Comic-Strip “Talkies”

GIVE CHILDREN ENDLESS FUN AT HOME

By Morton Bartlett

UNIQUE comic-strip “talkies” can be given in your own home at trifling cost. The pictures are thrown upon a screen by means of a simply made magic lantern, and the children speak the lines of the various characters through a home microphone connected to an ordinary radio receiving set.

The materials are listed on page 85. The first step is to make the lantern. Its width is equal to the focal length of the magnifying glass which will be the lens. Determine this by tacking a piece of paper against the wall 10 ft. from a lighted lamp. Hold a ruler perpendicular to the paper, and run the lens, perpendicular to the ruler, along the inch marks. At some point a clear image of the lamp will be seen on the paper. The focal length may now be read from the ruler. This distance is the dimension YM in the drawings. Having found this basic dimension, cut ten pieces of wood as specified in the list.

ELECTROMAGNET Drives VIBRATING JIG SAW

ONE of the most useful of all power tools for the home workshop, yet perhaps the easiest to make, is the vibrator type electric jig saw. You may use such a saw to cut intricate patterns in wood as thick as 1/2-inch, or as thin as 1/16-inch. The great speed at which the saw travels provides smooth and accurate cuts. With no rotating parts, a jig saw of this type should last indefinitely.

An electro-magnet attracts and releases a metal diaphragm to which is attached a saw blade. A flat steel spring supports and gives necessary tension to the upper end of the saw blade. With the unit adjusted properly, the stroke will be about 5/8-inch.

The speed of this saw depends upon the frequency of the A. C. power used, as the magnet is energized and de-energized twice for each cycle. Thus there will be 120 strokes per second when 60 cycle power is used for the electro-magnet.

Hydraulic Wheel-Chair Support

Anyone confined to a wheel chair will find use for this support, whether in the home or in business, as it permits the occupant to raise, lower, or turn the chair to any angle

By Clinton R. Hull

SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to hold the wheel chair of a handicapped filing clerk who uses a two-shelf, circular desk in his work, this swivel support is mounted on the hydraulically controlled column of an old barber chair. The latter not only permits a swivel action, but its hydraulic mechanism allows the wheel chair to be raised by its occupant to any height within the limits of the barber-chair column—in this case to permit the occupant to work from either level of the desk. It also positions the chair at a height most convenient for using a typewriter which is fitted on a swivel bracket mounted on the end support of the circular-desk shelf.