LAND-YACHTS AND PUSHMOBILES
A Land-yacht
A few years ago the only kind of yacht known to the boys were those that
sailed in the water, but in this advanced time, when many unheard-of
things have been made possible, the land-yacht has made its welcome
appearance. Down on the Southern coasts, particularly Florida and
California, where the sand packs fine and hard, the land-yacht is an
important feature both for pleasure and business, and if properly
handled in a good breeze it will run from ten to twenty miles an hour.
No end of fun can be had with a properly constructed boat, and the
ingenious boy may employ old baby-carriage or bicycle wheels for the
running-gear.
A yacht of medium size can be made on the lines of Fig. 1 at a
comparatively small cost for the timbers and sail-cloth, spars and
hardware. The leg-of-mutton sail is used in preference to the square
sail, as it has the greatest area close to the ground and is less liable
to upset and much easier to handle.
To begin with, obtain some spruce joist clear-grained and free from
knots. They should be two-by-four inches and twelve feet long. Cut one
of them eight feet long and use it for the main cross-piece to which the
front wheels are attached. Form a V of two twelve-foot joist, and fasten
them to the cross-piece as shown in Fig. 2. About ten inches of each
piece should project beyond the cross-piece. The timbers are bolted fast
and at the rear end they are bevelled and brought together, then bolted
through from side to side as shown in the plan (Fig. 2). Three feet back
of the long cross-piece a shorter timber is set in between the V-shaped
frame as shown at A. At the middle of this timber a hole one inch and a
half square is cut and into it a tenon on the butt-end of the bowsprit
fits as shown in Fig. 3.
[Illustration: Fig. 1]
The bowsprit is seven feet long and is bolted fast to the long
cross-piece. Where the end fits into the timber A two angle-blocks are
nailed fast. Seat-planking is cut and screwed or nailed fast to the
V-shaped frame as shown in both Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. The boards should be
ten inches wide and cut to overhang the timbers an inch or two at both
ends.
If the wheels from an old baby-carriage are to be used the axle should
be cut in half with a hack-saw and each part clamped under an end of the
cross-timber with U-shaped clamps having the ends threaded and provided
with nuts and washers as shown at Fig. 4. The rear or steering wheel is
set in a fork that a blacksmith will make from strap-iron, and a round
piece of the same metal, having a square-headed upper end, will do for
the rudder-post as shown at Fig. 5. A short axle threaded at both ends
and provided with nuts will hold the wheel in place, and when the post
is passed up through a hole made in the timbers a tiller can be slipped
over the square shoulder and bolted fast so that it will stay in place.
The tiller is of hard-wood two inches broad at the rear end, one inch in
thickness, and tapered so that it will be about an inch square with the
corners rounded where it is grasped by the hand. The handle part of it
should be bound with linen cord to improve the grip. Give the deck
wood-work and timbering a few coats of red, buff, or light-green paint.
The mast-step is rigged over the forward cross-timber. Two upright
pieces of board twenty inches long and eight inches wide are attached to
the outside edges of the frame-joist with screws. On top of these a
cross-piece is made fast so that the step presents the appearance of a
bench. Two pieces of board six inches wide are fastened from the corners
down to the bowsprit and cross-timber to brace the step as shown at Fig.
6. An iron brace is made fast to the top of the step, behind the mast,
and to the bowsprit, as may be seen in the illustration.
[Illustration:
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
]
A hole three inches in diameter is cut at the middle of the step-board,
and through this the mast is slipped. A half-inch round iron is driven
into the bottom of the mast after a hole has been bored with a bit. It
should be long enough to project out about two inches. This steps into a
hole bored in the top of the bowsprit, and with the three wire stays
that are caught at the top of the mast and into the eye-bolts, shown by
the arrow-heads in Fig. 2, the mast is held securely in place.
A round pole fourteen feet long may be used for the mast, but if it is
impossible to find one a very good mast can be dressed from a
three-inch-square spruce stick that is free from large knots or cracks.
The dressing may be done with a draw-knife and plane, and near the upper
end it should be tapered.
The boom is sixteen feet long and two inches in diameter, and if it is
possible to get a long curtain-pole it will answer very well; otherwise
it will be necessary to cut it from a two-inch-square spruce stick.
The mast end of the boom is provided with a crotch made with two jaws as
shown at Fig 7. They are cut from hard-wood with a draw-knife and
compass-saw, and held to the boom with carriage bolts or screws and
string bound round the three parts.
The sail is made of heavy, unbleached muslin that can be had at a
dry-goods store for ten cents a yard. It may be sewed by hand or on a
machine, and through the middle it would be well to take a lop so as to
make a strengthening rib. The sail measures ten feet on the mast,
fifteen feet on the boom, and eighteen feet on the leach. It is caught
to the boom with stout cord and to the mast with wood or iron rings, and
with a halyard and pulley at mast-head the sail may be raised and
lowered at will.
In localities where there are hard roads and where the wind has a good
sweep these land-yachts have become very popular. Of course they are
much safer than water-boats for there is no danger of drowning, and it
is quite impossible to capsize a land-yacht if the cross-timber is long
enough to give the wheels a good spread.
Wheels with rubber tires will make the running motion easier and so add
to the owner’s comfort.
A Sail-wagon
For level streets or sidewalks where trees do not interfere and where
the walks are wide, a sail-wagon will afford much amusement.
In the drawing (Fig. 8) a sail-wagon of medium size and simple
construction is shown. Obtain a pine, white-wood, or spruce plank
fifteen inches wide and about one inch thick. It should be planed on one
or both sides and measure eight feet long. Round the ends with a
compass-saw and build a bridge for the mast, as shown in the drawing.
This bridge should be twelve inches high, eighteen inches long, and
eight inches wide, and should be braced underneath with angle-brackets.
In the middle of the top board cut a hole three inches in diameter, and
directly under it, in the plank, bore a half-inch hole for the mast-pin
to step into.
[Illustration:
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
A SAIL-WAGON
]
One foot back from the front end arrange an axle-bar three feet long and
two by three inches thick. Make another bar the same size for the rear
axle but do not bolt it fast. This must be arranged on a king-bolt so
that it can be turned by a post and tiller. The king-bolt and post
should be in one piece, and this will have to be made by a blacksmith.
Two round iron plates of metal one-eighth of an inch thick and five
inches in diameter are provided with screw-holes at the outer edge and
with round holes at the middle. One of these plates is to be attached to
the middle of the axle, as shown at Fig. 9 A, and the other to the under
side of the plank in the middle and about ten inches in from the end. A
hole is to be bored and cut three-quarters of an inch square in the
axle-tree, and the holes in both iron plates are also three-quarters of
an inch in diameter. Have a blacksmith make an iron post eight inches
long and three-quarters of an inch in diameter. A piece of iron should
be welded at the lower end so as to make it three-quarters of an inch
square for a distance of three inches. At the top form a square shoulder
an inch long, and above it have a short round shank threaded to take a
nut as shown in Fig. 9 B. Drive this shaft up through the square hole in
the axle-tree, and to prevent it from dropping nail a piece of wood or
tin over the end of it and to the under side of the tree. Slip the round
post up through the plate and board so that it extends several inches
above the top of the board. Make a tiller of hard-wood fifteen inches
long and three inches wide at the post-end and taper it to the handle.
Cut a square hole in the broad end to fit over the square shoulder on
the iron post, then screw the nut on over a washer to hold the tiller in
place. To prevent the tiller from splitting near the hole it would be
best to bind the wood at both ends of the hole with copper wire as shown
in Fig. 9 C. When the wagon is in motion a turn of the handle will
operate the axle and steer the moving vehicle easily.
The wheels should be all the same size, but if they cannot be had and
only a pair of large and small ones are available place the smaller ones
at the rear. The axle need not run the entire length of the axle-tree,
but shorter pieces may be bolted fast to the ends of the trees. Give the
wagon two or three coats of paint and it will then be ready for use.
From spruce or pine cut a mast five feet long and three inches in
diameter, using a draw-knife and plane to shape it. Taper the stick at
the top, place an iron band about the bottom, and drive a half-inch iron
pin into a hole bored in the bottom so that two or three inches of it
will project. The foot of the mast is to be slipped through the hole in
the bridge and the pin stepped into the hole made in the long board
directly under it. From two-inch spruce cut a sprit seven feet long and
a boom seven feet long with a crotch formed at one end, as described in
the boat chapter. The sprit acts as a gaff, and at the same time it does
away with halyards and makes it possible to use a shorter and stouter
stick for the mast.
From unbleached muslin make a sail three feet and six inches on the
mast, six feet on the boom, three feet at the head, and seven feet on
the leach. A sail of this proportion will set properly, and when the
peak is jacked up with the sprit the boom will clear the boy on the deck
when it swings over. To stiffen the sail bind the outer edge with thin
rope or cotton line a trifle smaller than clothes-line.
A Pushmobile
The pushmobile (Fig. 10) is another interesting road or sidewalk car and
one with which two boys can share considerable fun. In general
appearance the pushmobile resembles something between an automobile and
a buck-board, as there is a long reach between the fore and aft wheels.
The body consists of a long board one inch and a quarter in thickness,
eighteen or twenty inches wide, and seven feet long. Or two nine-inch
planks may be fixed together with the battens that hold the axles and a
shorter one under the seat. At the front of the body a keg is mounted
and held fast with iron straps which go over the top of the keg and are
fastened to the sides of the large board as may be seen in Fig. 10. This
keg will represent the engine cover, and at either side of it and
mounted on the board two tin cans arranged with glass at the front will
serve as lamps. By perforating the tops and sides of these cans a candle
may be used or bicycle lamps may be substituted for them. The glass is
fitted to the cans by bending a piece of spring-wire in a circle and
placing it within the can. Against this wire a circular piece of glass
will rest, and to hold it in place another wire may be slipped within
the can. If large baking-powder or coffee cans are used the greater
portion of the cap may be cut away with a tin-shears, leaving a rim and
flange just wide enough to hold the glass in place.
The seat is made from a box eighteen inches wide and high and arranged
with back and sides which can be built up six inches above the seat as
shown in Fig. 10. This seat is to be securely attached to the board with
long screws driven up through the under side of the board and into the
lower part of the box. The steering-shaft and wheel are arranged about
one foot in front of the seat. This is a shaft of hard-wood (such as a
curtain-pole or any good tough stick) about one inch and a half square
or in diameter. It mounts on a block of wood which is screwed fast to
the large board and provided with a hole through which the shaft will
pass so that it will extend down through the large board. A collar of
wood or iron is slipped down over the shaft and screwed fast to it so as
to prevent it from slipping down too far. Another collar is provided and
made fast at the bottom to prevent the steering-cable from slipping off.
The arrangement of the collars and wire is shown at Fig. 11 A. At the
top of the shaft a small wooden wheel should be slipped on over a shank
that may be cut down in size to fit the opening in the wheel; and with a
screw the wheel is to be made fast to the shaft so that it is held
securely in place.
[Illustration:
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
]
The rear wheels are attached to an axle that in turn is bolted fast to a
bar of wood eighteen inches long and two by three inches in thickness.
These wheels are held in a fixed position, and the bar to which they are
attached is located about a foot in from the end of the long board. The
front axle is bolted to a movable bar which is held to another bar by a
king-bolt, so that the lower axle-bar can turn in the same way as on a
wagon. The bar to which the axle and movable bar are attached is located
about one foot from the front of the long board. This arrangement can be
seen at Fig. 12, which is a front view showing axle and fifth wheel, as
the turn-plate between the axle-tree and the body of the wagon is
called. The fifth wheel is made of two pieces of tire-iron, one fastened
to the under side of the fixed bar, the other to the top of the
axle-tree, so that when greased the lower part will turn easily.
Flexible wire-cable or very strong twine should be used for the
steering-gear. The ends are made fast to the axle-tree as shown at A in
Fig. 12. Several wraps of the wire or twine are taken about the lower
end of the shaft, and the wire passes through a hole to prevent it from
slipping. The wire should be attached first at one end of the tree,
carried to the shaft, and given several turns, then passed through the
hole. Several more turns are to be made above the hole, then the loose
end should be attached to the other end of the axle-tree. If a small
turn-buckle can be had, make it fast to the wire and axle at one end so
as to draw the wire taut and hold it in place, for the tighter the wire
the better the shaft will act when turned by the wheel.
A brake is to be made fast at one side of the car as shown in Fig. 10.
Have a blacksmith turn a piece of one-inch thin tire-iron for you as
shown at Fig. 11 B, and bore two holes at the short end and two larger
ones farther up as indicated in the drawing. With screws attach a
brake-block to the short end, and with a square-headed lag-screw make
this brake-bar fast to a block fastened at the under side of the long
board so that the lever and brake-block will act on the tire of the
wheel. The hand-bar is of iron twenty-four inches long and provided with
a hole at the lower end and another one six inches above it. The upper
end of the bar is drawn out on the anvil so that a wooden handle can be
slipped on it, then it is bolted to a block attached to the lower front
side of the seat as shown in the illustration. A stout wire connects the
lower end of the hand-bar with the top of the brake-bar, so that when
the handle is pulled back the wire and top end of the brake-bar is drawn
forward and the block pressed against the wheel.
Several coats of paint will give this pushmobile a good appearance and
it will then be ready for use.
One boy on the seat steers the machine, while another grasps the
overhanging edges of the long board and pushes as he runs behind. On
level sidewalks or streets a good run and push will send the car along
at a good speed and the pusher can then jump on behind. When going
downhill both boys can ride, and if the driver has his hands full with
the wheel and shaft the boy behind can reach forward and operate the
brake.
If coasting is done on very steep hills or roads it would be well to
have a brake to operate on both rear wheels, for the momentum of a
rapidly moving car will often drag a “dead” wheel if the other three are
running easily; whereas if both back wheels are “dead” the car can be
brought to a quick stop.