Box Kites and the US National Weather ServiceSelected images from the NOAA Photo Archives c.1910-1920The Hargrave Box Kite had a far reaching influence on scientific kiting in the USA in last years of the 19th century and the first thirty or so years of the 20th. Most notably at the Blue Hill Observatory but, from these images, also in the greater USA (eg: Nebraska) the 'Hargrave Box' and its variants soon became carriers of data collection instruments such as the Marvin Meteorograph which measured against time, air pressure, temperature and humidity.
 wea01102_a : A box kite equipped for meteorological observations, 1912 Meteorology by Willis Milham, 1912 (Fig. 18) Citation A larger image may also be downloaded
 wea01102_b : A Marvin Meteorograph, 1912 Meteorology by Willis Milham, 1912 (Fig. 18) A larger image may also be downloaded
 Exploring the upper air using box kites c.1915 Citation A larger image may also be downloaded
 wea01103 : Kite operations at an aerological station, c.1915 Citation A larger image may also be downloaded
 wea01115 : Getting ready to launch a Weather Bureau box kite c.1915 Citation A larger image may also be downloaded
 wea01116 : Box kites used by the US National Weather Service c.1915 Citation A larger image may also be downloaded
wea01101 : Exploring the upper air using box kites The Boy with the U.S. Weather Men, 1917, p. 172. Citation A larger image may also be downloaded
another two images, not from this series but related
 Appliances in use at Mt Weather VA, USA, 1906 French balloon meteorograph. Marvin Kite meteorograph with anemometer. Hargrave-Marvin box kites. Marvin meteorograph, with record. Plate II, Yearbook of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1906. A larger image may also be downloaded "Kites equipped with meteorgraphs were used as atmospheric probes in the late 1890s, and in 1907 the U.S. Weather Bureau recorded the ascent of a kite to 7,044 metres above Mt. Weather, Virginia". http://search.britannica.com/search?query=meteorgraph
 Kites flown by Mr. Millet, president of Boston Aeronautical Society "...The behavior of kites in the vicinity of cumulus clouds is peculiar. When one of these tracts of snowlike baseless hills sails calmly over, the kites ascend more or less rapidly towards it, often following as far as the kite line will permit." "Kites flown by Mr. Millet, president of Boston Aeronautical Society." shows over 20 kites laid out." George Varney, Kite Flying up to date (quoted from Appleton's Popular Science Monthly May issue) Literary Digest May, 1898
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