Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/144

 130

��Flying this kite pleasure. It is a ethereal object at

looking like a (lock of soaring birds more than anything else. It is hard to make, but it pays its way when finally finished in the pleasure it

��Popular Science Monthly

Making a Two-Fuse Switchblock

TO ol)viate the annoyance of fitting up a new fuse when one has blown

��will afford much

most delicate and

a great height,

��out, a switchblock may be made, which carries two fuses. A block of fiber, 3-2 ''i-

��by 1^ in.

��gives Its possessor.

A Feii< Words About Flying

Have a pair of gloves, duck or can- vas with pieces of sole leather sewed in, to handle the Hying line, if you use wire. The strain should never come on the reel. A clamp like this, made of cast- iron with two wing- nuts, should be used to clamp on the wire. A short piece of chain with a i/^-in. rod at the end attached. The rod

��^/n itnp connec/ion.

��Bro56 strip

���small convenient switchblock accommodating two fuses

/'2/j(? ly/re-.

���If one fuse blows out simply switch over to the other fuse

��15 ins. long is is pushed into the ground up to the eye, and the foot is held down on it to prevent its inil- ling up from the strain. The chain should be as strong as the flying wire. Of course if cord is used for the lower part of the flying wire, it can be handled by snubbing around the frame of the reel, or any convenient stationary ob- ject such as a fence post, fire-plug, chimney, etc. , when a large battery is aloft. Smaller kites can be made by reducing the above proportions, and correspond- ingly lighter equipment can be used, If Malay kites less than 3 ft. high are used they can be covered with paper, although, owing to the imperfect pocket, the headsail action is not so pronounced, and the kite docs not fly as steadily as one with cloth sails.

An Emergency Fountain-Pen

SELECT two i)en nibs of the round variety and place them together, one above the other, in the penholder. This expedient not only enables one to write about sixty words with one di]) in the ink, but prevents the ink from <lropping off the pen and blotting tlu paper. — W. Li hks.

��by 3 ins. is used as a base. Drill two holes 5/16 in. away from each end and "^/^ in. from each side, large enough to take a 4-32 bolt. Drill the same size hole in each end of two thin strips of brass, i in. by 34 '"• Pass one end of each strip over the bolts and bolt the other ends with two nuts, one underneath and one above the strip. Leave the bolts long enough to receive battery post nuts. The end of the block just prepared is used as one binding post, the details being shown in the dia- grams. The other ends of the strips are l)olted lightly to the base, the bolts being long enough to recei\e battery post nuts. These Ixjlts are to act as the terminals of the two fuse wires.

Two morf holes to take 4-32 bolts are drilled 13-2 ''is. from either end and ^s in- from either side of the block. After placing the bolts in these holes, a strip of co])per or tin is hanmiercd over them and fastened down with brass screws. File down the screws to form a smooth surface. Another hole for a 4-32 bolt is Itored 5/16 in. from the end, as shown in the diagram. A piece of brass, 1 in. by Yl in. by I s in., is bored at each end with a 4-32 drill, and slipped over a bolt of the same bore. A block of fiber, J 2 '»• I'Y 3^2 ill- by 3 2 ''!•. 's bored with a 3-32 drill and forced o\er the bolt. The bolt is then pushed through at the other end.

A nut is placed between the fiber base and the bar to allow for the thickness of the two contact screws and the head of the nut at the other end of the bar. A tlouble set of nuts are used to hold the mit tight. At the top of the bolt is .inniiur b.itterypost nut lo be used as tin uilur iiiniinal. — L. A. KuiiHNE.

�� �