If you desire to make a tower taller than the one described it would be
best, perhaps, to take the regular Boy-Scout dimensions as given by
Scout-master A. G. Clarke:
"Eight pieces 22 feet long, about 5 or 6 inches thick at the base; 4
pieces 6 feet long, about 3 or 4 inches thick at the base; 12 pieces 6
feet long, about 2½ or 3 inches thick at base; 12 or 15 pieces for braces
and platform about 6 feet long."
When putting together this frame it may be nailed or spiked, but care must
be used not to split the timber where it is nailed. With most wood this
may be avoided by driving the spikes or nails several inches back of the
ends of the sticks. To erect a flagpole or a wireless pole, cut the bottom
of the pole wedge-shaped, fit in the space between the cross poles, as in
Fig. 90 _A_, then lash it fast to the _B_ and _A_ pole, and, to further
secure it, two other sticks may be nailed to the _F_ poles, one on each
side, between which the bottom of the flagpole is thrust, as shown by Fig.
90 _A_.
The flooring of the platform must be securely nailed or lashed in place,
otherwise there may be some serious accident caused by the boys or men
falling through, a fall of about twenty and one half feet according to the
last measurements given for the frame.
An observatory of this kind will add greatly to the interest of a mountain
home or seaside home; it is a practical tower for military men to be used
in flag signalling and for improvised wireless; it is also a practical
tower for a lookout in the game fields and a delight to the Boy Scouts.