Figs. 197 and 198 show more complicated spring-latches but this latch is
not so difficult to make as it may appear in the diagram. _A_ and _D_
(197) show, respectively, the wooden catch and the guard confining the
latch. _C_ is another guard made, as you may observe, from a twig with a
branch upon it; the twig is split in half and fastened at the base with
two screws, and at the upper end, where the branch is bent down, is
fastened with one screw. A guard like the one shown by _D_ (Fig. 197)
would answer the purpose, but I am taking the latch as it was made. The
lower diagram (Fig. 198) shows a side view of the edge of the door with
two cotton spools fastened at each end of the stick which runs through a
slot in the door. _E_ is the cotton spool on the outside of the door and
_F_ the cotton spool on the inside of the door. The upper left-hand
diagram (Fig. 198) shows the slot in the door and the spool as it appears
from the outside. _B_ (Fig. 197) is the spring-latch which is held in
place by the spool _F_. The stick or peg which runs through the spools and
the slot also runs through a hole made for that purpose in the
spring-latch, as shown at _F_ (Fig. 197). After the stick with the _E_
spool on it has been run through the slot from the outside of the door,
thence through the spring-latch _B_ and into the spool _F_, it is fastened
there by driving around its end some thin wedges of wood or by allowing it
to protrude and running a small peg through the protruding end, as shown
by _F_, _G_ (Fig. 197, lower diagram). The thin, springy end of your latch
is now forced down by a peg or nail in the door at _H_ (Fig. 197) and the
tail end of it forced up by a peg or nail at _K_. When this is done
properly it will give considerable spring to the latch and impart a
decided tendency to force the latch into the wooden catch, a tendency
which can only be overcome by lifting the spool up in the slot and thus
lifting the latch and allowing the door to open. Fig. 197 shows the inside
of the door with the spring-latch, catches and all complete; it also gives
details of the wooden catch _A_ with guards _D_ and _C_ and the fastening
of the stick in the spool by a peg driven through the end of the stick at
_F_, _G_. This last one is a good jack-knife latch to make for your camp
or cabin.