IIIMECHANICAL DRAWING

Fig. 15. Picture frame in straight lines

This was easier, as there were no curved lines, and it could be sawed close to the outside as well as the inside lines, to save time in whittling. While Harry was finishing this frame, Ralph was busy on a new design and finally passed over the drawing shown inFig. 16.

Fig. 16. Third picture frame

"Do you know there is as much fun in getting up new designs as there is in making them in wood?" said Ralph.

"Yes, but you have to know how to draw," replied the younger boy. "Can't you teach me?"

"Yes. I first make a rough sketch of my idea, and then a careful drawing of its actual size, with the drawing instruments."

"That's the part that I want to learn: how to use the instruments."

A lesson in mechanical drawing followed, and as it is a very important subject to young woodworkers, it will be given in full in the next chapter.

"In taking up mechanical drawing," said Ralph, "always remember that accurate and neat work, containing all necessary dimensions, is half the battle. You will probably feel, as I did at first, that it is a waste of time, but you can always consider that when your drawing is finished the work is half done. You can judge from it the number of pieces of stock required, and their over-all dimensions This saves much time at the wood pile, and tells at a glance to just what size you must square up each piece of stock.

Fig. 17. The outfit for mechanical drawing

"The drawing board is an absolute necessity. It need not be perfectly square, but the surface must be flat and true, and at least one of the edges absolutely straight. (Fig. 17.) The T square must have a thin blade—about1⁄16of an inch, and be made of hard wood. It should form a right angle with the head, which slides along the left-hand edge of the drawing board, and that must be the straight edge.

"The T square is used as a guide for the pencil in drawing horizontal lines, and it should always be kept on the same side of the drawing board. When drawing a vertical line, one of the wooden triangles should be placed on the T square and the line drawn along the left-hand edge of the triangle. Circles or arcs of circles are drawn with the compasses held at the extreme top."

With this introduction, the boys proceeded to fasten with four thumb-tacks a piece of drawing paper to the upper part of the drawing board.

"Why don't you put the paper in the centre?" asked Harry.

"Because, if one worked on the lower part of the drawing board, the T square head would extend below the edge of the board, and touch the table. You would have to watch it constantly. The headof the T square should always be tight against the board, for when you slide it too far down, it sometimes strikes the table without your knowing it, and you find your horizontal lines arenothorizontal; so I always like to have the drawing paper as high up on the board as possible."

Fig. 18. Blocking out the crosses of St. Andrew and St. George

The boys agreed that while the younger was learning to make drawings, each one should represent something to be made later in wood. Drawing number one was a square, 3 inches on a side.Ralph showed how this was made with only two measurements. Drawing one horizontal and one vertical line, 3 inches were marked off on each, the other two lines drawn through these new points, and the square was finished. Ralph insisted that all lines be very light, as they could be darkened up later, if necessary, and were easy to erase in case of a mistake. (Fig. 18.)

Harry was then told to divide the upper and left-hand sides into even inches, and to draw across the square vertical and horizontal lines from the four points obtained.

Thus the large square was subdivided into nine 1-inch squares, and by darkening the lines shown in the figure atathe cross of St. George was produced.

Another 3-inch square was drawn, and marked off, as shown atb. The points were connected by oblique lines by means of the 45-degree triangle, and by darkening the lines shown atcthe cross of St. Andrew was formed. After explaining that the British flag was a combination of these two figures Ralph said, "While we are drawing crosses, we may as well make a Maltese one."

Fig. 19. The Maltese cross

Starting with a 3-inch square again, it was measured off as shown inFig. 19. The lines were connected and darkened, as shown atb. "Now,"said Ralph, "you can cut that out of wood, tie a ribbon on it and wear it as a medal."

"Huh," grunted Harry. "Pretty big medal—three inches across!"

"Well, make it any size, an inch or even less."

"That's not a bad idea. I'll make it out of white holly, and put a red, white, and blue bow on it."

"And print on it 'American Order of Junior Woodworkers'."

"Not a bad idea either; we can find lots of boys who would be glad to join and come here Saturdays to work in the shop."

"There would be no trouble to get candidates; the trouble would be to take care of them. They would fill the yard and overflow into the street," said Ralph.

"But why couldn't we——"

"Come now, let's do one thing at a time; you are supposed to be learning mechanical drawing. We'll leave the organization of the A. O. J. W. till another time. I'm going to show you how to use the compasses."

While they were drawing the circle, quarterfoil, heart, and oval, shown inFig. 20, Ralph reviewed his pupil on the meaning of diameter, radius, circumference, etc. "If you want to cut hearts out of paper or wood, I would advise you to wait until St. Valentine's Day, and reserve the oval or egg until Easter.

Fig. 20

"The circle is a wonderful figure. By marking the radius off on the circumference, with the compasses, we find that the former divides the latter into exactly six equal parts, and by connecting the points, we have a perfect hexagon. By connecting the alternate points we obtain a perfect equilateral triangle, and by connecting the remaining points we get another triangle of the same size. The two triangles form a six-pointed star. (Fig. 21.)

"Now," said Ralph, "I am going to give you a problem by dictation; all you have to do is to obey orders. First draw a circle 31⁄2inches in diameter."

"What's the radius?" asked Harry.

"That's for you to find out."

Harry thought a moment, divided three and a half by two, and setting his compasses at 13⁄4, drew the circle.

"Now divide the circumference into three equal parts."

Fig. 21. Triangle, hexagon and star

The boy puzzled over this for a moment, then marked off the radius, cutting the circumference into six parts, as if for a hexagon, and erased every other point, leaving three.

"Draw radial lines from these points to the centre."

"Easy," remarked Harry, and drew a line from each point to the centre with the edge of one of his triangles.

"Find the centre of each of those lines."

"Easy again," said the boy, as he set his compassesat7⁄8of an inch, and from the centre of the circle cut each of the straight lines with an arc. (Fig. 22.)

"Draw a semicircle from each of these points with a radius of5⁄8of an inch."

"Easier still," quoth Harry, as he drew the semicircles. The drawing then looked likea(Fig. 22).

Fig. 22. Pulley design

"Now," said the teacher, "let me show you something." He made a few strokes with the compasses, and the drawing as shown atbwas finished. "That is enough for to-day. The compasses are about the easiest of all instruments to use, provided you keep in mind that the pencil point needs to be sharpened to a chisel, or flat shape, the same as any other drawing pencil. The number of designs which may be made with it are simply endless, as you will learn later on."

The next day, as they were about to resume their study, Ralph said: "There is so much to drawing that I hardly know where to begin, or what to leave out; but in shop drawing, a picture will not do; imagine an architect trying to build a skyscraper from a picture. The shop drawing must tell the mechanic everything he needs to know about the object he is making. He cannot keep running to the office asking questions; the drawing must answer them all. That is the reason why the draughting-room is such an important part of every manufacturing plant. Drawing is the language the designer uses to tell the workmen what he wants made. It is doubly important when the designer is hundreds or thousands of miles away from the workman.

"A battle-ship can be designed in Australia and built in England, so this language of the shop has grown to be a very interesting and important art. Every one who works with tools must learn it sooner or later, the sooner the better.

Fig. 23. Front and top views

"Usually it is necessary to represent even the simplest object by at least two views. For example, suppose I hand you this sketcha(Fig. 23), and tell you to make two out of wood. You wouldn't know what to do because no thickness is shown, but if I give you this sketchb, you would see immediately that it has practically no thickness and might be a sheet of paper. You learn that from the top view looking down on it.

Fig. 24. Showing necessity for top view

"The first view is called the front view. Now, suppose I change the top view to thisc; thickness is shown here, and if I say, make two of these out of white pine, you would know all that would be necessary to go ahead.

"Again, suppose I give you this sketcha(Fig. 24), and ask you to make two out of gum wood. You would be completely at sea, because that front view might have any one of these top views shown atb,c,d,e(Fig. 24). In other words, it might be a triangle without thickness, a wedge, cone, or pyramid.

Fig. 25. Three views of a book

"So you see, two views are absolutely necessary, and very often a third, taken from the right or left side. The three views of a book would look likeFig. 25. The side view is not necessary in this case, but that is the way it would be drawn if a third were needed. You will have plenty of opportunities for practising this as we get along with our tool work, because in order to understand drawings you must be able to make them. Suppose you try your hand now, by drawing the two views of a cylinder, two inches in diameter and three inches high."

Ralph rolled a sheet of paper up until the ends met, to illustrate a cylinder, and the drawing produced by Harry looked likea. (Fig. 26.)

Fig. 26. Mechanical drawings of cylinder and cone

"Now," said Ralph, "no shop drawing is complete unless it shows all the necessary dimensions; so I will put them on to show you how it is done, but after this you must dimension every drawing you make."

The finished drawing of the cylinder is shown atb.

Harry was told to make the mechanical drawing of a cone, 2 inches in diameter, and 3 inches high.While he was working at this problem, Ralph disappeared, and when he returned Harry asked where he had been.

Fig. 27. Making a tip cat

"Never mind. Let me see your drawing,"c(Fig. 26). "All right." Then he laid a little wooden object on the table.

"Why, it's a cat," said Harry.

"Yes, a tip cat, and as soon as you make a working drawing of it, you are going to manufactureone with your knife. Please notice that the tip cat is a cylinder with a cone at each end, and two views will show everything about it."

The drawing took longer to make than Harry imagined it would; or it seemed longer because he was so impatient to get to work with his knife. His finished drawing is shown ata(Fig. 28).

The different stages in the making of the tip cat are shown inFig. 27.

Fig. 28. Second tip cat

First came the squaring up, shown ata. Then the two ends were whittled down to wedges as shown atb, and these two ends reduced to square pyramids, as atc.

Lines a quarter of an inch from each edge were drawn on the four sides of the square part and continued out to the points of the pyramids, as atd. Cutting to this line changed the square to an octagon, and the square pyramids to octagonal ones.

The edges were again whittled off until there were no more to be seen; the cat was smoothed with sand-paper, and called finished.

Harry was delighted, but Ralph said: "That is not the best form for a tip cat, because it will roll. We will make a bat for it now, and after we have played with it awhile, we'll make a better one; just the same except that the centre part will be left square and only the ends rounded." (Fig. 28,b.)

The bat they made is shown inFig. 29. Its handle was cut out with the coping saw and whittled to the lines. Ralph explained that anything to be held should be rounded, or it would be hard on the hand, so all the edges were curved with the knife and finished with sand-paper.

Fig. 29. Bat for tip cat

They had so much fun with the cat and bat thatwoodwork was forgotten for two afternoons. The third day it rained, so the boys were glad to get at work again in the shop.

Ralph suggested that, as they were doing so much drawing, it might be well to make a pencil sharpener.

The drawing they produced is shown inFig. 30. This was easily worked out in1⁄8-inch wood with a piece of sand-paper glued in the oblong space.

Fig. 30. Pencil sharpener

The sand-paper suggested match scratchers, and as they are useful articles, several designs were worked up for Christmas gifts. Three of these are shown inFig. 31, but after a good deal of discussion it was decided that for scratching matches a longer space for sand-paper was necessary, and three other designs (Fig. 32) were the result of several hours' work.

Fig. 31. First match scratchers

"I'm getting tired of match scratchers," exclaimed Harry; "let's make some toys!"

Fig. 32. Later designs in match scratchers

"Very well, we'll get ready for Santa Claus, and provide a stock of things for our numerous young cousins," replied Ralph. "This will give us a chance to use our coping saw, and I have been wanting to do that for a long time."

"In making presents for little children," said Ralph, "we must always remember that the toys will be played with and receive a great deal of rough handling. So to begin with, they must be strong and of simple construction. The youngsters don't care so much for finely finished articles as older people do, and they tire very quickly of things that are so complicated that they get out of order easily. Suppose we first make some neat boxes. They can be filled with candy, and after that is gone they will be used for a long time to keep treasures in."

Fig. 33shows the drawing of the first box the boys made. The two oblong pieces form the top and bottom. The latter was nailed on with3⁄8-inch brads. The two cleats were nailed to the under side of the top to hold it in place, while the sides and ends were fastened with a little glue, and one brad in the centre. This made a very serviceable box, the material being basswood3⁄16of an inch thick.

Fig. 33. Toy box

The sled shown inFig. 34came next, made ofthe same material as the box. Ralph was delighted with its strength and graceful lines. Two cleatswere glued into the grooves in the sides, and the top nailed on with3⁄8-inch brads.

Fig. 34. The toy sled

In each case the drawing was made directly on the wood, which was sawed close to the lines with the coping saw, and finished to the lines with the knife.

The dog house (Fig. 35) brought out some new features of construction. The opening in front was cut out with the saw and finished as usual. Sides and ends were then put together with glue. The two pieces forming the roof were nailed together with3⁄8-inch brads, to make a right angle and were then placed in position and nailed to the front and back pieces.

Ralph explained that it was a saving of time and trouble to draw a light pencil line to mark thelocation of the brads. If this is not done, the brads are apt to come out in the wrong place and will then have to be withdrawn and placed again. This is a waste of time and it very often spoils the looks of the work, so that the drawing of the pencil lines really saves time in the end, and the lines can be erased.

Fig. 35. The dog house

Fig. 36. Indian chief

"We can make any amount of this dolls' furniture," said Ralph. "In fact we could build a doll's house and equip it with chairs, tables, and beds, but what the youngsters really like best is something that works, something that moves, so I move—no pun intended—that we design a toy that has some life to it. We can cut it out with the coping saw and there need not be a great deal of knife work to it. Suppose we make an Indian paddling a canoe!" This was more of a problem than they hadbargained for, as it was necessary to look through an encyclopædia to find pictures of canoes, Indians, tomahawks, etc. Harry traced the figure of an Indian chief, transferred it to the surface of a piece of1⁄8-inch basswood, and on sawing it out found that he had a very good silhouette of an Indian, but it did not move (Fig. 36). The problem was still unsolved, and experiments along that line used up several afternoons.

Fig. 37. Indian paddlers

Fig. 38. Indian paddlers. Separate parts cut out and assembled

What was finally worked out is shown inFig. 37. The arms were made separate from the body, and were fastened to both the paddles and the bodies by brads, which acted as pivots. The bodies were then fastened to the canoe in the same way, but a little glue was used as well as brads, as they were tobe immovable. How to make the paddlers move in unison was a hard problem, finally solved by fastening a narrow strip of wood to the lower part of each paddle. It was found that by moving thisstrip back and forth the two figures moved with the precision of a machine. In each case where a pivot was required it seemed only necessary to drive in a3⁄8-inch brad. (Fig. 38.)

The success of this moving toy was so great that the boys went rushing into the house to show it to the family.

Soon they came rushing back again, determined to try their skill on something else. Ralph had to remind Harry that the Indian paddlers were not yet finished, as the toy would not stand up, so the standards shown atbwere sawed out, smoothed with the knife, and one fastened at each end, as a support, by means of brads and glue.

Fig. 39. The fencers

After much boyish arguing, it was decided next to try two swordsmen fencing. This called for some posing, and looking in books to get the correctposition of a man fencing. The drawing shown inFig. 39was finally copied from a book on athletic sports.

The different parts of the figures are shown clearly in the illustration. It was found, by experimenting with paper figures, that by making one leg of each figure in two parts, the body, arms, and other leg could be sawed out of one piece.

The work of cutting out and assembling this combination, seemed much easier now that the boys had gotten into the swing of it, and they were so anxious to see it work that they almost spoiled it in their haste. The swords, or foils, were made of two pieces of soft iron wire.

Ralph insisted on filing these out flat near the ends to make them look realistic, and they were fastened by drilling a hole in each hand, passing the wire through and clinching it with a pair of pliers. It was much safer to drill these holes, as a brad awl sometimes splits wood that is very thin. This combination worked to perfection, and while they were trying it Harry caught a glimpse of its shadow on the table. The silhouette in black looked even more realistic than the toy itself, and it gave the boys an idea. (Fig. 40.)

These toys could be used for moving shadowpictures, and immediately their imagination began to conjure up the programme of a show.

"Our first selection, ladies and gentlemen, will be a shadow picture, entitled 'Before the Coming of the White Men'," exclaimed Harry, moving the Indian paddlers.

Fig. 40. The fencers. Pieces assembled

"And our next will be entitled 'The Duel'," said Ralph.

"Not a very good historical show," said Harry. "We ought to have the 'Landing of theMayflower'."

"Not a bad idea, either," said Ralph. "I think we could rig up a ship in a storm. Let's try that next."

The problem of making a ship roll proved somewhat of a strain on the engineering corner of Ralph's brain, and after awhile Harry grew restless.

"Can't you give me something to do while you are designing that ocean?" he said.

Ralph, pausing a moment, replied, "Yes, try two men sawing a log."

Harry began to draw, but found that he knew very little about saws, so had to go out and look at one, measured it, and after awhile produced the sketch shown inFig. 41. Ralph criticised it rather severely, suggesting the addition of a log and saw buck, and advised that the arms of the men and saw be cut out of one piece. The drawing shows the separated pieces, two bodies, four legs, a saw and arms in one piece, two straight pieces for the saw buck, the log, and a little triangular piece to go between log and saw buck. The object of this triangle is to leave a space between the logand saw buck for the passage of the saw back and forth, as shown in the sectional view.

The two pieces forming the buck were halved together, and the log, triangle, and buck are fastened with glue and two brads.

Fig. 41. The sawyers

After all the pieces had been cut out, the men were first put together by fastening both legs to the body with one3⁄8-inch brad.

The feet were next fastened to the straight piece, 10 inches long, representing the ground, by onebrad through each foot, the bodies standing upright, and the feet two inches apart. The arms came next, with one brad through each man's shoulder, and lastly, the saw buck, with the log already fastened rigidly to it, was nailed on the back of the ground piece with the log in front of the saw. To make this toy stand up, two standards were fastened to the ends of the ground piece, the same size as those attached to the fencers inFig. 40.

It took Harry two hours to make this figure in wood, after he had the drawing finished. In the meantime Ralph had worked out a scheme for giving a boat a rolling motion.

"We'll be mechanical engineers by the time we finish this," he told Harry. "This piece of mechanism calls for a crank, a shaft, two bearings, and a cam, not to mention a ship, an ocean, and a few miscellaneous articles too trivial to mention."

Fig. 42. Boat in storm

The various parts of "the ship in a heavy sea" are shown inFig. 42. Atais the cam, atbthe crank and handle, and atcthe shaft. The boat was sketched free hand and cut out with the coping saw in one piece by sawing exactly on the lines. The ocean was represented by two pieces corresponding to the ground piece in the sawyers, and the wavy outline was not made until everything had been cut out and the combination was ready for assembling.

The most difficult part—the shaft—was made first, and entirely with the knife: A piece of basswood was cut exactly a quarter of an inch square, a section was marked in the centre of this3⁄16inch wide, and notches were made on each corner. The two ends were then whittled to an octagonal shape and rounded. The square section in the centre was reduced to1⁄8inch wide and the rounded ends sand-papered smooth.

Next, the cam was cut out, and the square hole made. This was accomplished, after spoiling one, by drilling a quarter of an inch hole in the square and cutting the opening square with the point of the knife.

The object of the square opening was to prevent the cam from slipping when in operation. The cam was then placed over the round part of the shaft and glued to the square section, over which it fitted snugly. Next came the crank. This was made the same shape as the cam, but the1⁄4inch hole drilled in one end was left round, while the other was cut square as in the cam. The shaft fitted into the round hole and was glued in after the assembling. For the handle on the crank, apiece1⁄4inch square was fitted into the square hole, and the rest of it whittled round and sand-papered.

Two cleats, 2 inch ×1⁄4×3⁄16inch, were cut out with the saw and everything was ready for assembling. The two sides of the ocean were held together and the1⁄4-inch hole atddrilled through both pieces at once.

The two notches atewere cut after the assembling was finished. After the holes were drilled, the wavy line was sawed, and the two ends of the shaft inserted in the holes with the cam inside.

The two cleats were inserted in the ends of the ocean and fastened with brads and glue.

Next, the boat was slipped in between the two sides, with the sloping stern just touching the cam, and a3⁄8-inch brad was driven through the three thicknesses, sides and boat.

The crank was next slipped over the shaft and glued in position. The crank handle was inserted into the square hole and fastened with glue, and lastly a light rubber band was slipped over the notch on the stern of the boat and the two corresponding notches on the bottom of the ocean. This was to hold the boat against the cam, which gives the motion.

To make this toy more realistic, the boys got outa box of water colors, painted the body of the boat black, the ocean green, and left the basswood sails their natural color—white.

Fig. 43. Turkey and executioner

"There," said Ralph when it was finished, "the youngsters can raise a storm at any time they like by simply turning the crank. This toy ought to be very serviceable, as it can't very well get out of order and is almost unbreakable."

The subject of moving toys is almost endless, being limited only by the imagination of the designer. Thanksgiving suggested the turkey andthe axe, and in the toy these boys worked out the turkey evades the axe every time.

The parts are shown inFig. 43. The legs of the turkey are stuck rigidly to the body by brads and a little glue, and they are fastened to the ground piece by one brad, which acts as a pivot.

The axeman's body and right leg are in one piece, the left leg being in two pieces. The arms adhere rigidly to the body, and the axe to the hands, by means of brads. The operating strip is1⁄4inch wide and 9 inches long.

It is fastened between the legs of the turkey, and to the rigid leg of the man, by one brad for pivot in each case.

The stump is nailed to the ground strip from the front.

The boys found this making of toys so fascinating that one was barely finished before another was suggested. So absorbed did they become that even meals were forgotten, and they regarded it as a hardship to be called in to supper, while to be told that it was bedtime was absolute cruelty. They found that it saved time to be systematic, and the usual method of procedure was about as follows:

Fig. 44. The boxers

First, to decide on the practicability of the idea. Second, to sketch out a skeleton figure, as ina(Fig. 44), the boxers. When the proper action was secured in these skeleton figures, the bodies were sketched roughly around them as shown atb. Third, the movement of the figures was thought out, and separate drawings traced from the assembled drawing on tracing paper. Fourth, these separate pieces were traced on1⁄8-inch basswood with the grain of the wood running the long way of the piece, wherever it was possible. Fifth, thepieces were sawed out, and the edges smoothed with knife and sand-paper. Very often, through anxiety to see how it worked, the smoothing of the edges was neglected. Sixth, the parts were put together with brads, and where the points came through they were bent over or "clinched" on thefurther side. Seventh, after experiments to discover the best position for it, the moving strip was fastened to the legs by3⁄8-inch brads, and last of all the feet were pivoted to the ground piece in the same way.

Fig. 45. The boxers assembled

The boys learned many things not to do: for example, all the finer details of the face and hands must be omitted, as they are very apt to be broken off in sawing. It was found best to make the feet nearly round or the brads would split the wood. For that reason wherever a brad has to be driven through, the arm or leg should be made larger than the proportionate size.

Fig. 46. The racing automobile

The most surprising feature about the figures was the fact that the shadow they cast on a white wall or sheet was more realistic than the figures themselves, and our boys never tired of exercising these toys in order to watch the shadow pictures.

Of all combinations, perhaps the design and construction of a racing automobile, that would actually go, gave them the greatest amount of amusement as well as the largest number of problems to solve.The history of trials and failures need not be given, but the machine, as finished, is shown inFig. 46. The body and hood are comparatively simple. The principal trouble, as with larger machines, was with the motive power, and the boys finally compromised by using a rubber band. The four wheels were sawed out of3⁄16-inch basswood, and smoothed with sand-paper, the two driving wheels for the rear having a1⁄4-inch hole drilled to receive the ends of the axle. The rear axle was1⁄4inch square at the centre for half an inch, and the rest of it1⁄4inch in diameter, rounded with the knife and sand-paper. The total length of the axle was four inches, and the wheel base seven and one-half inches.

For the driving gear, three disks shown ata(Fig. 47) were sawed out, the two large ones, 11⁄4inches in diameter, from1⁄8-inch basswood. The edges of these two were rounded with knife and sand-paper. The small disk,3⁄4inch in diameter, was cut from1⁄4-inch wood or two1⁄8-inch pieces placed together and glued.

Fig. 47. Pieces of racing automobile

A square hole was cut through the centre of each of these disks with a knife, and they were then put together with glue and brads, making a very serviceable grooved pulley, which was slipped over theshaft and fitted over the square part in the centre. As it was a snug fit no glue was necessary, and the square part prevented the pulley from slipping onthe shaft. The forward axle was made 33⁄4inches long,1⁄4of an inch square, except at the ends, where for a distance of5⁄16inch it was rounded,1⁄4inch in diameter. This completed the wheels, axles, and transmission pulley.

The chassis, or frame, which supports the body, consists of two pieces of3⁄16-inch basswood 8 inches long and1⁄2inch wide, with a1⁄4-inch hole drilled1⁄4inch from each end. The floor of the auto, on which the body rests, is1⁄8-inch basswood 6 × 31⁄2inches, and it binds the whole machine together, giving it strength and rigidity, but it must not be fastened in place until the structure is ready for assembling.

The hood is simply a box 31⁄4inches long, 21⁄2inches wide, and 11⁄4inches high without a bottom. The top piece may be left unfastened, if desired, with two cleats on the under side to hold it in position. The hood then becomes an available place to keep small articles, tools, etc.

The body of the automobile is composed of five pieces: the two sides of the shape shown atb, the dash-board, to which they are fastened with brads, the seat, and the back. This body can be taken off and replaced by other bodies, made to represent roadsters, touring cars, limousines, etc.

A block of1⁄4-inch basswood3⁄4inch square is fastened to the dash-board. This block has a3⁄16-inch hole drilled through it at an angle of forty-five degrees, and into this hole is glued the steering-gear, consisting of a basswood stick, whittled to3⁄16inch diameter, with a1⁄8-inch wheel 11⁄4inches in diameter fastened at the top,d.

The method of assembling is important. First, insert the front and rear axles through the holes or bearings in the chassis, or frame; then nail the floor to the frame with3⁄8-inch brads. This gives a rigid structure to work on, the front edge of the floor being even with the forward ends of the frame. Now screw into the under side of the floor, 11⁄4inches from the front end, a1⁄2-inch screw eye or screw hook, or even a flat-head nail. This is to hold one end of the rubber band which is to supply the motive power.

The hood may now be put together and fastened even with the front of the machine by nailing it from the bottom with brads. The body is put on by nailing the two sides to the dash-board, and the dash-board to the hood. The seat and seat-back are afterward put in place with brads and the steering-gear glued in position against the dash-board.

The wheels should be put on last of all. Before placing them in position, slip two or three new rubber bands over the screw hook under the car, and tie the free end to the driving pulley so tightly that the cord will not slip on the pulley.

The front wheels are fastened to the axles by1⁄2-inch flat-head wire nails, and worked until they revolve freely on these pivots; the flat head holds the wheel on.

The rear wheels are the drivers, and must be fastened rigidly to the axle by glue. When the glue has hardened—this takes several hours—the machine may be sent across the room on the floor by winding the rear axle backward as much as the rubber bands will permit without breaking, and setting the machine on the floor.

The first time the boys tried it, the rubber band uncoiled so quickly that the auto shot across the room and nearly wrecked itself against the wall. This was too realistic, especially as it broke one of the forward wheels, and a new one had to be made.

When such an automobile is to be presented to little children who want to draw it around with a string, it is necessary to remove the rubber band; otherwise the rear wheels will drag.

When our boys had finished their machine, thequestion came up to whom it should be given for Christmas, and Harry blurted out, "I want it myself." This was the greatest of all their difficulties. When they had finished a piece of work they hated to part with it, but Ralph was older, and he knew that as Harry became interested in new things he would gradually lose interest in the old ones. So they played with this machine, made another with a roadster body, and auto races became the rage for awhile. After several afternoons of racing, they decided, just as their elders had done before them, that what their machines needed was improved motive power. The accomplishment of this would take them out of the realm of woodwork, so Ralph suggested that they stick to their motto of "one thing at a time." "And our business just now is woodwork."

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