First of all get a carpenter to cut you a deal board, free of knots, six feet six inches long, nine inches wide, and half an inch thick. This must be planed smooth on both sides. If you have a plane, do this yourself. Now with a fine saw cut four pieces off the board, each twelve inches long, and two pieces nine inches long. These are to make the body of the lantern with. Take two of the long pieces and the two short pieces, and reduce the width to six inches. These will be the top, bottom, back, and front of the lantern. Now you must put the pieces together by dovetailing; or you had better get the carpenter to do this for you, as unless you are used to this work you would be sure to make a mess of it. Do not glue the pieces together yet. Take the piece of wood that is to serve for the top, and draw lines with a pencil from opposite corners, like [Fig. 1]. Now with a pair of compasses, open one inch and a half apart, put one point at the point where the two lines cross each other, and mark a circle with the other point. This circle must be cut out either with a keyhole saw or with a gouge, smoothing off with a rough file.
Fig. 1.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 2.
Now take the piece of wood that is to be used for the front of the lantern and draw a pencil line across it, two inches from the top end, and then cross the other part with pencil lines ([Fig. 2]), as you did the top, and with the compasses open an inch and three-quarters make a circle as before and cut it out. Now take the piece of wood to be used for the right side of the lantern and mark it thus ([Fig. 3]). Draw lines across each end two inches from the edges, and along the side one inch and a half from the edges. Cut out the middle portion evenly up to the lines. This will form the door, and if you have cut the piece out with a keyhole saw it will do to be fastened on with hinges. If not, you must make another piece for the door. Now, round the bottom of the two sides and back bore holes with a half-inch centrebit. These holes must be one inch and a half from the centre of the hole to the edge of the wood. Three in the back piece and four in each side will be enough. These holes are to supply air for the lamp. Now you will want some sheet tin to line the lantern with. This you must buy. Get two and a half sheets of thin, and two and a half of very stout. The thin will be threepence each, the stout sixpence each. Cut pieces from the thin tin to line the lantern with—two pieces eight inches by ten inches, two pieces five by eight, one piece five by ten, and one piece five by eleven. Punch holes all round each of these pieces. This can be done with the sharp end of a file. Put the tin in its place on the top, front, and right side, and mark on it, through the holes, their exact size, and cut the tin away a little larger than the holes. Now you can put the linings in their places and fasten on with small tacks. Those used by upholsterers are the best. The tin at sides, back, and front, is cut short, so as not to cover the holes at the bottom. The tin can be easily cut with a large pair of scissors. The door must be lined with tin. When all the parts are lined you can glue the joints and put the body together, fastening with small brads. This can now be put on one side to dry and set firm, as we shall next set to work to make the stage and nozzle.
Before you can do so you must get your lenses and reflector. These will cost you more than any other part of the lantern twice over. The lenses will be 10s. 6d., and the reflector 2s. Ask for, or write for, a pair of lenses for No. 6A lantern, three and a half inches, and a four-inch reflector. First of all we must set the lenses. Take the largest, and cut a strip of thin tin half an inch wide, and long enough to go right round the lens and lap an eighth of an inch. The best way to measure this is with a piece of paper, cut into a strip and passed round the lens, and cut to the exact length of the circumference of it. Place this paper on your tin and cut the latter an eighth of an inch longer than the paper. You must now solder the ends of this strip of tin together to make a ring. To do this you must have a soldering bit, and as this is always useful you had better buy one.
Take a small piece of clean tin, put on it two or three drops of chloride of zinc, and in this put a small piece of solder. Put the bit in the fire to get hot—but not red-hot. When hot, rub the point with a file till it is bright, and put it on the solder, which will immediately flow and cover the point of the bit. This is called tinning the bit, and must always be done when the bit gets red-hot, as that burns off the tinning.