Fire From the Sky

1920

Benjamin Franklin's kite-flying experiment has been spoken of as foolhardy. Undoubtedly it was risky. But he did not attempt it out of doors, as always represented in pictures. He stayed inside a room, through a window of which the kite string was passed. and to the end of the string he attached a length of narrow silk ribbon. Silk is a non-conductor. The ribbon was dry. Chance of a fatal accident thus was reduced to a minimum.

The Weather Bureau does much flying of kites for the purpose of studying atmospheric conditions far aloft. Box kites are used, and the "string" is piano wire unwound from a fixed reel. Every now and then lightning hits the wire, and the latter disappears in what looks like a streak of rusty smoke.

The kite flyers would run great risks were it not that they take adequate precautions, says the Kansas City Star. Instruments used in connection with the apparatus frequently indicate a high voltage, and a small spark gap would show an almost constant flow of current from kite and wire through the reel to the ground.