The American Boy's Handy Book

by Daniel Carter Beard

  Another machine the boys used to be very fond of was called

  A Saw-Mill;

  it was generally made out of the top of a tin blacking-box, with the rim knocked off and the edge cut into notches like a saw. Two strings passing through two holes near the centre gave a revolving motion to the “buzzer” (Fig. 226 shows a saw-mill). By holding the strings so that the wheel hangs loosely in the middle, and swinging the wheel or “buzzer” around and around until the string becomes tightly twisted, the machine is wound up. As with the potato mill, the revolving motion is imparted by alternately pulling and allowing the string to slacken, only in this case you must hold one end of the string in each hand (Fig. 226). When the boys can make a buzzer actually saw into a piece of board or shingle by allowing the edge of the wheel to strike the wood, the saw-mill is pronounced a success, and its value increased.

  Very pretty and amusing toys may be made on the same principle as the saw or potato mills described. One of these little machines, a very fascinating one, is sold upon the streets of New York by the novelty peddlers. As the writer was passing along Broadway the other day, he saw an old acquaintance, known to almost all New Yorkers by the name of “Little Charlie.” Little Charlie is not a small man, as his name might imply, but a large, good-natured, red-faced peddler, who stands all day long at the street corners. During the winter he sells small india-rubber dolls, crying out to the passers-by: “Well! well! well! Little Charlie! double him up! double him up!” He doubles the little india-rubber dolls up in a comical manner to attract customers. The torrid summer heat is too much for the India-rubber dolls, and makes them sticky, so that they are laid aside during the hot weather, and Little Charlie, with the perspiration streaming from his face, no longer calls out in his accustomed manner, but stands silently twirling his summer novelty, trusting to the ever-changing colors of the toy to attract purchasers. One was bought that it might be introduced among the other whirligigs in this chapter.

  The Rainbow Whirligig.

  If you have a pair of dividers, make a circle upon a piece of card-board about two inches in diameter; inside this circle make six other circles (Fig. 227). A pair of scissors can be made to do the duty of a pair of dividers by spreading them apart the required distance and thrusting the points through a card to hold them in position (Fig. 228). Make a duplicate figure or disk and paint the parts of the inside circles, shaded in the diagram, different colors; for instance, A and D may be made blue, B and E green, C and F red. The points of the star in the centre made by the intersection of the circumference of the circles should be painted the same color as the parts of the circle adjoining. Upon the second disk paint A and D blue, B and E yellow, C and F red.

  Cut a piece of one-quarter inch pine into a square, with sides of about two and one-quarter inches in length; cut off the corners as shown by I, Fig. 229. In a hole in the centre of I fasten tightly the round stick J. Whittle out another piece for a handle K, and bore a hole through the top for the stick J to fit in loosely; bore another hole through one side for the string to pass through. In the illustration, as in the original from which the drawing was made, there is a large hole bored through two sides; but this is unnecessary, and only put in the diagram to better show the position of the string inside. Upon the wooden plate I, describe a circle about one and three-quarter inches in diameter. In the centre of the two paper disks make holes large enough to fit with shoe-eyelets; then with tacks (L, Fig. 229) fasten the two paper disks on to the wooden plate at the points G and H, in such a manner that the tack passing through the eyelets will allow the disks to revolve freely. Attach a string to the stick J at a point that will come opposite the string-hole in the side of the handle, when the stick J is slid into the hole at the top of the handle K. The wooden disk is made to spin exactly in the same manner that motion is imparted to the potato mill already described. When in motion the colors on the paper disks will blend and produce, with each change of position, a number of beautiful variations. The two paper disks blend together, making a large circle three and one-half inches in diameter, composed of concentric rings of the most lovely hues—red, pink, purple, green, and all the different shades and combinations imaginable are portrayed with ever-changing variety by the spinning rainbow whirligig.

  A Paradoxical Whirligig

  is a very ingenious toy, consisting of a circle of white card-board, upon the surface of which any number of black rings are painted, one within the other, until it resembles an archery butt or target.

  The disk is tacked or glued securely to a stick or handle (Fig. 230) so that it is impossible for it to really revolve, yet if you grasp the toy by the handle and give your arm a motion similar to that of the shaft of an engine, the disk upon the stick will appear to revolve like a wheel, and so closely does the optical delusion resemble actual motion that it will deceive almost any one who is not familiar with the experiment.

  A picture of a wagon, with wheels made like the disks of the paradoxical whirligig, may be made, and the wheels will have all the appearance of revolving when a wab-bling motion is imparted to the picture. There are many curious experiments that can be tried in this line—spirals may be made to twist around; pictured machinery may be given the appearance of actual moving wheels, etc. The philosophy of all this is best explained in the description of the next whirligig.

  The Phantasmoscope, or Magic Wheel.

  The phantasmoscope, or magic wheel, is comparatively simple, consisting, as may be seen by the accompanying illustration, of a disk of any diameter revolving upon a pin in the centre. Figures in different poses of arrested action are painted or pasted upon the one side; under each figure is an oblong opening or slot. Much amusement can be derived from this old and simple toy. We herewith give one with the correct positions of a horse trotting a 2:40 gait, drawn in silhouette upon the outer margin of the wheel.

  Make a careful tracing of the illustration (Fig. 231) with a lead-pencil upon tracing-paper; reverse the tracing-paper upon a piece of card-board so that the side with the pencil-markings on it will be next to the card-board; after which fasten both card-board and paper to a drawing-board or table-top with tacks, so that neither tracing nor card-board can slip. With the point of a hard pencil, a slate-pencil or any similar instrument, go carefully over each line of the tracing as seen through the tracing-paper; be careful not to omit a single mark; it is very provoking to discover, after removing the tracing-paper, that part of the drawing is wanting; but if you have been careful, when the tacks are removed you will find the picture neatly transferred on the card-board. Go carefully over each line on the card-board with a pen and black ink, and fill in the outlines of each picture with ink, making a silhouette of the figures.

  Cut the phantasmoscope, or magic disk, out, following the outer circle with the scissors, and under each figure, where the oblong places are drawn, cut a corresponding opening through the paste-board. Fasten the wheel to a stick or handle by means of a pin at its centre, on which it can freely turn.

  If a larger machine be wanted, the illustration here given may be enlarged by the process described on page 201. To use the magic wheel, stand in front of a mirror, as shown in the small illustration; hold the disk before the eyes; look through the slots under the figures, and turn the wheel rapidly. The horses’ legs will commence to move as in life, and as each successive position drawn upon the phantasmoscope is the exact one taken by a trotting horse, the horses in the mirror will all appear to be in actual motion, on a fast trot. If the eye is directed over the margin of the paste-board disk, an indistinct blur is all that is seen. The principle is generally well known and easily explained. It pertains to the phenomenon known as the persistence of vision. When the eye is directed through the slot, the figure of a horse is seen for an instant as the opening passes the eye, and the impression is retained after the object is shut off by the intervening portion of the board between the slots until another horse appears through the succeeding opening, when an additional impression is made,
the same as the preceding impression, except a slight change in the position of the legs. These impressions follow each other so rapidly that they produce upon the retina of the eye the effect of a continuous image of the horses, in which the limbs, replaced by a succession of positions, present the appearance of a file of horses in actual motion.

  The instantaneous photographs taken nowadays of people, horses, and other animals in motion, opens a new field for investigation, and one which, with the aid of the simple toy described, will be found very entertaining as well as instructive.

  Mr. Muybridge’s celebrated photographs of animals in motion can all be adapted by smart boys to home-made phantasmoscopes, and it will probably not be long before the wonderful photographs of birds and bats on the wing, taken by E. J. Marcy with his revolving photographic gun, will be within reach of the public. Then with the magic disk the reader can make birds fly, horses trot, men ride bicycles, and reproduce every movement as correct as in nature.

  For young scientists these beautiful experiments will be found very entertaining.

  CHAPTER XL.

  THE UNIVERSE IN A CARD-BOX.

  A JOVIAL-LOOKING commercial traveller once won a wager from the landlord of a certain Detroit hotel by making over a hundred rings with one mouthful of smoke. The writer was sitting in the hotel office at the time, and becoming interested in the conversation, watched to see how the trick was done. Taking some cards from his card-case, the young man proceeded to bend up the edges in such a manner that the centre part of each formed a perfect square. Six cards he folded in this manner; then, after fishing in his pockets for some time, he produced a dime and a lead-pencil. Placing the ten-cent piece upon the centre of one card, he made a ring with the lead-pencil by following the edges of the coin. Opening a pocket-knife at the file blade, with the point he cut a round hole in the card, following the circle made by the pencil. He then put the cards together, in the form of a light but strong box (Figs. 232, 233, 234, and 235), and taking a long pull at a cigar which was between his lips, he filled his cheeks, and blew the smoke into the paper box. By this time all the idlers in the office had collected around the smoker, who, with a triumphant smile upon his face, commenced to tap the sides of the box with his lead-pencil. At each tap a tiny but perfect and beautiful ring of smoke shot into the air—one hundred and ten were counted before the smoke was exhausted. Fig. 236 shows how similar rings can be made with a lamp-chimney in which a card disk with a hole in it has been placed; a piece of paper or membrane fastened over the other end serves for a vibrating surface, which, when struck with the thumb, forces out the little rings of smoke.

  The reader must not for a moment suppose that it is necessary to use tobacco smoke to perform this beautiful experiment; any other smoke will answer just as well to make the “vortex rings,” as they are scientifically called. If after dipping a paint-brush into India ink, or any water-color paint, you gently insert the tip of the brush into a glass of clear water, you will see the pigment fall from the end of the brush, and, gradually sinking to the bottom, form rings exactly similar to the circles of smoke described.

  The rings made by skipping a flat stone over the water are but another example of the vortex, and the jolly commercial traveller, when he was exhibiting the little paper box and smoke-rings to the laughing crowd of fellow-travellers in the hotel office, was standing upon the threshold of a mighty mystery, experimenting with laws, and showing the action of the same forces that are supposed to have produced the wonderful rings around Saturn! Indeed, it is asserted that the broad, misty band of light which we see at night stretched across the heavens, and known to every boy as the milky-way, is . nothing more nor less than a gigantic vortex ring, composed of millions of heavenly atoms. Some very learned men think that the secret of the whole universe, the origin of gravitation and electricity, are all locked up in the mystery which controls the formation and motion of a simple smoke-ring.

  As Adrien Guebhard wisely remarks, in an interesting article upon this same subject, “Nothing is vulgar to one who knows how to see, and nothing indifferent to one who knows how to observe.”

  CHAPTER XLI.

  LIFE INSTILLED INTO PAPER PUPPETS, AND MATCHES MADE OF HUMAN FINGERS.

  MANY strange and unaccountable occurrences are attributed by ignorant people to “animal magnetism,” some even going to such an extreme as to refuse to shake hands with other persons for fear of parting with some of their precious magnetic properties. Where there is much smoke there must be some fire, as the old adage goes, and although the marvellous stories current in a certain class of literature are wholly untrue, animal electricity undoubtedly exists. All boys who use a comb to smooth out their tangled locks upon a cold winter morning, no doubt hear and wonder at the crackling of the electricity as the comb passes through their hair. Many of my readers have probably tormented poor puss by holding her in a dark closet, and watching the sparks fly from her fur as, with a pitiless hand, it was briskly rubbed the wrong way until a severe scratch or bite from the cat warned them that she took no interest in such scientific experiments. A less cruel and more entertaining experiment is to cut out a lot of little paper figures, and the next cold day, when your hair begins to snap and stand on end in its effort to follow the electrified comb, hold the comb over the figures; the little puppets will immediately appear to be endowed with life and commence to jump and dance, or stick to each other and to the comb (Fig. 237), as if fastened by glue. Often one little figure will stand on his head, and another, fixing himself by one hand, hold his tiny form upright in a most comical manner; sometimes they will form themselves into long strings and go through all manner of queer and seemingly intelligent movements. The same result can be produced by rubbing a piece of gutta-percha smartly upon a piece of woolen cloth, and then holding it over the paper puppets. When one of those intensely cold waves from the North strikes the country and frightens the mercury in the thermometers, until it retreats down to the very bottom of its glass tube, electricity is often so easily generated that I have known persons to light a gas-jet by simply applying the ends of their fingers to the burners. A certain professor, well known to the public, was so startled at seeing the gas blaze up upon touching the burner with his finger, that he dropped into a sitting posture upon the floor, and there, with his feet spread apart, and his eyes and mouth open, he presented a perfect picture of astonishment and wonder.

  To Light the Gas with your Finger,

  turn it on without applying a light, walk around the room, sliding your feet over the carpet, until you again reach the burner, touch the tip of the burner and instantly the light will blaze up as if by magic.

  From what has been already said, the reader will understand that the gas-jet experiment is only successful under peculiar conditions of the atmosphere. Do not try to turn on the gas with one hand and light it with the other, for as soon as the first hand touches the metal key the electricity is expended, and there is none left in the other hand to ignite the gas. Turn the gas on first, walk around the room in the manner described, and touch nothing with your hand before it is applied to the burner.

  There are many other experiments that may be tried by boys interested in this subject, but as they necessitate more or less complicated and expensive instruments they are omitted, it being the object of this book to describe only such things as can be manufactured by the boys themselves.

  CHAPTER XLII.

  HOME-MADE MASQUERADE AND THEATRICAL COSTUMES.

  The White Man of the Desert.

  IN 1876 quite a large party were returning from New Orleans to St. Louis on board the largest of Mississippi steamers. Every night was devoted to merriment, in which all joined, passengers and officers. One morning, large posters, made with colored chalk on brown paper, and hung at both ends of the cabin, announced a grand masquerade as the programme for the evening.

  As a rule, masquerade costumes are not to be found aboard Mississippi River steamers, yet, that evening, when the band struck up a ma
rch, every stateroom door opened, and from each doorway issued some queer or fantastic figure. One costume in particular was so simple, and yet so complete, as to be noteworthy. A boy had taken two sheets from his berth, and, by wrapping one around each leg, fastening them at the ankles with strings and at the waist with a shawl-strap, made quite a presentable pair of Turkish pants. The shawl-strap, worn with the handle in front, had the appearance of an odd-looking double belt; a pair of white stockings, drawn over a pair of slippers and the bottom of the pants, answered for white boots; his shirt served as a white waist. A sheet hanging from his shoulders, after the manner of a cape or shawl, combined, with a turban made of a towel, to give a decided Arab look. The boy’s face and hair had been made snowy white by an application of flour.

  The disguise was complete, and the costume pronounced by all to be the very best in the cabin. In a similar manner many characters may be personated, and the costume made up of such material as can be found about home.

  Many proposed tableaux, masquerade, or parlor play is abandoned because the costumes necessary are either unattainable or altogether too expensive.

  There is “lots of fun” to be had at entertainments of this kind and for fear that my reader might miss some such opportunity to have a “good time,” this chapter is devoted to describing two or three costumes, and showing how first-class character dresses can be made without an expenditure of money.

  “The Fourteenth Century Young Man”

  can be clothed with modern garments altered to suit the occasion. Tights are necessary, and may be made of an ordinary suit of knit underclothes (Fig. 238) by the addition of a little trimming and a pair of trunks to cover the top part of the drawers. But let us commence at the top of the man and work down, describing each article of dress in the order in which it comes,