War Kites

Extract

They have said there is nothing new under the sun. But then they probably reckoned without such recent discoveries as Rontgen rays, phonographs, and wireless telegraphy, amongst others. Yet, on the other hand, it is very remarkable how people pass by good inventions and good ideas, and won't take to them. Kites, for instance, have been known for hundreds of years. Everyone knows of them all the world over, yet, till a few years ago, no one thought of putting them to any use. When I say no one, I do not mean that exactly, for Franklin and others, of course, used kites for meteorological experiments; Pocock drew a little carriage along with them, and several others suggested their use for lifesaving at sea. But these are the exceptions that prove the rule. They drew attention to the utility of the invention, yet went no further.

Suddenly, and only during the last three or four years, inventors have taken up this longneglected contrivance, land now we hear of new and improved kites being experimented with by many different people in many different countries.