Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/953

 Popular Science Monthly

��939

��T

��A Home-Made Photographic Copying- Stand

O PREPARE the camera and board so that copying may be done properly is a difficult task for the amateur, as the surface of the picture to be reproduced must be in a vertical plane and exactly parallel to the camera lens. The lighting of the picture must be considered and the task of adjusting all parts to meet the conditions grows harder as each successive step is taken in copying. A stand is most desired, but the arrangement shown in the sketch will suffice and it can be used on the work table. It is made of a board for the base, 4 ft. long and 5 in. wide, mounted on supports that are 2 in. wide, one at each end, cut as shown. These supports are strengthen- ed with a bracket fast- ened on the underside of the baseboard. It is best to use wood screws for hold- ing the parts

��board it is to hold and the closeness of the fit. It takes the shape of a box with both ends and one side removed, or it can be used with both sides. Two strips are fastened on the upper side so that a space is formed between them to admit the edge of the board to prevent it from tipping backward and forward.

Both camera and sliding-holder are easily adjusted and the whole stand may be moved about to get the best results for lighting. The finish of the base should be without paint or varnish — just a smooth, planed board so that the camera and holder will slide easily.

The board may be removed and the holder used to support a vase or other similar article which it may be necessary to photograph. It is well to have the

���together, glueing the joints before put- ting in the screws. A slot is cut in the center of the baseboard at one end, which extends about halfway to admit the thumb-screw used to fasten the camera to the tripod. If the base- board is cut from material more than ^4 in. thick it may be necessary to cut the wood out from the underside so that the thumb-screw will enter the camera socket. This cut-out recess is shown in the cross-section.

The copying-board is made detachable from the sliding-holder, as well as the holder from the base. The size of the holder will depend largely on the

��holder long enough to provide a place in front of the board upon which to set these objects; then a sheet of plain or tinted paper can be attached to the bottom and cur^'cd to form a

suitable background with a continuous

foreground.

��A Snow Shovel That Prevents the Snow from Sticking

VARIOUS kinds of shovels have been tried and I have greased them to keep the snow from sticking to the surface, but at no time have I ever had so much satisfaction shoveling snow as when using the regular potato or manure fork. Such a fork will take up as much snow at a time as a scoop shovel, while, no matter how wot the snow, it never carries any superfluous weight of snow back and forth. — Paul R. Str.ain.

�� �