In the bottom rod of each set bore a hole with a gimlet, as in [Fig. 3], and get two pieces of iron wire about one-quarter of an inch in diameter and bend the ends at right angles to the other part, leaving this middle part about two feet long. These are to be fitted to the rods, one to each pair, by pushing the bent ends into the holes in the ends of the rods as in [Fig. 3]; they are to be fitted on the outside of the rods.
Fasten these two wires together by passing a cord round both and tying the ends together. Sometimes the weight of the screen will cause the roller it is hung on to ‘sag’ or drop in the middle. But by tightening the cord underneath, the lower ends of the uprights will be brought towards each other, and will raise the middle of the screen roller.
To make the screen you must get some linen. This can be bought ten feet wide. Get three and a half yards of it, and have it hemmed at the top and bottom.
The top hem must be large enough for the roller to pass tightly through. The screen will get more or less creased in packing, but will come all right on being wetted and hung on the roller.
This frame is calculated for a ten-foot screen, which will be found large enough for most rooms. But it can be made for a larger one by adding one or more rods to each of the sets. The linen for a larger screen must be joined, as it is not made more than ten feet wide. In joining linen for this purpose do not let the seam come across the middle, but add an equal piece at the top and bottom, which will leave the middle of the picture clear, and the line of the join will come among the dark features of the foreground, and will not be seen so much. The tin tubes had better be varnished over with Brunswick black, as they will look better and not be liable to rust. Varnish the iron wires also.
In packing up, the screen must not be rolled on the rods, but had better be folded up by itself in paper and placed in the bottom of the box, and then the rods put in afterwards. Otherwise the screen might have some patches of Brunswick black in the middle of it.
Fig. 4.
[Fig. 4] is a view of the screen and frame when put together.