Peter Lynn
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Peter Lynn (born 1946) is a
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
kite A kite is a tethered heavier than air flight, heavier-than-air or lighter-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create Lift (force), lift and Drag (physics), drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. ...
maker,
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
and
inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
. He is notable for his construction of the world's largest kites (
Guinness book of records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
holders), giant inflatable (sparless) display kites (the most widely known is the 27 m octopus kite), the popularisation of
kite buggying A kite buggy is a light, purpose-built vehicle powered by a traction kite (power kite). It is single-seated and has one steerable front wheel and two fixed rear wheels. The driver sits in the seat located in the middle of the vehicle and accelera ...
and contributions to the development of power kiting and
kitesurfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...
. He spends much of the year travelling worldwide and displaying his kites at International Kite Festivals. Lynn, together with his wife Elwyn, established a kite business at
Ashburton, New Zealand Ashburton ( mi, Hakatere) is a large town in the Canterbury Region, on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The town is the seat of the Ashburton District. It is south west of Christchurch and is sometimes regarded as a satell ...
, in 1971, producing single-line kites for children. In 1974 he developed the Peter Lynn Triangular box kite, a framed triangular form cellular single line kite. Beginning in 1984 with the Centipede design, he then developed large creature-themed display kites for the growing number of international kite festivals. These large-scale sparless kites include the manta ray, octopus, puffer-fish, gecko and trilobit

In 1987 he began developing
power kite A power kite or traction kite is a large kite designed to provide significant pull to the user. Types The two most common forms are the foil, and the leading edge inflatable. There are also other less common types of power kite including rig ...
s for traction uses,and designing boats, buggies, boards and snow sleds to use with them. The sport of kite buggying in its modern form began from a kitesailing craft he developed. It was equipped with three 'skis' and was quite unsuccessful on the water. In 1990 he converted it to a land buggy by replacing the skis with wheels. More than 10,000 of his buggies are now in use, and there are also many other kite buggy manufacturers.
Kite buggying A kite buggy is a light, purpose-built vehicle powered by a traction kite (power kite). It is single-seated and has one steerable front wheel and two fixed rear wheels. The driver sits in the seat located in the middle of the vehicle and accelera ...
has become a popular worldwide sport. In 1994 he developed the 'super-ripstop/thru cord' ram air kite construction system for large display and traction kites. This is a technique of strengthening
ripstop nylon __NOTOC__ Ripstop fabrics are woven fabrics, often made of nylon, using a reinforcing technique that makes them more resistant to tearing and ripping. During weaving, stronger (and often thicker) reinforcement yarns are interwoven at regular inte ...
by sewing high-tech
dacron Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...
or spectra/dyneema cord across the material, and providing an adjustable cross-sectional aerodynamic profile by the use of variable length cords rather than the fixed rib used in a conventional wing or ram-air parafoil such as a
parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...
. In 1995 he designed the ram-air inflated Megabite, a 635 square metre kite. It was accepted as the world's largest kite by Guinness in 1997. When on the ground, more than 1000 people can comfortably stroll around inside it. He also designed the current Guinness record holder, a 1019 square metre Kuwait flag, which took over the world record from the Megabite in 2005. That same year, he built two additional identically sized kites (Mega Flag in the United States and Mega Moon in Japan), allowing for more exhibitions of the World's Largest Kites around the world. In 1997 he developed the first 'hybrid' traction kite. It is referred to as hybrid as the form is a single skin kite supported by a combination of both aerodynamic forces and a flexible frame. Conventional traction kites use either a rigid frame inflated with a pump prior to launching or ram air inflated cavities. In 1999 he developed the first bridleless arch style ram air kite, primarily for kitesurfing. Arc style kites are generally more efficient (better upwind performance) and are more resistant to
luffing {{About, , the forward edge of a sail, Parts of a sail, other uses, Luff (disambiguation){{!Luff In sailing, luffing refers to when a sailing vessel is steered far enough toward the direction of the wind ("windward"), or the sheet controlling a s ...
(more stable and reliable in gusty conditions) relative to leading edge inflatable (LEI) sled kites but have slightly lower
lift coefficient In fluid dynamics, the lift coefficient () is a dimensionless quantity that relates the lift generated by a lifting body to the fluid density around the body, the fluid velocity and an associated reference area. A lifting body is a foil or a com ...
(less power from the same size kite). More recently he has developed the KiteSled (see image), for kite powered snow expeditioning. It steers by bending its skis, which are constructed from multiple longitudinal elements dovetailed together. Using KiteSleds, in May 2006 Australians
Patrick Spiers Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...
and
Ben Deacon Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, ...
completed a 700 km trans-Greenland journey that they believe was 20% faster than would have been possible by
kite skiing Snowkiting or kite skiing is an outdoor winter sport where people use kite power to glide on snow or ice. The skier uses a kite to give them power over large jumps. The sport is similar to water-based kiteboarding, but with the footwear used in ...
. Lynn has also contributed to the theoretical underpinnings of kite flying through a series of scientific papers. In other fields, his inventions include: 1975. The original 'tipping blade'
portable sawmill Portable sawmills are sawmills small enough to be moved easily and set up in the field. They have existed for over 100 years but grew in popularity in the United States starting in the 1970s, when the 1973 oil crisis and the back-to-the-land movemen ...
system, using a single (circular) saw blade which rotates 90 degrees at the end of each pass through a log to enable the production of sawn timber in one operation. While he held the patent on this invention until 1980, after the patent lapsed it became the world standard portable sawmill system. 1987. Started Stirling Research Ltd, and with Dr. Donald Clucas began the development of a stirling cycle engine generator for yachts (and later for in-home combined heat and power systems). From 1991, Dr Clucas continued this development through to commercialisation with WhisperGen, a business formed for this purpose by elements of the NZ electricity industry. Peter Lynn's father, Robert Frederick Lynn (1914–2012) was the founder of the Lynn Historic Woodworking Trust Inc. a collection of historic woodworking tools, equipment and archives, including the world's largest collection of ornamental turning lathes. It is sited at The Plains, a colonial era museum park in Ashburton, NZ. Robert Fredrick Lynn was awarded the Queen's Service Order in the New Years Honours list 2007.


Patents

* ''Traction kite design'', filed April 2002, issued March 2006 * ''Ram air inflated wing'', filed November 2002, issued January 2005


References


External links


Peter Lynn's website

Peter Lynn kites

Peter Lynn Kiteboarding
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynn, Peter 1946 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand inventors New Zealand kite fliers People from Ashburton, New Zealand 21st-century New Zealand engineers 20th-century New Zealand engineers