INTRODUCTIONOnce upon a time, and this is a true tale, a boy had a whole railroad system for a toy. The train ran automatically, propelled by tiny electric motors, the signals went up and down, the station was reached, a bell rang, the train moved on again and was off on its journey around many feet of track to come back over the old route.The boy viewed his gift with raptured eyes, and then his face changed and he cried out in the bitterness of his disappointment: "But what do I do?" The toy was so elaborate that the boy was left entirely out of the play. Of course he did not like it. His cry tells a long story.The prime instinct of almost any boy at play is tomakeand tocreate. He willmakethings of such materials as he has at hand, and use the whole force of dream and fancy to create something out of nothing. The five-year-old will lay half a dozen wooden blocks together with a spool on one end and tell you it is a steam train. And it is. He has both made and created an engine, which he sees but which you don’t, for the blocks and spool are only a symbol of his creation. Give his older brother a telephone receiver, some wire and bits of brass, and he will make a wireless telegraph outfit and listen to a steamship hundreds of miles away spell out its message to the shore.The wireless outfit is not a symbol, but something that you can both hear and see in operation even though you may not understand the whispering of the dots and dashes. And as soon as the mystery of this modern wonder more firmly grips your imagination, you perhaps may come to realize that we are living more and more in the age of electricity and mechanism. Electricity propels our trains, lights our houses and streets, makes our clothes, cures our ills, warms us, cooks for us and performs an innumerable number of other tasks at the turning of a little switch. A mere list is impossible.Almost every boy experiments at one time or another with electricity and electrical apparatus. It is my purpose in writing this book to open this wonderland of science and present it in a manner which can be readily understood, and wherein a boy may "do something." Of course there are other books with the same purport, but they do not accomplish their end. They are not practical. I can say this because as a boy I have read and studied them and they have fallen far short of teaching me or my companions the things that we were seeking to learn. If they have failed in this respect, they have done so perhaps not through any inability of the author, but from the fact that they have not been written from theboy’s standpoint. They tell what the authorthoughta boy ought to know but not what he really does want to know. The apparatus described therein is for the most part imaginary. The author thought it might be possible for a boy to build motors, telegraph instruments, etc., out of old bolts and tin cans, buthe never tried to do so himself.The apparatus and experiments that I have described have been constructed and carried out byboys. Their problems and their questions have been studied and remedied. I have tried to present practical matter considered wholly from a boy’s standpoint, and to show the young experimenter just what he can do with the tools and materials in his possession or not hard to obtain.To the boy interested in science, a wide field is open. There is no better education for any boy than to begin at the bottom of the ladder and climb the rungs of scientific knowledge, step by step. It equips him with information which may prove of inestimable worth in an opportune moment.There is an apt illustration in the boy who watched his mother empty a jug of molasses into a bowl and replace the cork. His mother told him not to disturb the jug, as it was empty. He persisted, however, and turned the jug upside down. No more molasses came, butout crawled a fly. New developments in science will never cease. Invention will follow invention. The unexpected is often a valuable clue. The Edisons and Teslas of to-day have not discovered everything.There is a fly in the molasses, to be had by persistence. Inspiration is but a starting-point. Success means work, days, nights, weeks, and years.There can be no boy who will follow exactly any directions given to him, or do exactly as he is told, of his own free will. He will "bolt" at the first opportunity. If forced or obliged to do as he is directed, his action will be accompanied by many a "why?" Therefore in presenting the following chapters I have not only told how tomakethe various motors, telegraphs, telephones, radio receivers, etc. but have also explained the principles of electricity upon which they depend for their operation, and how the same thing is accomplished in the every-day world. In giving directions or offering cautions, I have usually stated the reason for so doing, in the hope that this information may be a stimulant to the imagination of the young experimenter and a useful guide in enabling him to proceed along some of the strange roads on which he will surely go.ALFRED P. MORGANUPPER MONTCLAIR, N. J.ContentsTHE BOY ELECTRICIANINTRODUCTIONCHAPTER I MAGNETS AND MAGNETISMCHAPTER II STATIC ELECTRICITYCHAPTER III STATIC ELECTRIC MACHINESCHAPTER IV CELLS AND BATTERIESCHAPTER V ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND MAGNETIC INDUCTIONCHAPTER VI ELECTRICAL UNITSCHAPTER VII ELECTRICAL APPURTENANCESCHAPTER VIII ELECTRICAL MEASURING INSTRUMENTSCHAPTER IX BELLS, ALARMS, AND ANNUNCIATORSCHAPTER X ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHSCHAPTER XI MICROPHONES AND TELEPHONESCHAPTER XII INDUCTION COILSCHAPTER XIII TRANSFORMERSCHAPTER VIV WIRELESS TELEGRAPHYCHAPTER XV A WIRELESS TELEPHONECHAPTER XVI ELECTRIC MOTORSCHAPTER XVII DYNAMOSCHAPTER XVIII AN ELECTRIC RAILWAYCHAPTER XIX MINIATURE LIGHTINGCHAPTER XX MISCELLANEOUS ELECTRICAL APPARATUSThe Full Project Gutenberg LicenseSection 1. General Terms of Use & Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic worksSection 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive FoundationSection 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive FoundationSection 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works.
INTRODUCTIONOnce upon a time, and this is a true tale, a boy had a whole railroad system for a toy. The train ran automatically, propelled by tiny electric motors, the signals went up and down, the station was reached, a bell rang, the train moved on again and was off on its journey around many feet of track to come back over the old route.The boy viewed his gift with raptured eyes, and then his face changed and he cried out in the bitterness of his disappointment: "But what do I do?" The toy was so elaborate that the boy was left entirely out of the play. Of course he did not like it. His cry tells a long story.The prime instinct of almost any boy at play is tomakeand tocreate. He willmakethings of such materials as he has at hand, and use the whole force of dream and fancy to create something out of nothing. The five-year-old will lay half a dozen wooden blocks together with a spool on one end and tell you it is a steam train. And it is. He has both made and created an engine, which he sees but which you don’t, for the blocks and spool are only a symbol of his creation. Give his older brother a telephone receiver, some wire and bits of brass, and he will make a wireless telegraph outfit and listen to a steamship hundreds of miles away spell out its message to the shore.The wireless outfit is not a symbol, but something that you can both hear and see in operation even though you may not understand the whispering of the dots and dashes. And as soon as the mystery of this modern wonder more firmly grips your imagination, you perhaps may come to realize that we are living more and more in the age of electricity and mechanism. Electricity propels our trains, lights our houses and streets, makes our clothes, cures our ills, warms us, cooks for us and performs an innumerable number of other tasks at the turning of a little switch. A mere list is impossible.Almost every boy experiments at one time or another with electricity and electrical apparatus. It is my purpose in writing this book to open this wonderland of science and present it in a manner which can be readily understood, and wherein a boy may "do something." Of course there are other books with the same purport, but they do not accomplish their end. They are not practical. I can say this because as a boy I have read and studied them and they have fallen far short of teaching me or my companions the things that we were seeking to learn. If they have failed in this respect, they have done so perhaps not through any inability of the author, but from the fact that they have not been written from theboy’s standpoint. They tell what the authorthoughta boy ought to know but not what he really does want to know. The apparatus described therein is for the most part imaginary. The author thought it might be possible for a boy to build motors, telegraph instruments, etc., out of old bolts and tin cans, buthe never tried to do so himself.The apparatus and experiments that I have described have been constructed and carried out byboys. Their problems and their questions have been studied and remedied. I have tried to present practical matter considered wholly from a boy’s standpoint, and to show the young experimenter just what he can do with the tools and materials in his possession or not hard to obtain.To the boy interested in science, a wide field is open. There is no better education for any boy than to begin at the bottom of the ladder and climb the rungs of scientific knowledge, step by step. It equips him with information which may prove of inestimable worth in an opportune moment.There is an apt illustration in the boy who watched his mother empty a jug of molasses into a bowl and replace the cork. His mother told him not to disturb the jug, as it was empty. He persisted, however, and turned the jug upside down. No more molasses came, butout crawled a fly. New developments in science will never cease. Invention will follow invention. The unexpected is often a valuable clue. The Edisons and Teslas of to-day have not discovered everything.There is a fly in the molasses, to be had by persistence. Inspiration is but a starting-point. Success means work, days, nights, weeks, and years.There can be no boy who will follow exactly any directions given to him, or do exactly as he is told, of his own free will. He will "bolt" at the first opportunity. If forced or obliged to do as he is directed, his action will be accompanied by many a "why?" Therefore in presenting the following chapters I have not only told how tomakethe various motors, telegraphs, telephones, radio receivers, etc. but have also explained the principles of electricity upon which they depend for their operation, and how the same thing is accomplished in the every-day world. In giving directions or offering cautions, I have usually stated the reason for so doing, in the hope that this information may be a stimulant to the imagination of the young experimenter and a useful guide in enabling him to proceed along some of the strange roads on which he will surely go.ALFRED P. MORGANUPPER MONTCLAIR, N. J.ContentsTHE BOY ELECTRICIANINTRODUCTIONCHAPTER I MAGNETS AND MAGNETISMCHAPTER II STATIC ELECTRICITYCHAPTER III STATIC ELECTRIC MACHINESCHAPTER IV CELLS AND BATTERIESCHAPTER V ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND MAGNETIC INDUCTIONCHAPTER VI ELECTRICAL UNITSCHAPTER VII ELECTRICAL APPURTENANCESCHAPTER VIII ELECTRICAL MEASURING INSTRUMENTSCHAPTER IX BELLS, ALARMS, AND ANNUNCIATORSCHAPTER X ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHSCHAPTER XI MICROPHONES AND TELEPHONESCHAPTER XII INDUCTION COILSCHAPTER XIII TRANSFORMERSCHAPTER VIV WIRELESS TELEGRAPHYCHAPTER XV A WIRELESS TELEPHONECHAPTER XVI ELECTRIC MOTORSCHAPTER XVII DYNAMOSCHAPTER XVIII AN ELECTRIC RAILWAYCHAPTER XIX MINIATURE LIGHTINGCHAPTER XX MISCELLANEOUS ELECTRICAL APPARATUSThe Full Project Gutenberg LicenseSection 1. General Terms of Use & Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic worksSection 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive FoundationSection 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive FoundationSection 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works.
INTRODUCTIONOnce upon a time, and this is a true tale, a boy had a whole railroad system for a toy. The train ran automatically, propelled by tiny electric motors, the signals went up and down, the station was reached, a bell rang, the train moved on again and was off on its journey around many feet of track to come back over the old route.The boy viewed his gift with raptured eyes, and then his face changed and he cried out in the bitterness of his disappointment: "But what do I do?" The toy was so elaborate that the boy was left entirely out of the play. Of course he did not like it. His cry tells a long story.The prime instinct of almost any boy at play is tomakeand tocreate. He willmakethings of such materials as he has at hand, and use the whole force of dream and fancy to create something out of nothing. The five-year-old will lay half a dozen wooden blocks together with a spool on one end and tell you it is a steam train. And it is. He has both made and created an engine, which he sees but which you don’t, for the blocks and spool are only a symbol of his creation. Give his older brother a telephone receiver, some wire and bits of brass, and he will make a wireless telegraph outfit and listen to a steamship hundreds of miles away spell out its message to the shore.The wireless outfit is not a symbol, but something that you can both hear and see in operation even though you may not understand the whispering of the dots and dashes. And as soon as the mystery of this modern wonder more firmly grips your imagination, you perhaps may come to realize that we are living more and more in the age of electricity and mechanism. Electricity propels our trains, lights our houses and streets, makes our clothes, cures our ills, warms us, cooks for us and performs an innumerable number of other tasks at the turning of a little switch. A mere list is impossible.Almost every boy experiments at one time or another with electricity and electrical apparatus. It is my purpose in writing this book to open this wonderland of science and present it in a manner which can be readily understood, and wherein a boy may "do something." Of course there are other books with the same purport, but they do not accomplish their end. They are not practical. I can say this because as a boy I have read and studied them and they have fallen far short of teaching me or my companions the things that we were seeking to learn. If they have failed in this respect, they have done so perhaps not through any inability of the author, but from the fact that they have not been written from theboy’s standpoint. They tell what the authorthoughta boy ought to know but not what he really does want to know. The apparatus described therein is for the most part imaginary. The author thought it might be possible for a boy to build motors, telegraph instruments, etc., out of old bolts and tin cans, buthe never tried to do so himself.The apparatus and experiments that I have described have been constructed and carried out byboys. Their problems and their questions have been studied and remedied. I have tried to present practical matter considered wholly from a boy’s standpoint, and to show the young experimenter just what he can do with the tools and materials in his possession or not hard to obtain.To the boy interested in science, a wide field is open. There is no better education for any boy than to begin at the bottom of the ladder and climb the rungs of scientific knowledge, step by step. It equips him with information which may prove of inestimable worth in an opportune moment.There is an apt illustration in the boy who watched his mother empty a jug of molasses into a bowl and replace the cork. His mother told him not to disturb the jug, as it was empty. He persisted, however, and turned the jug upside down. No more molasses came, butout crawled a fly. New developments in science will never cease. Invention will follow invention. The unexpected is often a valuable clue. The Edisons and Teslas of to-day have not discovered everything.There is a fly in the molasses, to be had by persistence. Inspiration is but a starting-point. Success means work, days, nights, weeks, and years.There can be no boy who will follow exactly any directions given to him, or do exactly as he is told, of his own free will. He will "bolt" at the first opportunity. If forced or obliged to do as he is directed, his action will be accompanied by many a "why?" Therefore in presenting the following chapters I have not only told how tomakethe various motors, telegraphs, telephones, radio receivers, etc. but have also explained the principles of electricity upon which they depend for their operation, and how the same thing is accomplished in the every-day world. In giving directions or offering cautions, I have usually stated the reason for so doing, in the hope that this information may be a stimulant to the imagination of the young experimenter and a useful guide in enabling him to proceed along some of the strange roads on which he will surely go.ALFRED P. MORGANUPPER MONTCLAIR, N. J.ContentsTHE BOY ELECTRICIANINTRODUCTIONCHAPTER I MAGNETS AND MAGNETISMCHAPTER II STATIC ELECTRICITYCHAPTER III STATIC ELECTRIC MACHINESCHAPTER IV CELLS AND BATTERIESCHAPTER V ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND MAGNETIC INDUCTIONCHAPTER VI ELECTRICAL UNITSCHAPTER VII ELECTRICAL APPURTENANCESCHAPTER VIII ELECTRICAL MEASURING INSTRUMENTSCHAPTER IX BELLS, ALARMS, AND ANNUNCIATORSCHAPTER X ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHSCHAPTER XI MICROPHONES AND TELEPHONESCHAPTER XII INDUCTION COILSCHAPTER XIII TRANSFORMERSCHAPTER VIV WIRELESS TELEGRAPHYCHAPTER XV A WIRELESS TELEPHONECHAPTER XVI ELECTRIC MOTORSCHAPTER XVII DYNAMOSCHAPTER XVIII AN ELECTRIC RAILWAYCHAPTER XIX MINIATURE LIGHTINGCHAPTER XX MISCELLANEOUS ELECTRICAL APPARATUSThe Full Project Gutenberg LicenseSection 1. General Terms of Use & Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic worksSection 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive FoundationSection 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive FoundationSection 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works.
Once upon a time, and this is a true tale, a boy had a whole railroad system for a toy. The train ran automatically, propelled by tiny electric motors, the signals went up and down, the station was reached, a bell rang, the train moved on again and was off on its journey around many feet of track to come back over the old route.
The boy viewed his gift with raptured eyes, and then his face changed and he cried out in the bitterness of his disappointment: "But what do I do?" The toy was so elaborate that the boy was left entirely out of the play. Of course he did not like it. His cry tells a long story.
The prime instinct of almost any boy at play is tomakeand tocreate. He willmakethings of such materials as he has at hand, and use the whole force of dream and fancy to create something out of nothing. The five-year-old will lay half a dozen wooden blocks together with a spool on one end and tell you it is a steam train. And it is. He has both made and created an engine, which he sees but which you don’t, for the blocks and spool are only a symbol of his creation. Give his older brother a telephone receiver, some wire and bits of brass, and he will make a wireless telegraph outfit and listen to a steamship hundreds of miles away spell out its message to the shore.
The wireless outfit is not a symbol, but something that you can both hear and see in operation even though you may not understand the whispering of the dots and dashes. And as soon as the mystery of this modern wonder more firmly grips your imagination, you perhaps may come to realize that we are living more and more in the age of electricity and mechanism. Electricity propels our trains, lights our houses and streets, makes our clothes, cures our ills, warms us, cooks for us and performs an innumerable number of other tasks at the turning of a little switch. A mere list is impossible.
Almost every boy experiments at one time or another with electricity and electrical apparatus. It is my purpose in writing this book to open this wonderland of science and present it in a manner which can be readily understood, and wherein a boy may "do something." Of course there are other books with the same purport, but they do not accomplish their end. They are not practical. I can say this because as a boy I have read and studied them and they have fallen far short of teaching me or my companions the things that we were seeking to learn. If they have failed in this respect, they have done so perhaps not through any inability of the author, but from the fact that they have not been written from theboy’s standpoint. They tell what the authorthoughta boy ought to know but not what he really does want to know. The apparatus described therein is for the most part imaginary. The author thought it might be possible for a boy to build motors, telegraph instruments, etc., out of old bolts and tin cans, buthe never tried to do so himself.
The apparatus and experiments that I have described have been constructed and carried out byboys. Their problems and their questions have been studied and remedied. I have tried to present practical matter considered wholly from a boy’s standpoint, and to show the young experimenter just what he can do with the tools and materials in his possession or not hard to obtain.
To the boy interested in science, a wide field is open. There is no better education for any boy than to begin at the bottom of the ladder and climb the rungs of scientific knowledge, step by step. It equips him with information which may prove of inestimable worth in an opportune moment.
There is an apt illustration in the boy who watched his mother empty a jug of molasses into a bowl and replace the cork. His mother told him not to disturb the jug, as it was empty. He persisted, however, and turned the jug upside down. No more molasses came, butout crawled a fly. New developments in science will never cease. Invention will follow invention. The unexpected is often a valuable clue. The Edisons and Teslas of to-day have not discovered everything.There is a fly in the molasses, to be had by persistence. Inspiration is but a starting-point. Success means work, days, nights, weeks, and years.
There can be no boy who will follow exactly any directions given to him, or do exactly as he is told, of his own free will. He will "bolt" at the first opportunity. If forced or obliged to do as he is directed, his action will be accompanied by many a "why?" Therefore in presenting the following chapters I have not only told how tomakethe various motors, telegraphs, telephones, radio receivers, etc. but have also explained the principles of electricity upon which they depend for their operation, and how the same thing is accomplished in the every-day world. In giving directions or offering cautions, I have usually stated the reason for so doing, in the hope that this information may be a stimulant to the imagination of the young experimenter and a useful guide in enabling him to proceed along some of the strange roads on which he will surely go.
ALFRED P. MORGAN
UPPER MONTCLAIR, N. J.
Contents
THE BOY ELECTRICIANINTRODUCTIONCHAPTER I MAGNETS AND MAGNETISMCHAPTER II STATIC ELECTRICITYCHAPTER III STATIC ELECTRIC MACHINESCHAPTER IV CELLS AND BATTERIESCHAPTER V ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND MAGNETIC INDUCTIONCHAPTER VI ELECTRICAL UNITSCHAPTER VII ELECTRICAL APPURTENANCESCHAPTER VIII ELECTRICAL MEASURING INSTRUMENTSCHAPTER IX BELLS, ALARMS, AND ANNUNCIATORSCHAPTER X ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHSCHAPTER XI MICROPHONES AND TELEPHONESCHAPTER XII INDUCTION COILSCHAPTER XIII TRANSFORMERSCHAPTER VIV WIRELESS TELEGRAPHYCHAPTER XV A WIRELESS TELEPHONECHAPTER XVI ELECTRIC MOTORSCHAPTER XVII DYNAMOSCHAPTER XVIII AN ELECTRIC RAILWAYCHAPTER XIX MINIATURE LIGHTINGCHAPTER XX MISCELLANEOUS ELECTRICAL APPARATUSThe Full Project Gutenberg LicenseSection 1. General Terms of Use & Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic worksSection 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive FoundationSection 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive FoundationSection 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works.
THE BOY ELECTRICIAN
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I MAGNETS AND MAGNETISM
CHAPTER II STATIC ELECTRICITY
CHAPTER III STATIC ELECTRIC MACHINES
CHAPTER IV CELLS AND BATTERIES
CHAPTER V ELECTRO-MAGNETISM AND MAGNETIC INDUCTION
CHAPTER VI ELECTRICAL UNITS
CHAPTER VII ELECTRICAL APPURTENANCES
CHAPTER VIII ELECTRICAL MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
CHAPTER IX BELLS, ALARMS, AND ANNUNCIATORS
CHAPTER X ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS
CHAPTER XI MICROPHONES AND TELEPHONES
CHAPTER XII INDUCTION COILS
CHAPTER XIII TRANSFORMERS
CHAPTER VIV WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY
CHAPTER XV A WIRELESS TELEPHONE
CHAPTER XVI ELECTRIC MOTORS
CHAPTER XVII DYNAMOS
CHAPTER XVIII AN ELECTRIC RAILWAY
CHAPTER XIX MINIATURE LIGHTING
CHAPTER XX MISCELLANEOUS ELECTRICAL APPARATUS
The Full Project Gutenberg License
Section 1. General Terms of Use & Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works.