This section is from the book "The Boy Mechanic Vol. 2 1000 Things for Boys to Do", by Popular Mechanics Co.. Also available from Amazon: The Boy Mechanic, Vol2: 1000 Things for Boys to Do.
An interesting pastime while flying kites is to attach large toy parachutes to the lines and have some device to drop them when they are at a great height. In Fig. 1 is shown how the parachute is dropped by the burning of a piece of punk.
 
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