How high can a Victorian-era kite sail be flown?

A big problem with Steampunk airships is how to propel them. Steam engines tend to be too heavy to be useful. And sails cannot be used, because unlike sea-going ships, airships are in contact with only one medium - they don't have the sea to push against.

A clever proposal that sometimes come up is to use a kite sail. With long enough ropes, you can reach different air currents. This may require very long ropes, though.

Steampunk submarines may be limited in fuel, and an easy-to-fold kite sail could also be useful for saving fuel when crossing safe waters. It would obviously not work when submerged, but early submarines actually spent little time submerged, lacking modern air-independent propulsion.

But the usefulness of kite sails depends (among other things) on how long can you make the ropes. How long could ropes be made for a kite sail during the XIXe century? The answer may different for a surface ship and an airship letting a sail hang below it.

Edit: to clarify, the question is about the possible length of the ropes for a kite sail specifically, before the weight of the rope either pulls the sail down, makes the rope snap or otherwise become impractical.

posted over 5 years ago

Eth‭

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