A. Neely Hall

“ No mechanical toy is more interesting to make, nor more interesting to watch in operation, than a miniature windmill. It is a very simple toy to construct, and the material for making one can usually be found at hand, which are two reasons why nearly every boy and girl at one time or another builds one.
The Paper Pinwheel shown in Fig. 1 is one of the best whirlers ever devised. A slight forward thrust of the stick handle upon which it is mounted starts it in motion, and when you run with the stick extended in front of you it whirls at a merry speed. ”

“ Most of the smaller mechanical toys are not only easy to make, but they require materials which cost little and can usually be picked up at home. Sometimes it takes considerable thinking and planning to discover just the things which can be adapted to the various parts of toys; but that is where part of the fun of toy making comes in.
A Buzz-saw Whirligig is an interesting toy (Fig. 108) . Lay out a disk about 5 inches in diameter upon a piece of cardboard, locate the position for the spool-end on the center of each face, and make four rings outside of this. ”

“ A Cricket-rattle is about the liveliest form of rattle ever devised (Fig. 114) . After constructing one for your sister or brother, you probably will decide to make one for yourself. For this rattle, first prepare a notched spool (A, Fig. 116) . The notches in this need not be cut as perfectly as shown, but the notches in one end of the spool must be exactly opposite those in the other end. Whittle the handle B to the shape and size shown, cut the strips C out of cigar [Pg 76] box wood, and prepare the block D as shown. ”

“ It is often thought that a toy railway is beyond a boy's ingenuity to construct, whereas, in reality, it is one of the simplest toys he can make. This applies to the tracks, stations, and cars of every description, all of which can be made with a few strips of wood, some spools, nails, cardboard, and a bottle of glue, for materials. ”

“ Few boys and girls are given a one hundred dollar assortment of toys at a time, yet any one can own a collection of this value who is willing to spend the time necessary to follow the instructions given in this book. Probably, though, some of the toys will be wanted now, and the others one, two or three seasons hence, because, you see, the book is an all-the-year-round handy book with suggestions for every season. Some of the toys will be of especial interest to boys, yet girls who like what boys like will enjoy making them also. ”

“ Those of you boys who have examined the little mechanical toys sold upon the street corners just before Christmas probably have been surprised to find how simply they are made, and perhaps it has never occurred to you that you might make toys equally as good for presents for your younger brothers, sisters, or cousins. ”

“ After you have made a final inspection to see that everything has been put together properly, your toy will be ready for operation, and I am sure that when you set the clockwork machinery in motion, and the little wheel begins to revolve slowly with each little car balancing upon its axle, you will agree that you have constructed a very interesting toy. ”

“ Generally it is easy to find an old clock somewhere about the house, and a clock which has been discarded simply because it has become worthless as a timekeeper is perfectly good for operating these toys, provided the mainspring is in working order. It is not necessary to have a set of works for each toy, for they are so quickly fastened in place that but a minute is required to transfer the works from one toy to another. ”

“ Some boys glue silk over the ends of their propeller blades, for a distance of 1⁄2 inch or so, to reinforce them and make them less likely to split.
The Propeller-shafts are made of heavy piano-wire, bent into a hook at one end (Fig. 38) to receive the rubber strands of the motor, and cut of the right length to extend through the hole in the bearing, through a glass bead, through the propeller, and then to bend over the side of the hub (Figs. 37 and 38) . By bending over the end of the shaft against the hub, it is held securely in place. ”

“ Hang the pictures to the picture molding with thread.
A Cosey-corner may be fitted up in the ball-room by fastening a strip of a cigar-box in one corner an inch and one-half above the floor for the seat, and hanging draperies on each side of it. Pillows may be made for it out of scraps of silk stuffed with cotton.
A doll-house properly proportioned in every detail, including the selection of its furniture, is pleasing to look at, and is to be desired much more than some of the specimens to be found in the stores. ”

“ An electro-magnet consists of a center core of soft iron, wrapped with a coil of insulated wire. When an electric current passes over a wire, a magnetic field is formed around the wire; and when several turns of insulated wire are wrapped about a soft iron core, the magnetic fields of all the turns of the coil, or helix, combine, forming a very strong magnetic field which strongly magnetizes the iron core. ”

“ By attaching a set of clockworks in the same manner as described for the automobiles, you can make
A Clockwork Railway, constructing the cars similar to the street car shown in Fig. 84, Chapter VI, and using the schemes in the same chapter for the tracks and depots.
Each car should be provided with a clockwork motor, because a single clockwork is not strong enough to pull more than one car. Let me know how you succeed in building a clockwork railway. ”

“ How the Egg-beater Winds the Motors. While an assistant supports the model by the propeller end, you remove the motor rings from the hooks on the bow of the fuselage, and slip them on to the hooks of the egg-beater. Then you turn the crank of the winder, counting the turns as you do so, and when you have wound the motors as far as you wish, slip off the motor rings, and slip them back on to the bow hooks of the model aeroplane. ”

“ The Turtle Toy which crawls along the floor when you alternately pull and slacken a thread that runs through its shell, has always been one of the most popular of mechanical toys, and you will be surprised to find how easily our home-made model shown in Fig. 115 is put together. The shell is a small tin mold such as is used for molding jellies. ”

“ If you haven't a compass with which to describe the circles, you can mark out the wheels with cups or glass tumblers. Cut the wooden axles as shown in Fig. 286, making the front axle—for the smaller wheels—deeper than the rear one, then fasten them to the wagon and nail the wheels to their ends. Drive a tack into the front of the wagon-box and tie a cord to it, or, if you have a small toy horse to hitch to the wagon, fasten a pair of shafts to the under side of the box as is shown upon the two-wheel cart. ”

“ The Guide-wires are made of very heavy wire that will not bend easily. Cut two of a length to reach from the first floor to the ball-room ceiling, and after running them through the tacks in the sides of the car, stick their ends into small holes bored at E, F, G, and H (Fig. 228) . The upper holes should be bored through the ball-room ceiling, while the lower ones need be bored but part way through the first floor. Care must be taken to have these holes in the correct position, so the elevator will run up and down upon the wires without striking the sides of the shaft. ”

“ If Electric Light is Used, the hooded ventilators may be omitted. Any boy who understands the wiring of electric-lamp sockets, plugs, and drop-cord will know how to wire up the reflectoscope.
Mount the Lens in a can or mailing-tube jacket (Fig. 343) . If you use a can, remove the bottom. If the lens is smaller in diameter, make a band of cardboard strips to fit around the edge, as shown in Fig. 344, and glue these [Pg 213] strips to the inside of the can or mailing-tube. The lens jacket should fit loosely enough in the reflectoscope box opening so it will slide back and forth for focusing. ”

“ An Elevator is something which is found in but few doll-houses. It was built in this house, thinking it might please the young mistress, and it proved such a success that the scheme has been worked out carefully in Figs. 228, 229, 230, 231, and 232, that you may include it in the house you build.
The cutting of the elevator-shaft has already been described. For material, procure two small pulleys such as is shown in Fig. 230, four feet of brass chain, six feet of No. 12 wire, half a dozen double-pointed tacks or very small screw-eyes, a short piece of lead pipe, and a cigar-box. ”

“ Through the author's handicraft volumes, and magazine and newspaper articles, thousands of boys and girls who never realized they could make their own toys, have succeeded in constructing models which would do credit to Santa Claus' master toy-makers. ”

“ A Toy Shocking Machine..The little shocking machine shown in Fig. 187 is a harmless toy with which you can have an endless amount of fun when entertaining friends. The shock it produces is not severe, but strong enough to make your friend's arm and wrist muscles twitch, and perhaps cause him to dance. Large shocking coils contract the muscles to such an extent that it is impossible to let go of the metal grips until the current has been shut off, but in our small shocking machine the handles can be dropped the instant the person holding them wishes to do so. ”

“ Clock Wheel Tops. A splendid spinner can be made of the little balance-wheel of a broken clock (Fig. 119) . This little wheel is so accurately made that it will spin very steadily from a minute and one-half to two minutes. As the ends of this wheel's axle are pointed, the top will stand in one spot as long as it spins.
The toothed wheel shown in Fig. 120, or any of the other forms of wheels from a clockwork will make good spinners, yet, unless you file their pivot ends to points, they will not spin in one spot but will glide and hop over the table in spirals. ”

“ When the cars have been completed, cut six sticks 5 inches long, whittle them down until they are about 3/16 inch in diameter, and sandpaper them until they are perfectly round and smooth. These sticks connect the rims of the wheel and form
The Axles from which the cars are hung (Fig. 159) . Great care must be used in fastening them between the rims, for they are easily split, and the best way to do is to start a hole first in the ends of each axle with an awl or by driving a brad part way in and then withdrawing it; then drive a brad through each spoke of one rim into an axle (Fig. 157) ”

“ The model aeroplane requires more work than ordinary kite construction. It also requires more patience and greater accuracy, because each part of the little aircraft must be made just so, assembled just so, and "tuned-up" just so, to produce a model which will give a good account of itself. Of course your first model will probably not be perfect. But if you do your work correctly and carefully it will fly, and the experience you have acquired will make it possible to turn out a more nearly perfect second model. ”

“ The Outdoor Elevator shown in Fig. 104 to run from the ground up to that porch. If you live in an upper story of an apartment building, your elevator can be made to run to a greater height, which, of course, will make more fun.
It will save considerable work to use the porch, because for one thing you will not have to build an upper platform to stand upon to reach the elevator car when it runs to the top, and for another thing the supports for the guides and cable can be fastened directly to one of the porch posts. ”

“ A very sharp knife must be used for cutting; and the work must be done slowly and carefully, because the least slip is likely to ruin the propeller. The entering-edge of each blade is the almost straight edge, and should be cut very thin. The ends of the blades should also be cut thin, while the hub should be cut away as much as can safely be done without weakening the propeller. ”

“ The success of this new home industry has suggested the need of a volume devoted entirely to toy-making, and in Home-made Toys for Girls and Boys the author has brought together a large number of the toy ideas from his former handicraft volumes, and from his articles published in the Ladies' Home Journal, Woman's Home Companion, Good Housekeeping, the Boys' Magazine, and other publications, and he believes that as collected and arranged the material will be found a veritable gold-mine of toy-making information. ”

“ A crank arrangement can be rigged up to make the winding easier, but with patience, and by doing the work slowly, the wire can be wound almost as well by hand. [Pg 128] It is difficult to keep track of each preceding turn, while winding, because of the fineness of the wire, and on this account it is a good scheme to coat each layer with bluing after it has been wound on, so that each turn of the following layer will show plainly against the stained layer beneath it. Fig. 190 shows the complete induction-coil. ”