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box kite

flying device
Also known as: cellular kite

Quick Summary

A box kite is a tailless kite made of two or more connected, open-ended boxes. Developed by Lawrence Hargrave in the 1890s, the box kite was a significant advancement in kite design. Hargrave's goal was to create a kite efficient enough to move into the wind, and while he didn't achieve propulsion, his cellular kite designs proved superior and contributed to understanding flight stability.12

These kites were highly efficient and could carry substantial weight, making them useful for lifting meteorological instruments. Hargrave's box kite designs influenced early aeronautical pioneers like Alexander Graham Bell and the Wright brothers, providing a foundation for their experiments in flight.2

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