The Boy Electrician

by Alfred Powell Morgan

The motor used to drive the car will prove more satisfactory if purchased ready made. A self-starting three-pole motor similar to that shown in Figure 267 will serve very nicely. The wooden base should be removed and the motor screwed down firmly to the floor of the car as in Figure 268.

One terminal of the motor is connected to one of the bearings, and the other terminal to the other bearing.

The motor is belted to a countershaft so that it will have sufficient power to move the car. It cannot be directly connected or belted to the axle, because the speed of a small motor is so high that it has comparatively little turning power or torque. The speed must be reduced and the torque increased before it will drive the car.

The countershaft consists of two grooved pulleys mounted upon an axle running in two bearings mounted upon the floor of the car. The bearings are made from a strip of heavy sheet-brass, bent at right angles and fastened to the car floor with small screws. The large pulley, A, is one inch and one half in diameter and the small pulley, B, is five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. The countershaft is mounted in such a position that a belt may be run from the small pulley, B, to the pulley mounted on the axle of one pair of wheels. A belt is also run from the small pulley on the motor to the large pulley, A, on the countershaft. The pulleys must all be carefully lined up so that the belts will run in their grooves without danger of slipping out.

Fig. 268.—The Complete Truck of the Car without the Body.

The shield on the platform at each end of the car is made of sheet-iron or tin. Two small projections on the bottom are bent over at right angles and used to secure the shields in position by driving a small tack through them into the floor of the car.

The steps on either side of each platform are also made by bending strips of sheet-iron or tin and fastening them to the car with small nails or tacks.

The coupler consists of a strip of tin having a small hook soldered to the end so that a trail car may be attached if desirable.