THE CHILDREN'S LIBRARY OF WORK AND PLAY
CARPENTRY AND WOODWORK
By Edwin W. Foster
ELECTRICITY AND ITS EVERYDAY USES
By John F. Woodhull, Ph.D.
GARDENING AND FARMING
By Ellen Eddy Shaw
HOME DECORATION
By Charles Franklin Warner, Sc.D.
HOUSEKEEPING
By Elizabeth Hale Gilman
MECHANICS, INDOORS AND OUT
By Fred T. Hodgson
NEEDLECRAFT
By Effie Archer Archer
OUTDOOR SPORTS, AND GAMES
By Claude H. Miller, Ph.B.
OUTDOOR WORK
By Mary Rogers Miller
WORKING IN METALS
By Charles Conrad Sleffel
[Illustration: Photograph by Underwood & Underwood
A MOTOR BOAT MODEL
"In the making of little models of this kind, you will encounter many
things that will tax your skill and ingenuity, as amateur workmen."
]
_The Library of Work and Play_
MECHANICS, INDOORS
AND OUT
BY FRED T. HODGSON
[Illustration: Cover Page]
Garden City New York
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1911
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION
INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The publishers wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to the Horace Mann
School for their courtesy in permitting certain of the photographs to be
taken for this volume.
CONTENTS
PART I
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A Pathway of Cement 3
Purchasing property, River Passaic--Removing rocks and other
obstacles--Preparing for cement sidewalk--Digging trench and
purchasing materials--Making, laying, and properly placing
concrete--The lever and roller and application--Moving heavy bodies
with lever and roller--Finishing the cement sidewalk--How to make
good concrete walks.
II. Building of a Boat House 36
Qualities of the inclined plane--Dismantling an old barn and
out-houses--Blocks and tackle, ropes and pulleys--Strength and care
of ropes--Building a boat-house, using old materials--Strength
of timber floors--Method of construction--Holding power of
nails--Doors and windows for boat-house--The use of rollers in
moving heavy weights--Sliding ways for boat--How heavy stones were
raised to tops of Egyptian Pyramids.
III. Bridge and Boat Work 65
Dimensions of the launch--Arrival of The _Mocking-Bird_--An
interesting boat talk--A sail on the river--Building a small
foot-bridge--The same completed--Some rules for sailing a
launch--Fitting up boat-house and dock--Preparing block for
keel--The winch and its construction--The wheel and axle as a
mechanical power--The fusee, and what it means--Some problems
solved.
IV. Making a Gasolene Launch 84
Arrival of boat material--Laying keel and keelson--Setting up the
boat and giving her shape--Laying engine bed--Installing engine and
propeller--Nailing on planking--Table of offsets--Gasolene engine
and carburetor--Dimensions of engine and propeller--Gas engines,
generally--Danger of using gasolene--The proper use of yacht flags
for signalling.
V. A Talk About Engines 110
Water around the cylinder--The carburetor and spark coil--Running
the engine in boat-house--Varnishing the boat--A steamboat on the
river--A story of the first steam engine--How the steam acted in
the case--The slide valve, piston and steam chest--Internal and
external engine heaters--Horse-power and how calculated--Foot
pounds, dry steam and condensation--Expansion of gases,
turbines--Gilding the name--Constructing picnic tables and
seats--Height of tables, chairs and benches.
VI. Propeller and Other Screws 136
The launch of the _Caroline_--Trial of the new boat--Description
of the screw as a power--The wheel and worm and endless
screw--Formula for counting power of wheel and worm screws of
various kinds--Archimedian screw and water lifter--Some data of
power of "wheel and worm"--The screw propeller, with data--How to
calculate force of propeller screws--Finding pitch and other lines
for propeller--The screw auger or boring tool--Adhesion of ordinary
wood screws--How to loosen and withdraw rusty screws.
VII. Aeroplanes 158
Seats for riverside--Model aeroplane for the "Fourth"--Dimension
on construction of planes--Why a monoplane rises from the
earth--The gyroscope as a balancer--The biplane and its
construction--Aeroplanes generally--The French aeroplane
"Demoiselle"--How to make a model aeroplane--Illustrations and
details of model aeroplane--Some general remarks.
VIII. Kites, Sundials, Patents 185
The theory of kite-flying--The highest kite ascent--The flat
plane kite--The kite a small aeroplane--A box kite of common
type--Cellular kites of various kinds--Pairs and bevies of
kites--Bird flight and motion--War kites of various kinds--Wind
gauges and wind force--Patents and how to secure them--A simple
sundial--How to make an oval flower bed.
IX. Tides 212
The "why" of the tides explained--Globular form of the earth
proved--Day and night--Phases of the moon--Attraction of the sun
and moon--Newton's theory of the tides--Height of tides--A simple
hygrometer--The Australian boomerang--Theory of the pump.
X. Wall Making and Plumbing 237
Protecting the river bank--Concrete retaining walls--Big dams
in the West--Galveston sea wall--The great dam across the
Nile--Proposed irrigation works in Babylon--Some properties
of light and sound--Hints on amateur plumbing--The peppermint
test--Barometers of various kinds--Thermometers, and their
uses--Something about steel springs--How to make a cross-bow--The
gyroscope and its uses.