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Paraglider is a gliding kite (falling anchor or payload tethered to wing). The flying machine "paraglider" necessarily has three parts: resistive set, tether set, and wing set. The whole of the machine paraglider glides through a media, perhaps the air or water or some planetary atmosphere. A paraglider is a gliding kite system. Paragliders form a proper subset of gliders, kites, and hang gliders. When a parakite[1] is set into gliding mode, a paraglider is the result.[2] Paragliders are found in a broad range of sizes to fit a wide spectrum of purposes. In the purposes are found manned and unmanned resistive sets. Paragliders have control systems of great variety from minimal passive controls to highly active controls; even robots are sometimes employed to control a paraglider either onboard the paraglider or by way of remote control using radio waves. Applications range widely; paragliding is the use of a paraglider in the actions of launching, gliding, and landing the machine during fulfillment of some purpose or objective like recreation, competition, play, surveillance[3], entertaining, photography, travel, advertising, materials testing, or design testing. The resistive set is also sometimes referred to as the payload, even though "payload" misses the essential character of the resistive set. Without payload there is no paraglider; without a positively massed resistive set there is no paraglider. The same essentiality carries for the tether set. If the resistive set is not coupled to the wing set during glide attempt, then there is no paraglider. Same essentiality holds for the wing set; if there is no wing, then there is no paraglider. Each of the three essential subassemblies are necessary to make the machine paraglider. Resistive set or payloadThe resistive set is a necessary part of the "paraglider" and "payload" does not capture the necessity fact; massed items may be included that "pay" their way for fulfillment of specific applications, but the paraglider ceases to be if minimal mass is not fulfilling the resistive function; but the word "payload" is seen when paragliders are used; instruments, goods to be delivered, etc. become part of the resistive set. The payload is frequently inanimate goods being delivered to target points. The meteroid paraglider[4] carried instruments and exposure results to the ground for scientists to further study. Human pilots and passengers often make up the payload of industrial, commercial, and sport paragliders. For entertainment-purposed paragliders, huge fantasy figures make up the payload [5] that adds to the resistive set. Some powered aircraft upon power-off become paragliders; that is not true for all powered aircraft, as on power-off of other aircraft there is a change to be a non-paraglider glider. The powered aircraft that are designed to be effective paragliders upon power-off have the mass and drag of the power unit to contribute to the resistive set. Payloads need not be constant in shape or mass during a glide; mass may be added or subtracted during a glide; shape of the payload may change during a glide for various deliberate reasons. Both the mass and the shape of the resistive set during a glide contribute to the net L/D and other flight performance resultsof a paraglider. The resistive set by its function results in a towing of the wing through the coupling of the tether set. Tether set that couples the payload to the wingTether set must have at least one flexible string in the set. Strings might be fibers, threads, cords, cables, ropes, wires, etc. to the size needed for a particular application. Tethers may be passive or active members of a control system. In some instances of paraglider, members of tether set are with multiple roles. At least one tether is needed for a paraglider to exist. The count of tethers vary to fit particular paraglider designs and purposes. Paragliders of tether set of cardinality of oneParagliders having just one member to its tether set have various uses in manned and unmanned realms. A manned or piloted paraglider that uses one tether to the wing from the payload set (which includes the mass of the pilot, harness, carried goods, and perhaps things to deploy and even release during flight) is starkly evidenced in sport hang gliding; the one-tether paraglider hang glider that has a short-enough tether to allow the pilot to grab the wing's airframe is very popular part of sport free-flight. Notice that the hang gliders of Otto Lilienthal are not paragliders, but the hang gliders following the NASA paragliders are paragliders, as they have a non-empty tether set coupling the wing and the resistive set. When the sport industry says "hang glider" over the one-short-tether hang glider where the pilot may grab the airframe: they are fully correct and consistent; when the professional designers, engineers, scientists, and inventors, and authors continue to know the single-tether hang glider as a paraglider, they too are consistent and correct. When a contemporary sport limp-canopy multiple-tether-using paraglider pilot non-professional participant does not use "paraglider" for the one-short-tether paraglider, then such is useful for him or her to distinguish categories of craft; but such use does not obliterate the long traditonal work and literature useful to professsionals responsible for system designing. The one tether connects to the wing; closer to the resistive set: that one tether frequently, but not always, is found to split to multiple lines to capture or bridle the payload as needed. Wing setThe wing set choice for paragliders ranges from fully solid fixed wings all through less stiffening down to fully limp canopy wings; there is no restriction over the wing type, in general. The amount of stiffening used to form wings varies: firmer flat materials, inflated tubes, stuffed tubes, rods, battens, D-tubes, firm ribs, multiple layes of fabric, treated fabrics, composite plates, or metal sheets. Solid cores skinned form wings of high performance. Multiple-wing elements for paragliders having a wing set of more than one element wing have been available in the public domain; Francis Rogallo instructed the direction of stacked multiple wings in one of his patents where the Rogallo wing parawing was featured. The wing of a paraglider may rotate with axis traverse to the apparent stream for use of the Magnus effect for gliding lift; or with autorotating wings that visually mimic a helicopter. Methods of deployment or launching paragliders affect the paraglider's designA toy pocket paraglider may be designed to be able to self-inflate upon simple tossing of the wad of the three essential parts into the air by the hand of a person or the action of a catapult or at the drop from a balloon or kite hold. A depoloyment from a space rocket capsule has required inflated booms in the wing set. In sport paragliders, the tether set is adjusted to give the sports person active control over the wing for the ground-hugging sector of activity called "kiting" while movement is made off a hill or mountain or structure into the gliding paraglider mode (gliding kiting sector of activity, or just gliding). When a requirement in a purpose includes the need for frequent small-packing of the paraglider (payload, tether set, wing), then adjustments in the design of the parts are made. Paraglider patents (utility and function)When an inventor recognizes the gliding ability of a kite system, then the paraglider is present in the patent's teaching. The realm of gliding parachutes is a proper subset of paragliders. Set a payload at the bottom end of a kite's tether set and let the arrangement be set free to fall and the paraglider becomes. The perfect non-gliding parachute is not a paraglider. The historical realization of gliding parachutes over just L/D=0 parachutes helped strongly to expand the use of paragliders; this is evident in the patent texts which may be visited in a keen selection here. Frequent in mechanical patents advancing the machine paraglider are recitations by the inventor about failure modes of the paraglider and of the use of the paraglider; the recitations are preamble to the new and novel invention proposed, that is, changes in the machine paraglider. Paragliding fatalities and injurious incidents have spurred inventive improvements in the machine paraglider as well as changes in the operational practices of the flying machines.
Paraglider patents (design or appearance)Non-utility patents are dedicated just to the appearance of objects. An illustrative selection of historical design-patent images for paraglider follows.
References
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NOT YET ENTERED TO THE DISCUSSION ON Paraglider which is now redirected to Paragliding. * The paragliders used in toys, professional commerce, other sports [[parasailing]] * Article in review: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Paraglider_(gliding_kite) [[Paraglider (gliding kite)]] * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Atair_Insect There will be other military paraglider systems having pages in WP * Paraglider is key in [[paramotoring]], [[powered paragliding]]. WP readers wanting paraglider in these spaces would be secondarily served by a redirect to the limited sport, recration non-powered paragliding of "Paragliding". * Hang gliding organizations throughout the world knew and still know "paraglider" as simple one sort of hang gliders. FAI has paraglider as a device that a form of hang glider, Class 3. Self-Soar Association in its Low & Slow pioneering having sport and recreation paragliders as a form of hang gliding. An option on a disambiguation page would do justice to 50 years of that flow for paraglider for a choice pointing to [[hang glider]] and [[hang gliding]]. Blotting out history by a clique of 20 years effort to form new language in a narrow POV to recreation and sport paragliding of 2011 is not purpose of WP, as I understand it. Give readers the full historical options on a disambiguation page. * [[Powered paragliding]] page use of "paraglider" should lead to ''an option'' to get at the mechanical gliding kite MACHINE, not a redirect to "Paragliding". Options would show on a disambiguation page; perhaps the reader on powered paragliding would want to know about the paraglider devices developed at [[Ryan Aeronautical]] powered paraglider. [[Ryan XV-8]] (Flex-wing prototype) used the NASA paraglider in the Fleep. * The readers may want an option to see paraglider in the history of hang gliding which is beyond the sport and recreation paragliding: [[History_of_hang_gliding]] * Paraglider is a foundation for the attachment of a [[paramotor]]. Attaching a paramotor has options way beyond recreation and sport paragliding. WP readers should not be controlled to go to just a narrow view of where one might attach a paramotor. * The article [[Cloud suck]] has reference to paraglider, and such certainly is not restricted to sport and recreation paragliding; leave the matter open for military and commercial and scientific paragliders. * Paraglider is a word in itself. It has a history and impact on human discourse. And beyond sport and recreation "paragliding" which is a separate matter. WP is not a dictionary, but Wikionary would short readers if it pointed just one of many targets. * Paraglider is used in the [[High altitude wind power]] in non-sport and non-recreation ways. * Since hang gliders has a long history of having paragliders as a sort of hang gliders, there is some inclusion in powered hang gliding [[Powered hang glider]] that is appropriate. Hang glider paragliders sometimes get powered. Disambiguation page would give WP readers option to explore this matter. * In one sector of "paraglider" the system reflects necessary physical parts of paraglider without which there is just wing sitting on the floor; that is a glider of paraglider sort has tethers to necessary falling mass; in the case of some programs the mass is a space capsule; other paragliders have fuel holders, others have human pilot bodies (one case is police in police work, another is sportsman playing).The file could be a disambiguation target: File:Gemini TTV-1 Paraglider capsule.jpg * [[Glider aircraft]] would be an option. That article needs growth yet. * Powered parachute. Steve Synder. Para-Commander. [[Powered parachute]]. Paraglider as aircraft is a sort of gliding parachute and thus a sort of parachute. Let WP readers have a choice of targets. http://books.google.com/books?id=2PopFBjLZV8C&lpg=PA124&ots=ldnZB7v_5U&dq=history%20of%20Steve%20Snyder%20ParaCommander% 20paragliders&pg=PA124#v=onepage&q&f=false * |
Admin removed as unreliable sources two references:
The admin removed the following two references as unreliable according to his WP-experienced judgment: https://www.powerkitecentre.com/kites/inflatable-kites/cat_6.html?page=1 Inflatable kite manufacturers http://www.k48.com/bladeinflatable.htm Blade and inflatable parafoils COMMENTARY HERE IN LIFT:
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