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ANY boy can build one of these mirror-scopes at a small expense, and for his efforts see, when looking through the peephole, three miniature objects increase to a multitude.
Here is the way it is done. Construct a wooden box about two feet long and five or six inches square.
Smokers will find this little elephant both an attractive and useful ornament for their dens. Pick him up and an ingenious switch inside him automatically turns on an electric cigarette lighter in his neck. Put him down and the lighter goes out. Only a few inexpensive parts are needed.
by Sewell V. Lehman
The Amateur Electrician Department offers this month plans for building an electric motor of extremely unique design. Powered by two solenoid magnets, it will easily operate small mechanical toys.
FROM a few odds and ends and a quantity of magnet wire you can construct an interesting little two-cylinder electric engine that resembles a steam engine in its actions. Electrical energy is transformed into mechanical motion by two solenoid magnets acting on iron pistons connected to a suitable crank shaft.
For novelty in radiator ornaments, you'll have to go a long way to beat this mechanical flying goose. As you speed along in your car, an ingenious arrangement of mechanism in the bird causes it to straighten out and flap its wings to simulate a real live goose in flight.
WHILE your car is standing still this wild goose isn't so wild. He perches sedately upon the radiator cap surveying the world with a glassy eye. But as soon as you start up and shift into high he flattens out his tail, stretches his neck forward and begins to flap his wings as if he were going somewhere, and going there in a hurry.
IF YOU happen to live outside the city and do not have access to local gas mains, you can nevertheless enjoy the use of gas-operated equipment by constructing the miniature gas plant pictured here. The amount of gas constantly "on tap" will depend on the size storage chamber built. Coal, corn cobs, or similar fuel is used as a source of the gas.
Simple Arc Light Works From Battery, Uses Pencil Leads for Electrodes TO MAKE an arc light of the simplest type only a few scrap parts are necessary. The sparking points of the arc are made from two pencil leads, the lower one being mounted in a plaster of paris cast, while the upper one is [...]
Build a Toy World from Spools and Scraps of Wood WITH some pieces of soft wood like pine, a collection of spools, a few sharp tools and a little ingenuity, you can make an endless variety of toys; in fact, create a whole toy world that will provide you with considerable enjoyment. The accompanying drawings [...]
HERE is a combination water and weight clock that anyone reasonably adept with a soldering iron can construct. It makes a novel addition to the den and generally draws the interest of persons unfamiliar with the principle on which it operates.
The important part of the clock is a metal drum partly filled with water. It is suspended by two cords wound around a rod which passes through the drum. Gravity tends to cause the drum to revolve as the cord unwinds, but this motion is controlled by three baffle plates, each pierced by a tiny hole, which are soldered within the drum.
by L. B. ROBBINS
There are few thrills equal to that of speeding over the frozen surface of a long lake in an air-driven ice sled. Utilizing an ordinary two-cylinder motorcycle engine you can easily construct this 50-mile-an-hour Ice Zipper and get the most exhilarating sensation known outside of actual flying.
HERE you are—you air-minded gang! A real speed wagon for use on a long, hard frozen lake. With one of these Ice Zippers you can get all the thrills of flying over the ice while hanging close to ground level. All you need is a high speed motorcycle engine, an air propeller and the mechanical ability to assemble the chassis and put the outfit in tune. With a motor capable of developing 1000 R.P.M., forty to fifty miles speed can be easily realized, and when you see the ice slipping under you at that rate you will know you are going some.
Four Novel Toys You Can Make With Rubber Balloons These drawings show the construction of four novel toys made from circus balloons that will prove highly fascinating. Fill the balloon with hydrogen and attach to it a postcard bearing your name, and a request to return it from whatever point it falls to earth. Thus [...]
ANYONE interested in experimental electricity can gain a great deal of knowledge and pleasure from the construction of this light-sensitive selenium cell, and have also a handy electric eye that will actuate through a relay any bell, motor or magnet circuit in the bargain.
First, in making the cell, notch the long edges of a piece of mica with about twenty teeth, and drill small holes in the corners, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Next tie the end of a length of No. 18 wire to one pair of holes in the mica and wind on approximately 10 turns, using every other notch along both top and bottom edges. Pull tight and tie the opposite end of the wire in the holes at the opposite end from where it was first tied. Do the same with the second piece of wire, tying the ends in the opposite corners. Fig. 3 will show this plainly. Then test out each winding as illustrated in Fig. 4. If the two windings touch at any point the lamp will light.
FIFTEEN men on the dead mans chest,
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest,
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
Pirates! That's exactly what the above chanty spells. This cribbage set is directly connected with a famous old pirate, the one that every one has heard about—Captain John Silver. What was the most conspicuous thing about old John Silver? You've guessed it! His peg leg! You just can't picture John Silver without a peg leg. This cribbage set utilizes that famous peg leg, or rather a miniature of it. The crotch of the leg holds the cards and the hollowed out peg holds the four cribbage pegs.
by DICK COLE
Using strips cut from old inner tubes as motive power, the Flivver-car described in this article by Mr. Cole can easily be built by any boy and will be an endless source of fun.
HERE is something which will gladden the heart of any boy—a car which goes by itself. The motive power is a rubber band motor. Just as twisted strands of rubber are used to whirl the propeller of a model aeroplane, so heavier strands can be used in a similar, manner to provide mechanical locomotion.
WITH a set of coaster wagon wheels and axles, an old auto gas tank and steering wheel, two tire pumps and odds and ends of lumber, you can build this novel little fire engine which will squirt a stream of water to a considerable height. It is equipped with a powerful brake and a siren, and is propelled by two members of the crew on the push-bar behind. Painted a bright red with bronze trimming it certainly looks like business and furnishes no end of fun making runs to imaginary fires.
by DICK COLE
A junked outboard motor makes an excellent power plant for a cycle car when converted as described here by Mr. Cole. The little car will develop speeds up to 40 miles an hour, and has power to burn.
TO BE the possessor of a self-propelled vehicle is the ambition of every normal boy. Every father has heard the plea of his son when out in the country in the family car: "Gee, Dad! Lem'me drive, will you? Please! I know how! Honest I do! Lem'me show you. Please, Dad, come on!"
My boy had just reached that stage— only more so. He begged me to build him some kind of vehicle that would "run by itself." Since I like to putter around and make things—particularly something different from the other fellow—I gave ear to his pleadings, and began to think the matter over.
Blow Torch from Vacuum Sweeper AN INGENIOUS Los Angeles mechanic has made a handy blow torch from parts of a discarded vacuum-sweeper. He has assembled the motor and turbine with a simple mixing chamber upon an adjustable standard. A large nozzle has been fitted, made from a section of steel tubing. The drawing at the [...]
THEY go down to the sea in old water heaters along the Atlantic coast these days, now that some young man with a leaning toward aquatic sports has proved how easy it is to make an excellent diving helmet from a metal water heater which will enable its wearer to walk comfortably on the sea floor 35 feet and more below the surface. A few feet of garden hose, two pairs of bellows, a couple of valve boxes and a cylindrical metal boiler of the type used in most homes for heating water, are the essentials for building one of these helmets.
by L. B. ROBBINS
Here is a simple and easily-built type of television receiver with which you can pick up the television images now being transmitted over the air from a number of stations.
THE time is now ripe for radio fans who build their own sets to construct a television receiver. Several broadcasting stations are on the air transmitting on both long and short waves, and have so perfected their apparatus that a simple receiver like that illustrated in the accompanying drawings will bring out the pictures with a fair degree of clarity and brilliancy.
Light bulbs and spinning wires which glow with weird effects, cigarettes which light mysteriously— these are a few of the stunts you can do with this vacuum tube Tesla coil.
This seems like a bad idea to me. Old Tires Rolled Into Lump Make Odorless Fuel HEREAFTER you need not worry about the disposition of all your old auto tires, for believe it or not you can make use of them as fuel. After you have gathered up a number of discarded tires proceed as [...]
