Things To Make - Archibald Williams (the reader ebook .TXT) 📗

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Things To Make, by Archibald Williams

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Title: Things To Make

Author: Archibald Williams

Release Date: January 11, 2005 [EBook #14664]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THINGS TO MAKE ***

Produced by Don Kostuch

Transcriber's Note:

If the pdf version of the book is viewed using facing pages with even numbered pages on the left, you will see a close approximation of the original book.

Notations of the form "(1,650) 2" appear at the bottom of some pages; they are probably printer's references for assembling to book.

The text only version is of limited use because of the many figures used. I recommend the pdf or rtf versions.

Some of the projects should be approached with care since they involve corrosive or explosive chemicals, electricity and steam boilers.

Do not use lead solder, particularly on cooking utensils.

Whether you simply want to travel back into the mind of a young boy at the beginning of the twentieth century, or want to try your hand at some interesting projects in carpentry, machinery, kites and many other areas, have fun.

The following are definitions of unusual (to me) terms used frequently in the text.

Terms

Batten - Narrow strip of wood.

Bevel (Bevelling) - A cut that is not a right angle.

Bradawl - Awl with a beveled tip to make holes in wood for brads or screws.

Chamfer - Cut off the edge or corner; bevel.

Boss - Enlarged part of a shaft where another shaft is coupled or a wheel or gear is keyed.

Broach - To shape a hole with a tapered tool.

Carbide - Calcium carbide, used to produce acetylene (C2H2) gas for lighting and welding.

Compo - "Composition", like plastic.

Creosote - An oily liquid containing phenols and creosols, obtained from coal tar. Used as a wood preservative and disinfectant. Can cause severe neurological disturbances if inhaled.

Deal - A fir or pine board of standard dimensions

Fish-plate - A plate bolted to the sides of two abutting railroad tracks.

Fretworking - Ornamental design, often in relief.

Gasholder Gasometer - Storage container for fuel gas, especially a large, telescoping, cylindrical tank.

Gland - The outer sleeve of a stuffing box that prevents leakage past a moving machine part.

Glass paper - Paper faced with pulverized glass, like sandpaper.

Gudgeon - A metal pivot or journal at the end of a shaft or an axle, around which a wheel or other device turns.

Joiner - A cabinetmaker.

Linoleum - A floor covering made in sheets by pressing heated linseed oil, rosin, powdered cork, and pigments onto a burlap or canvas backing.

Lissom - Easily bent; supple

Longitudinal - Relating to length.

Mortice - Cavity in a piece of wood or other material, prepared to receive a tenon and form a joint.

Panel saw - Handsaw with fine teeth.

Pinion - Gear with a small number of teeth designed to mesh with a larger gear.

Plinth - Architectural support or base.

Rasp - Coarse file with sharp, raised, pointed projections.

Sleeper - Railroad crosstie.

Spanner - Wrench

Spirit Lamp - Alcohol lamp; see example on page 188.

Spirit - Alcohol

Strake - Ridge of thick planking on the side of a wooden ship.

Strut - Any part designed to hold things apart or resist compressive stress;

Tap - Cut screw threads

Tenon - Projection on the end of a piece of wood shaped for insertion into a mortise to make a joint.

Tenon saw - Saw with a thin blade for cutting tenons.

Tinning - Coating with soft solder.

Turner - Person who operates a lathe or similar device.

Tyre - Tire

Vestas - Matches; Vestai is the Roman goddess of the hearth, worshiped in a temple containing the sacred fire tended by the vestal virgins.

Currency Conversion

Prices are quoted in old English currency, pounds, shillings, pence.

"12s. 6d." is read as "12 Shillings and 6 Pence."

Pence/penny
Shilling—12 pence.
Crown—5 shillings.
Pound—20 shillings.
Guinea—21 shillings.

The approximate value of 1900 prices in 2002 is:
1900 Unit Value in 2002 Currency
             English Pound US Dollars
Pence .26 .48
Shilling 3.10 5.80
Crown 15.50 29.00
Pound 62.00 116.00

[End Transcriber's note.]

[Illustration: Large model locomotive]

Photo: Daily Mirror. Large model locomotive built for one of the royal princes of Siam by Messrs. Bassett-Lowke, Limited. It is one-quarter the size of a modern express engine; weighs two tons, with tender; is fifteen feet long; will pull seventy persons; and has a highest speed of about thirty miles an hour.

THINGS TO MAKE BY ARCHIBALD WILLIAMS AUTHOR OF "VICTORIES OF THE ENGINEER," "HOW IT WORKS," "HOW IT IS MADE," ETC., ETC. THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LTD. LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK PREFACE.

The making for oneself of toys and other objects of a more or less useful character has certain advantages over buying them. In the case of the more elaborate and costly articles, it may enable one to possess things which otherwise would be unobtainable. Secondly, a home-made article may give a satisfaction more lasting than is conferred by a bought one, though it may be less beautiful to look upon. Thirdly, the mere making should be a pleasure, and must be an education in itself.

To encourage readers to "use their hands" the following chapters have been written. The subjects chosen provide ample scope for the exercise of ingenuity and patience; but in making my selection I have kept before me the fact that a well-equipped workshop falls to the lot of but a few of the boys who are anxious to develop into amateur craftsmen. Therefore, while the easiest tasks set herein are very easy, the most difficult will not be found to demand a very high degree of skill, or more than a very moderate outlay on tools. I may say here that I have been over the ground myself to find out its difficulties for my readers, and that I made an engine similar to that described in Chapter XV (the most elaborate mechanism included in the book) with very simple tools. Some of the items which I had on my original list were abandoned, because they presupposed the possession of comparatively expensive machines.

My selection has also been guided by the desire to cater for different tastes. In some cases the actual manufacture of the thing described may be regarded as the most instructive and valuable element, and may appeal most forcibly to the "handy" boy; in others—the Harmonograph provides a good instance—the interest centres round the experiments made possible by the construction of a simple piece of apparatus; in some the utility of the article manufactured is its chief recommendation.

I feel certain that anyone who follows out the pages of this volume with hand as well as with eye, will have little reason to regret the time so spent. The things made may in course of time be put aside and forgotten, but the manual skill acquired will remain. Nowadays one can buy almost anything ready-made, or get it made without difficulty; yet he who is able to make things for himself will always have an advantage over the person to whom the use of tools is an unprobed mystery.

CONTENTS. I. SAWING TRESTLE II. A JOINER'S BENCH III. A HANDY BOOKSTAND IV. A HOUSE LADDER V. A DEVELOPING SINK VI. A POULTRY HOUSE AND RUN VII. A SHED FOR YOUR BICYCLE VIII. A TARGET APPARATUS FOR RIFLE SHOOTING IX. CABINET-MAKING X. TELEGRAPHIC APPARATUS XI. A RECIPROCATING ELECTRIC MOTOR XII. AN ELECTRIC ALARM CLOCK XIII. A MODEL ELECTRIC RAILWAY XIV. A SIMPLE RECIPROCATING ENGINE XV. A HORIZONTAL SLIDE-VALVE ENGINE XVI. MODEL STEAM TURBINES XVII. STEAM TOPS XVIII. MODEL BOILERS XIX. QUICK-BOILING KETTLES XX. A HOT-AIR ENGINE XXI. A WATER MOTOR XXII. MODEL PUMPS XXIII. KITES XXIV. PAPER GLIDERS XXV. A SELF-LAUNCHING MODEL AEROPLANE XXVI. APPARATUS FOR SIMPLE SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS XXVII. A RAIN GAUGE XXVIII. WIND VANES WITH DIALS XXIX. A STRENGTH-TESTING MACHINE XXX. LUNG-TESTING APPARATUS XXXI. HOME-MADE HARMONOGRAPHS XXXII. A SELF-SUPPLYING MATCHBOX XXXIII. A WOODEN WORKBOX XXXIV. WRESTLING PUPPETS XXXV. DOUBLE BELLOWS XXXVI. A HOME-MADE PANTOGRAPH XXXVII. A SILHOUETTE DRAWING MACHINE XXXVIII. A SIGNALLING LAMP XXXIX. A MINIATURE GASWORKS THINGS TO MAKE. I. A SAWING TRESTLE

A strong and stable sawing trestle is one of the most important accessories of the carpenter's shop, whether amateur or professional. The saw is constantly being used, and for it to do its work accurately the material must be properly supported, so that it cannot sway or shift. Anybody who has been in the habit of using a wobbly chair or box to saw on will be surprised to find how much more easily wood can be cut when resting on a trestle like that illustrated by Figs. 1 to 3.

The top, a, of the trestle is 29 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 2 inches thick. At one end it has a deep nick, to serve much the same purpose as the notched board used in fretworking; also to hold on edge such things as doors while their edges are planed up. Pushed back against the wall the trestle is then "as good as a boy."

[Illustration: Fig I.—Leg of sawing trestle (left). Trestle seen from above (right).]

The four legs are made of 2 by 2 inch stuff. To start with, the pieces should be 24 inches long, to allow for the waste of cutting on the angle.

Cutting the Notches.—Make four marks 7 inches from the four corners of the top, set your bevel to an angle of 70 degrees (or cut an angle out of a card with the help of a protractor), and lay a leg against each mark in turn, the end projecting an inch or so above the top. Move the leg about till it makes the proper angle at the mark, and draw a pencil line down each side of the leg as close up as possible. Since the legs may vary slightly in size, use each once only for marking, and number it and the place to which it belongs.

Lines must now be drawn along the upper and under sides of the top, parallel to and 3/4-inch from the edge, to complete the marking out of the notches.

Cut just inside the side marks with a fine tenon saw, and remove the wood between the cuts back to the top and bottom marks with a broad, sharp chisel, making the surface of the cut as true and flat as you can. Then "offer" the leg that belongs to the cut, its end projecting an inch or so. If it won't enter, bevel off the sides of the cut very slightly till it will. A good driving fit is what one should aim at. While the leg is in place, draw your pencil in the angles which it makes with the top above and below, to obtain the lines AB, CD (Fig. 2, a).

Bevelling the Legs.-The marking out of the bevels will be much expedited if a template is cut out of tin or card. It should be just as wide as the legs, and at a point 4 inches from one end run off at an angle of 162 degrees from one edge. (See Fig. 2,b.)

[Illustration: FIG. 2.-Showing how to cut sloping joint for trestle leg.]

Draw with a square a line, EEl, across what is to be the inside of the leg. The template is applied to the end side of the leg and moved up till its sloping edge occupies a position in which a perpendicular dropped on to it from C is 1/2 inch long. Mark the line EF (Fig. 2, b) and the perpendicular CG. The bevel is marked on the other side of the leg, the, angle of the template being at E1 (Fig. 2, a) to guide the saw, which is passed down through the leg just outside the marks till in line with CD. The piece is detached by a cross cut along CG, CD. This