Home-made Toys for Girls and Boys Part 5

When the car has been put together, replace the wire in the tops of uprights _I_ and _J_ (Fig. 81), running the ends through the roof (see Fig. 84). Paint the sides and ends of the car yellow with brown tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, and paint the roof a light gray. Water colors can be used for the purpose. Letter the name of your car-line upon the sides and the number of the car upon each end and side. The route should be lettered upon strips of cardboard with pins run through them as shown in Fig. 94, these strips to stick in the roof of the car (see Figs. 84 and 85).

Having seen how the car is made, you will find it a simple matter to make designs for

=Other Cars=, using the same scheme for the trucks, and altering the patterns for the sides, ends, and roof, to suit the design.

Nothing has, as yet, been said about the

=Operation of the Railway=, and though Fig. 76 probably shows sufficiently clear how it is run, a few words may be helpful. The car or cars are placed between the wooden tracks, and the trolley (or cord attached to the ring on top of the car) is tied to the trolley-line as in the ill.u.s.tration. Upon starting your engine, water-motor, or whatever motive-power you have, the car will run from one end of the track to the other. When it has reached the support of the trolley-line, it will stop long enough for the cord trolley to pa.s.s around the wooden wheel, and then run in the opposite direction until the other support is reached. It will thus be seen that the trolley hangs to the upper part of the cable, or trolley-line, in running one way, and to the lower part on the return run. In changing the direction of the run, the ring to which the trolley is attached slides to the other end of the car.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 95.--The Railway Depot.]

=A Station= such as is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 95 is made out of cardboard and mounted upon a seven-eighths-inch board large enough to form a railway platform. After cutting out the side and end pieces, with door and window openings placed as shown in the ill.u.s.tration, fasten them together with strips of linen glued in the corners. Make the roof low and extend it over the platform upon each side and over the gable-ends, as shown in the ill.u.s.tration. Paint the sides of the depot the regulation depot red, and the roof a s.h.i.+ngle or slate color. Paint the door and window-sash black, letter the name of the station upon the gable-ends, and with a ruler and lead-pencil rule off the boards upon the sides, and the slate or s.h.i.+ngles upon the roof. As this is a typical railway station, two may be made of the same pattern, one for either end of your car line.

CHAPTER VII

HOME-MADE TOY ELEVATORS

The elevator shown in Fig. 96 is a unique mechanical toy well worth one's making. Release the little car at the top floor, and it will descend to the ground floor, and then return to the starting point, without you having to touch it a second time. A magical elevator?

Perhaps so. A little mechanical device performs the trick.

The same plan may be followed for installing the doll-house elevator in Chapter XIII, but the more stories there are the more fun there is in operating the elevator. This is why I have adapted the scheme to

=A Toy Office Building.= Six stories are shown in Fig. 96, but you can make a modern sky-sc.r.a.per with as many stories as you like. A packing-case 3 feet 6 inches long, stood on end, was used for the model.

Another box or two can be added to the top for additional stories.

Besides the box, or boxes, get enough box boards for floors and part.i.tions.

=Make the Floors= in two pieces (_A_ and _B_, Fig. 98), so the opening for the elevator shaft can be cut out of the end of one piece in the manner shown. This opening should be about 5 inches square. Mark out and cut the boards for all of the floors at one time, and be careful to get the shaft opening the same in each floor. Cut the notch _C_ in board _A_ about 1 inch square.

Fasten the floor boards in place with nails driven through the sides of the box.

=The Part.i.tions=, a pattern for which is shown in Fig. 99, can be made quicker by omitting the doorway, but this is easy to cut by sawing along the sides and then splitting out the piece between the saw cuts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 96.--A Toy Office Building with Elevator.]

=The Elevator Car= should be built up of cigar-box wood, as shown in Figs. 101 and 102. The front portion (_D_) should be about 3 inches wide, 2-1/2 inches deep, and 4 inches high, and the rear portion (_E_) should be of the same width, 2 inches deep, and 2-1/2 inches high.

Fasten these upon the base piece _F_ as shown.

=The Elevator Guides.= Bore the holes _G_ through the top and bottom of the car, close to the sides, for guide wires _H_ to run through (Figs.

101 and 102). These holes may be bored with a screw-eye if you haven't a gimlet or drill. Bell-wire, or almost any wire that you have on hand, will do for the guides. Fasten two screw-eyes into the under side of the top of the shaft, the same distance apart as holes _G_, and in the proper position so they will come exactly over them (_I_, Fig. 100). Use the car for determining these measurements. Then bore two holes through the bottom of the shaft directly below the screw-eyes (_J_, Fig. 100).

Attach the wire to one screw-eye, run it down through holes _G_ in the car, through one of the holes _J_, then across to and up through the other hole _J_, up through the other set of holes _G_ in the car, and attach to the second screw-eye _I_.

=The Cables.= The elevator is lifted by means of cord _L_ (Figs. 97 and 101). Fasten this cord to a tack driven into the top of the car, then run it up and over spool _M_ (Figs. 97 and 101), over spool _N_ (Fig.

97), and tie to weight _K_.

=The Counter-balance.= A bottle, filled with sand to make it weigh more than twice as much as the car, should be used for this. Screw a small screw-eye into the cork to tie the cord to.

The counter-balance runs up and down in

=The Smoke-stack=, which is fastened to the back of the building (Fig.

97). Make the stack of cardboard mailing-tubes, joining them end to end with bands of paper pasted around them. Fasten the stack to the back of the building with wire straps, and brace the top as shown in Fig. 96, but leave it unattached until you have adjusted

=The Overhead Pulleys=, or _sheaves_. These are spools. You will see by looking at Fig. 100 that spool _M_ turns on the axle _O_, and the ends of this axle are cut to fit snugly in screw-eyes _I_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 97.--Section through Elevator Shaft.]

Fasten pulley spool _N_ in the smoke-stack by means of a wooden axle pushed through holes pierced in the side of the stack, as is shown in the small drawing above, Fig. 97. Bore a hole through the back of the building for the cable cord _L_ to run through (_P_, Figs. 97 and 100), and cut another through the smoke-stack.

=How the Car Operates.= When the weight and cord have been adjusted and the smoke-stack erected, the elevator will run from the ground floor up to the roof of its own accord, because the counter-balance is much heavier than the car. To make it descend it is necessary to add weight to the car, to make it enough heavier than the counter-balance so it will drop of its own accord. This is done with

=Ballast= consisting of a bottle of sand or salt of twice the combined weight of counter-balance _K_ and the car. After filling the bottle, cork it up, and screw a screw-eye into the cork. Then screw the eye of a 2-inch hook-and-eye into the roof of the building, directly over the center of box _E_ of the elevator (_R_, Figs. 97 and 101), and attach one end of a rubber-band to the hook and tack the other end to the top of the elevator-shaft (Fig. 101).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 98.--Floors.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 99.--Part.i.tions.]

With the hook and rubber-band properly adjusted, this is what happens when the car ascends to the top of the shaft. The bottom of the rear portion of the car strikes bottle _Q_, lifts it enough to release the end of the hook (_R_), and the rubber-band springs the hook out of the way (Fig. 97). The bottle remains upon the rear portion of the car, and its weight carries the car to the bottom of the shaft.

=To Make the Car Rise= to the top of the shaft again, remove bottle _Q_. Replace the bottle upon the end of hook _R_, and it will be in position for the next trip downwards.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 100.--Front View of Elevator Shaft.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGS. 101 and 102.--Elevator Car Details.]

Cut the holes _Y_ and _Z_ (Fig. 100) through the outside wall of the shaft for hand holes through which to reach bottle _Q_ and hook _R_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 103.--Detail of Brake and Controlling Levers.]

Figures 97, 100, and 103 show

=A Simple Control= for stopping the car at the different floor levels.

Stick _S_ may be a piece of broom-handle, curtain-pole, or flagstaff.

Bore a hole through the bottom of the shaft, directly below holes _C_ in the floors (_T_, Fig. 100), and slip the stick through hole _T_ and into slots _C_. Then locate on one side of stick _S_ points just below the under face of each floor, and upon the opposite side locate points just above where the back edge of the elevator will come when the car is raised to each floor level (Fig. 97). Remove the stick, and drill or bore a small hole at each point marked; then replace it, nail a small block (_U_, Fig. 100) across the top end to hold it in place, and drive a nail, with its head filed off, into each of the holes.

When stick _S_ is turned to the position shown in Fig. 97, while the car is going down, the first nail below the car will project beneath it and bring it to a stop; and if the stick is turned in the opposite direction while the elevator is going up, the first nail above the car will project over the back edge of portion _E_ and bring the car to a stop.

=Two Levers= operate the brakes (_W_, Figs. 97 and 100). Cut these of the shape shown in Fig. 103, and screw one to each side wall. Then tack a piece of cord to stick _S_, wrap the ends of the cord once around, slip them through screw-eyes _V_ screwed into the side walls, and tie to tacks driven into levers _W_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 104.--An Outdoor Elevator.]

One series of brakes can now be set by pulling forward one lever, and the other series by pulling forward the other lever. By driving a nail into stick _S_ at _X_ (Fig. 100), and a nail into the bottom of the shaft, each side of stick _S_, the levers will turn the stick just far enough in either direction to bring the brakes into operation.

If there is a kitchen porch to your house, construct

=The Outdoor Elevator= shown in Fig. 104 to run from the ground up to that porch. If you live in an upper story of an apartment building, your elevator can be made to run to a greater height, which, of course, will make more fun.