in one hand and holding it at arm’s length, she began to swing the
airship around in a circle. Slowly it went at first; then, gathering
speed, it began to fly in earnest. The little propeller spun around
busily and the ship seemed sailing by its own power. As the supporting
thread was black, it was hardly visible, and the wings that were lifted
and lowered by the movements of the ship appeared, like a bird’s wings,
to buoy it up.
[Illustration: The propeller is made of a pinwheel on a short hatpin]
“Isn’t it perfectly lovely?” Polly exclaimed. “See how I can make it dip
and rise again, just like a real airship.”
“Yes, it is certainly good,” he said; “and one of the best things about
it is the way the tail acts as a rudder. Don’t you see how it keeps the
ship going always forward? Here—let me see if I can make it back.” And,
taking the thread from Polly’s hand, he swung the ship in a straight
line, first one way then the other, but at each end of the course the
balloon turned and started over the route again, bow forward.
“It is all right, Polly,” he declared. “Put some of your little dolls in
the car for passengers and we will give them a ride.”
Sand Toys
By Adelia Belle Beard
One of the Authors of Little Folks’ Handy Book
“What can we do with this beautiful sand, Donald?” asked Polly as she
let the dry white sand of the beach sift through her fingers.
[Illustration: A mechanical craft template diagram for cutting and
folding a toy component, labeled with a large number 2. The flat,
rectangular pattern features the handwritten text 'Sand Wheel Bucket'
across the center. It includes solid lines for cutting, a horizontal
dashed line for folding near the top, and various measurement
annotations such as 2 inches, 2 ¾ inches, and 1 ½ inches. Two side tabs
are marked with the letter G, and two small vertical slots are labeled
H.]
“Make a sand wheel,” answered Donald with sudden inspiration. “And we
can do it now.”
Polly was more than willing, so they were soon hard at work in their
out-of-door Kraft Shop on the back porch of their summer home.
“First we must make the wheel and next a high reservoir to hold the
sand,” Donald announced.
“I will make the wheel if it doesn’t have to be wood,” said Polly.
“Bristolboard will do, and the wheel must be a good deal like a water
wheel, you know, Polly.”
“Yes, of course,” and Polly placed a smooth piece of bristolboard on the
table and took her school compass from the drawer, while Donald
disappeared into the house in search of a flat-sided cocoa can which he
had decided would answer for his reservoir.
[Illustration: A mechanical craft template diagram for cutting out a
small T-shaped toy component, labeled with a large number 3. The shape
is outlined with thick black lines and contains handwritten measurement
annotations, including '1 inch' across the wide top section, '⅜ in.' on
the upper side edge, '½ in.' on the vertical side edge, and '½ inch'
along the bottom edge.]
Polly made her wheel in this way: First she drew a straight, horizontal
line six inches long on the bristolboard (E B, Figure 1), then she put
the point of her compass directly on the middle of the line and drew a
circle that just touched each end of the line. This gave her a circle
six inches in diameter. (Figure 1.) Keeping the point of her compass on
the middle of the line, she drew another circle inside the first, making
the second circle five and one-quarter inches in diameter and
three-eighths of an inch from the outer circle. Inside the second
circle, with the point of the compass still on the middle of the line,
she drew a third circle two inches in diameter. This left just one and
five-eighths inches between the two inner circles. Dividing the second
circle into six equal parts, she proceeded to draw the lines F C, A D,
and a little to the right of these, also by the side of the horizontal
line, she drew parallel lines. “These,” Polly explained, “are the slots
to hold the steps of my wheel.”
“Buckets, Polly, not steps,” protested Donald.
“Well, buckets; I am going to have six buckets between the two wheels.”
[Illustration: A mechanical craft template diagram for cutting a large
wheel component, labeled with a large number 1. The template consists of
a large outer circle and a concentric smaller inner circle connected by
six radiating spoke lines. The spokes are indexed with the letters A, B,
C, D, E, and F. A horizontal dashed line splits the inner circle,
aligned with spokes E and B. Annotation measurements include a total
outer diameter of 6 inches, a spoke length of 1 ⅝ inches, and an outer
rim width of ⅜ in.]
“There is only one wheel; the sides are called disks,” again corrected
Donald.
“Disks, then, and I will fasten the buckets on with bolts. You see, the
outer edge of each bucket is to be turned up to hold the sand. I suppose
that is why it is called a bucket,” said Polly.
“You know what you are doing, go ahead,” said Donald; and Polly went
ahead. She made another disk exactly like Figure 1 and cut both out
carefully. She used a sharp pocketknife for cutting the slots and a
ruler to guide the knife along the lines. Then she made her buckets, six
of them, like Figure 2. First she drew a square that measured exactly
two inches on each edge. This was for the bottom of the bucket. On each
side of the square she added extensions three-eighths of an inch wide
and one and one-half inches long, placing them at equal distances from
the top and bottom edges of the square. (G G, Figure 2.) At the top of
the square she added an oblong one-half inch wide and extending all the
way across. The dotted line in Figure 2 shows where this oblong is to be
bent up to form the front of the bucket. Along each side line of the
square, at equal distances from the ends of the extension, she made
slots five-eighths of an inch long. (H H, Figure 2.) The bolts, two for
each bucket, she made like Figure 3. The upper part of each bolt was one
inch long and three-eighths of an inch wide and the lower part was half
an inch square.
[Illustration: A vintage line illustration by Adelia Belle Beard showing
an intricate, completed toy mechanism operating on a multi-tiered wooden
platform. A large sand wheel mechanism on the left features a bright red
hopper at the top. The wheel's axle is connected by strings and pulleys
to a spinning carousel platform with three small paper sailboats, a
small red-wheeled cart traveling up a wooden ramp on the right, and a
red basket containing two small toy figures hanging from a string below.
The artist's signature is in the bottom left corner.]
“It is all ready now. See how easy it is to put together, Donald,” said
Polly, as she bent up the front of a bucket and slipped one of its
extensions through a slot in one of the disks and the other extension
through a slot in the other disk, and then secured them in place by
sliding a bolt through the slot in each extension. (Fig. 7.)
“Better glue those bolts down,” said Donald. “When the wheel turns fast
they may drop out.”
By this time Donald had gathered together all the materials for his sand
tower. For the base of the tower he used an empty cigar box, eight
inches long and two and one-quarter inches deep, and for the reservoir a
cocoa can four inches high and two inches wide at the narrow sides. On
each of the wide sides of the can, about one and one-half inches from
the top and at equal distances from the side edges, he made a hole by
driving a large wire nail through the tin. (I, Figure 4.) In the bottom
he cut with a can opener a large hole, as shown in Figure 4. This hole
is not in the middle, but at the back, left-hand corner as the can
stands upside down. (Figure 4.)
“The funnel goes through this hole,” Donald said. “I have made a funnel
for the sand because it holds more than the can and because only a part
of the sand will run out of the can without it.”
Donald made the funnel of a piece of strong paper twelve inches square.
He twisted this into a cornucopia and then trimmed it off evenly at the
top and cut the point off at the bottom. He enlarged the bottom opening
several times in order to allow a sufficient flow of sand to turn the
wheel easily. The lapped edges he pasted securely together. To hold the
reservoir up he whittled out of an old shingle two uprights like Figure
5. Each upright was thirteen and one-half inches long and three-quarters
of an inch wide, except at the top, where it widened out to one inch.
Three-quarters of an inch from the top edge he bored a hole large enough
to admit a very large, spikelike wire nail a little over four inches
long and quite thick.
[Illustration: A mechanical craft template diagram for cutting a long,
slender toy lever or arm component, labeled with a large number 5. The
elongated shape features a slightly wider, contoured head on the left
containing a small circular hole. Handwritten measurement annotations
include '13 ½ inches' along the bottom edge, '1 INCH' vertically on the
left head, '1 ¼ inch' on the top-left edge, and '¾ INCH' on the right
end.]
“I am going to spike these on,” Donald said, thrusting the large nail
through the hole in one upright, then through both holes in the can and
through the hole in the other upright. “It is a little loose, though,”
he continued, shaking the can.
“Put a cork on the end of the spike,” said Polly; “that will hold it.”
Donald took her advice and pushed a large, flat cork up on the nail
until it fitted snugly against the tin and held it firmly in place. Then
he took up the cigar box. “Will you make a hole in this for the shaft of
the wheel, Polly? Put it just here,” he said, indicating a spot two and
one-half inches from the top and half an inch from the left-hand edge as
the box stands on end. (J, Figure 6.) “Bore it with a hot wire nail; it
will make a smoother surface than the gimlet.”
Then Polly, holding her hot nail with a pair of pincers, burned a small
round hole in the cigar box and also the hole K in the front upright,
Figure 8. This front upright, which was to hold the outer end of the
wheel shaft, Donald had whittled from a shingle. He made it six and
one-quarter inches high, with a base three and one-half inches wide.
Polly was careful to have the hole in the upright the same distance from
the bottom of the box, so that the shaft of the wheel would be perfectly
horizontal when put through the two holes. Donald used small wire nails
for fastening the side uprights to the cigar box. He removed the lid of
the box, so that he could easily get at the inside, then drove the nails
through the uprights into the side, top and bottom edges of the box.
(Figure 6.)
[Illustration: The sand tower was not difficult to make]
“I think we will have to nail the tower and other things to a board,” he
said. “They will never stand firm on the sand.” A suitable piece of
board could not be found, but Polly begged an old pastry board from the
cook and that made a fine flooring for their machinery. Donald stood the
sand tower on the board at the left-hand front corner, with the cigar
box base just six and one-half inches from the front edge and four
inches from the side edge of the board. “I can tack this down from the
inside of the box,” he said, and using two good sized carpet tacks he
drove them through the end of the box into the board. “Now get a shaft
for your wheel, Polly, and we will put the wheel up before I nail the
front upright in place.”
[Illustration: The wheel and shaft turn together]
Polly had secured for the shaft of her wheel a long, slender paint brush
handle. The brush was a No. 2 bristle oil paint brush, and had cost five
cents when new. Exactly at the center of each disk of the wheel she made
a puncture and then gradually and with great care pushed her shaft
through until the wheel was in the middle and on the largest part of the
shaft. Then she cut a medium-sized cork into three slices. The two
largest slices she pushed up on the shaft, one from either end, and
before settling them in place she put a little glue on the shaft close
to the wheel as well as on the inner side of the corks, then pushed the
corks up over the glue on the shaft and close against the wheel. In this
way the shaft, the corks and the wheel were glued together. “They must
all turn together,” Polly remarked, “and not like a wheel on an axle.”
On the end of the shaft which was to rest in the hole in the box, she
slid the remaining slice of cork, leaving it within three-quarters of an
inch of the cork fastened to the wheel. This was to keep the shaft from
running too far into the box.
“Be sure you get the right end of the shaft into the box,” Donald
cautioned. “Remember, the edges of the buckets bend down when the left
side of the wheel is toward you.” (Figure 7.)
“I know,” said Polly. “Now I am going to put this large glass bead on to
keep the cork from touching the box. The bead is so smooth and round it
will turn easily against the wood.” So Polly put her bead on the shaft
and slipped the end of the shaft through the box. “I will put a bead on
the inside, too,” she added, “and then a cork to keep it from slipping
off, and it will have to be a very small cork or it will rub against the
side of the box and the shaft won’t turn.” (Figure 7.)
[Illustration: The front upright]
Meanwhile Donald had been devising a way to hold the front upright
erect. “I have it now,” he exclaimed, and cutting a piece of wood half
an inch wide and half an inch thick into two pieces four and one-half
inches long, he nailed them to the front and back of the lower edge of
the upright; then sliding the free end of the shaft through the hole in
the upright, he settled the upright in place in front of the box, a
little to the left, so that the hole in the box and the hole in the
upright were directly opposite each other and the shaft went through
true and straight. Then he nailed the supports to the board. (Figure 7.)
When the children adjusted the funnel and filled it with sand they found
that to make it work perfectly it was necessary to tilt the can forward
in order to send the stream of sand near the outer edge of the wheel,
and that something must be invented to hold the can in that position, so
Donald quickly whittled out the little brace. (Figure 9.) The brace is
five inches long at the bottom, two and one-quarter inches long at the
top and one and five-eighths inches high. The V-shaped notch is one inch
from the front end.
[Illustration: A brace]
Fitting the back edge of the can into the notch of the brace, Donald
adjusted the brace on top of the box so that the can was held at the
required angle and the falling sand struck the wheel in the right place;
then with two small nails he fastened it on securely. (Figure 6.) Donald
also slipped a thin strip of wood between the back of the funnel and the
large nail. The wood rested on the bottom of the can and extended up to
the top of the funnel.
[Illustration: A vintage line illustration demonstrating the assembly
diagram for a spinning toy mechanism, labeled with a large number 10.
The central diagram shows a vertical stack of components resting on a
grainy 'Block of Wood'. A central pin or nail goes down through a large
'Pasteboard Disk', a 'Belt Spool' marked 'Glue', a 'Winding Spool'
marked 'Glue Together', a 'Writing Paper Washer', and a 'Writing Paper
Cone'. To the right, two isolated parts are shown: a long nail labeled M
and a flat washer labeled N.]
“That will strengthen it,” he said. “The wheel works all right; now we
will make it move things.”
“Let us have a merry-go-round,” Polly suggested.
“Yes, and a mine. The wheel will draw the miners up in a bucket, and
then I think when the merry-go-round turns it will pull a wagon uphill,
too,” Donald answered.
[Illustration: The merry-go-round is built like this]
“And everything will move at once,” Polly cried delightedly.
“We will have to have a belt spool and a winding spool on the end of
this shaft,” Donald said. “The belt spool will connect it with the
merry-go-round and the winding spool will draw up the miner’s bucket.
The spools must be fastened to the shaft, too, so that they will turn
with it.”
As the shaft was too slender to fit the holes in the spools, Polly
wrapped it with a strip of newspaper. (L, Figure 7.) She used newspaper
because it was soft and would cling. She cut a strip about twelve inches
long and two inches wide. This she covered on one side with glue; then
sticking one end to the shaft about half an inch from the upright, she
wrapped the paper tightly around the shaft, making a number of layers,
which, glued together, became a solid mass. Donald had selected two
spools and glued the ends together—a medium-sized spool for the belt
spool and a small spool for the winding spool. When the glue had
hardened on the spools and on the paper roll he covered the outside of
the roll and the inside of the spools with glue and pushed the spools up
on the shaft until they covered the paper roll and stuck fast. (Figure
7.)
“Now cut a round bristolboard disk for the merry-go-round, Polly,”
Donald said, “while I rig up a stand for it.”
[Illustration: The cone]
The disk Polly made was seven and one-half inches in diameter with a
round hole in the center a little larger than the hole in a spool, and
while she was drawing the circle and cutting it out Donald found a
level-sided block of wood, two and one-quarter inches high, for the base
of his stand. To this block he nailed small strips of wood, one on
either side like the supports on the front upright. (Figure 10.) Then,
selecting a medium-sized spool, two smaller spools and a buttonhole
twist spool to make the shaft of the merry-go-round the proper height,
he glued the two smallest spools together and the larger and buttonhole
twist spools together. On top of the smallest spools he glued the disk.
Taking a second spikelike wire nail, longer than the one used on the
sand tower (M, Figure 10), he slipped it through the disk and the two
smallest spools, then stopped and thought a moment. “A washer will have
to go on now,” he said, “to make these upper spools turn easily on the
lower ones.” So he cut a washer like N, Figure 10, from a piece of very
glossy writing paper, making it a little larger than the end of the
spools. “I’ll glue these two lower spools to the block before I put the
nail through,” he continued as he covered the bottom of the buttonhole
twist spool with glue and fitted it on top of the block exactly in the
middle. He waited a while for the glue to dry; then, placing his paper
washer on top of the large spool, he dropped the point of the nail down
through the washer and the spools and drove the nail into the block far
enough to hold it quite steady, but leaving enough space between the top
of the disk and the head of the nail to let the disk turn freely. “We
will put the merry-go-round here,” Donald went on, as he placed the
block directly at the front edge of the board about seven and one-half
inches to the right of the sand tower. “It won’t do to have it too far
from the wheel.” Then, driving nails through the strips of wood on
either side of the block, he fastened the merry-go-round in place. “Now
get a piece of tape for the belt, Polly, and we will make her spin,” he
said. “Get cotton tape; linen is too slippery.”
Polly returned with a piece of cotton tape a little over a quarter of an
inch wide and about twenty-five inches long. Donald passed it over the
belt spool on the wheel shaft and around the belt spool on the
merry-go-round shaft (Figure 11) and pinned the lapped ends together.
Then Polly poured sand in the funnel of the sand tower and Donald
watched the working of the belt, tightening or loosening it as it seemed
to require. When it was in perfect working order Polly sewed the ends of
the tape together, making a lapped seam, as in Figure 11. Then she
proceeded to fasten a piece of thread about a yard and one-quarter long
to each of the winding spools. First she placed one end of the thread
lengthwise on the spool and then glued a strip of paper around the spool
and over the thread. Looking up from her work, she found Donald drawing
a circle on a piece of writing paper.
“I am making a cone,” he explained, “to fit over the lower spools and
prevent the thread from catching on the block.”
Donald made the circle for his cone six and one-half inches in diameter,
and at the center he cut a round hole large enough to fit around the
spool. Out of this circle he cut a pie-shaped slice four and
three-quarters inches wide at the outer edge. (Figure 12.) Adjusting the
cone on the lower part of the winding spool, he lapped the edges and
pasted them together. The cone stood out beyond the side edges, but did
not touch the block.
“I am going to put these on the merry-go-round, they will look so pretty
‘as they sail, as they sail,’” chanted Polly, showing four little boats
she had cut from writing paper and painted in gay colors with watercolor
paints. Polly had made the boats with extensions at the bottom, which
she slit up through the middle. Bending one half out on one side and the
other half out on the other side, she pasted the extensions to the top
of the disk near the edge, placing the boats at equal distances apart.
By this time Donald had begun a little wagon, making it of a match box
by cutting writing paper wheels and pinning them on to the box with
ordinary pins, one pin for each wheel. “The wagon must not be heavy,” he
said, “because our machinery is light.” The children chose a small,
light toy basket to use as a miner’s bucket, and then made two paper
doll miners to put in the bucket and a paper doll lady to ride in the
wagon. The end of the thread hanging from the winding spool on the wheel
shaft they tied to the handle of the basket and the thread fastened to
the winding spool on the shaft of the merry-go-round they tied to the
front of the wagon. Then they carried the whole thing out on the beach
and set it up on an empty box which they had put on top of a little hill
of sand to raise it high above the ground. Donald found a smooth board,
one end of which he propped up directly under the merry-go-round and on
this he set the little wagon, drawing it down the full length of the
thread. Polly scooped a hole in the sand for a mine and dropped the
little basket in it. Then, all being ready, Polly held her hand under
the funnel for a stopper, Donald filled the funnel with _dry_ sand,
Polly took away her hand, the sand began to run out in a steady stream,
the wheel whirled round, the merry-go-round spun merrily, fluttering the
tissue-paper pennants on the little boats and tipping them most
naturally. The miner’s basket emerged from the mine and slowly ascended,
and the little wagon climbed up the incline, bearing its lady passenger.
[Illustration: A vintage stylized line illustration of a toy electric
trolley car or streetcar, labeled with a large number 7. The muted pink
body of the trolley has small wheels, a row of windows, and a black side
banner reading 'BROADWAY' in white text. A long pole extends from the
roof to meet an overhead wire. At the bottom, text inside a curved line
reads 'Invented by Adelia Belle Beard' and 'All Rights Reserved'.]
How to Make a Trolley Car
By Adelia Belle Beard
One of the Authors of Things Worth Doing
[All rights reserved]
“Polly!” called Donald, leaning over the banisters, “I’ve a jolly good
idea this morning and I want you to help me.” Polly had been romping
with her two fuzzy little kittens in the lower hall, but she promptly
deserted them and mounted the stairs on a run.
“What is it?” she cried, appearing at the Kraft Shop door before Donald
had reached his seat at the table.
“What do you think of making a little trolley car?” he replied.
“One that will go on a real trolley wire? I think that will be just
loads of fun. How long can we have the line?”
“As long as we like, but I will use linen thread instead of wire; it is
easier to manage.”
“And we will use spools for wheels, of course, and bristolboard for the
car,” said Polly.
[Illustration: The trolley car runs on its own trolley]
“Yes, and I’m going to make as much of the car in one piece as I can.”
“Then I don’t see what I can do,” Polly objected.
“Oh, there will have to be some separate parts,” Donald hastened to say.
“You can make the little top roof and the trolley pole, and you can get
the spools and thread and two little sticks for axles. That will be a
big help. Now look at my pattern; you see, I’ve worked it down until it
fits into an oblong, fourteen inches long and seven and one-half inches
wide. This takes in the main part of the car, but not the platforms.
(Figure 1.) Now I will carry these two lines (J H and J L) down to make
a platform and the upright front of the platform. I don’t suppose it is
called a dashboard.”