust he constructed rocket and steam powered propellers and rotors of various designs to determine how to generate maximum thrust. He had always been fascinated with flight, but witnessing Samuel Langley’s flying machine in 1891 had sparked that interest into activity. What path had Bell taken to tetrahedral construction? Curiosity had led his exploration in many directions.

Parkin has said, “It will be evident to those familiar with shopwork that McNeil was a wizard with tools.” The cells DF holds support this judgment, as they do Bell’s own opinion of his tetra principle-“It is astonishing how solid such a framework appears even when composed of very light and fragile material.” Hector McNeil, Bell’s foreman, fabricated the connectors for Bell, and the two obtained a joint patent on them in 1907. The slender 10-inch spars are black spruce, held together with deftly designed connectors (now rusted) made from tin cans.

#ALEXANDER G BELL HUMAN KITE CARRIER ARCHIVE#

The DF Archive holds four early cells, without sails, from Bell’s laboratory at Beinn Bhreagh, made before he had switched to aluminum tubing for the frames in October 1903. After describing Alexander Graham Bell’s Sable Island kite (a version of Hargrave’s box kite) in the Drachen Foundation’s last Archive feature article, I will focus now on the tetrahedrals themselves.

Alexander g bell human kite carrier