Long Description:The sign says:
"A time line and brief history of how kites were used to
investigate the earth's atmosphere.
"1748-1749
"Dr. Alexander Wilson and one of his students, Thomas Melville of
fthe University of Glasgow in Scotland, used a train of kites to
lift thermometers to different altitudes. The thermometers were
then released into the air, as a fuse attached to the thermometer,
extinguished. Paper brushes attached to the thermometers acted as
parachutes, slowing their descent to the earth. This method enabled
Wilson and Melville to read the temperature of the air at different
altitudes.
"1752
"In Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite into the clouds to
prove that electricity was present. Franklin held the kite line,
which was made of hemp, except the lowest section, which was made
of silk. a small iron key was fastened to the line at the point
where the silk and hemp connected.
"1885
"Abbott Lawrence Rotch started the Blue Hill Meteorological
Obsrevatory near Boston, Massachusetts. Alexander G. McAdie flew
the first kite at Blue Hill to study electricity in the upper
atmosphere.
"1893
"Australian Lawrence Hargrave of Sydney presented his two-celled
box kite, with two parallel lifting surfaces per kite, to the
Aeronautical Congress in Chicago. The Congress discussed the uses
of kites in meteorology. William Eddy also developed his tailless
Malay kite this year.
"1894
"The United States Weather Bureau started experiments with kites
under the supervision of Alexander G. McAdie and S. A. Potter. On
August 4th, William Eddy flew a modified thermograph designed by
the Richard Brothers of France and a barograph with five "Eddy"
kites to an altitude of 436 meters at Blue Hill. This was the first
recording instrument ever flown by kite. In the fall of 1894,
regularly scheduled flights with recording instruments gegan at
Blue Hill Observatory. During these flights the sounds of the
atmosphere were recorded for the first time in the world's
history.
"1896
"Leon Teisserence De Bort founded the scientific observatory at
Trappes, near Versailles France.
"1897
"At Constantin Observatory, near Pawlowsk, Russia, kites performed
the first meteorological investigations into the altitude of
clouds. The US Weather Bureau founded seventeen kite stations under
the direction of Willis L. Moore. Observations continued over the
next six months as kites were flown
to altitudes between 1000 to 2000 meters. Dr. Hugo Hergesell,
President of the International Aeronautical Committee in
Strasbourg, Germany, began meteorological kite flights at
Elzas-Lotharingen, using American kite Models.
"1898
"Vladimir Koppen conducted his first experiments with kites at the
German Coastal Observatory in Hamburg. General Rykatchew flew
anemometers in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Mr. Tacchini proposed
the use of kites at Italian stations based in the mountains.
"1899
"Dr. Richard Assman founded the Prussian Meteorological
Institute.
"1900
"Kites at Mt. Weather Observatory in Washington DC reached an
altitude of 7000 meters. Kites were used extensively, worldwide,
for the next twenty years. In 1919, the highest altitude ever
reached by a train of kites was recorded at 9740 meters in
Lindenberg, Germany. By 1931, all meteorological observations
involving kites had ceased in the U.S."
