Next make two wooden rings about four inches in diameter by cutting them out of a pine board. Place the wires on one of the rings in the manner shown in Figure 305. Place the second ring on top and clamp it down by means of two or three screws.
Fig. 305.—Complete Thermopile. An Alcohol Lamp should be lighted and placed so that the Flame heats the Inside Ends of the Wires in the Center of the Wooden Ring.
The inner junctures of the wires must not touch each other. The outer ends should be bent out straight and be spaced equidistantly. The ring should be supported by three iron rods or legs. The two terminals of the thermopile as the instrument is called, should be connected to binding-posts.
Place a small alcohol lamp or Bunsen burner in the center, so that the flame will play on the inner junctures of the wires. A thermopile of the size and type just described will deliver a considerable amount of electrical energy when the inside terminals are good and hot and the outside terminals fairly good.
The current may be very easily detected by connecting the terminals to a telephone receiver or galvanometer. By making several thermopiles and connecting them in parallel, sufficient current can be obtained to light a small lamp.
HOW TO MAKE A REFLECTOSCOPE
A reflectoscope is a very simple form of a "magic lantern" with which it is possible to show pictures from post-cards, photographs, etc. The ordinary magic lantern requires a transparent lantern slide, but the reflectoscope will make pictures from almost anything. The picture post-cards or the photographs that you have collected during your vacation may be thrown on a screen and magnified to three or four feet in diameter. Illustrations clipped from a magazine or newspaper or an original sketch or painting will likewise show just as well. Everything is projected in its actual colors. If you put your watch in the back of the lantern, with the wheels and works exposed, it will show all the metallic colors and the parts in motion.
Fig. 306.—A Reflectoscope.