A “HIGH-FLYER”
When bending the ears they must be arranged so that the edge that catches the wind first will be inclined upward, as otherwise the flyer, instead of flying, will hug the spool tightly.
Another style of flyer is shown in Fig. 12, and is made of a circular disk of zinc four inches in diameter.
Make the five holes in the centre fit over the stick and pins. When all the places have been cut, bend the ears down as shown in Fig. 13, and when flying it turn it upside-down, letting the ears project upward.
To put the flyer in action, take the stick in your left hand, and over the small end of it place the spool, against which put your thumb to keep it from slipping. Wind strong cord around the spool, to the end of which a button is fastened to keep the cord from slipping through your fingers; on top of the spool place the flyer, and give the string a vigorous pull, at the same time releasing the spool with your thumb, and the centrifugal force will cause the flyer to revolve rapidly, shoot upward, and sail to a height of fifty or a hundred feet in the air, slowly descending as the revolutions diminish.
Larger flyers can be made in a similar manner; and to make a very large one, plant a post in the ground, having its upper end reduced to form a shoulder, as explained for the small stick. Get a round piece of wood several inches in diameter, and arrange four very stout steel-wire nails in the top of it. Make a tin or iron flyer twelve or fifteen inches in diameter, and use a piece of small clothes-line or cotton line to spin it with.
To operate it, wind the spool with the rope, and have some one under it to keep it from slipping. When you are ready to pull the rope, place the flyer on the pins, and as the spool is released give the rope a quick, strong pull, and the flyer will rise.
Part II
AFIELD
Chapter VI
COASTERS, SKEES, AND SNOW-SHOES
All real boys welcome the approach of the winter season with its glorious opportunities for sport on the snow and ice. Toboggans, double-runners, skees, and snow-shoes—the very words make the blood tingle in one’s veins, and happy is the boy whose home is in the Northern climes where there is real winter for at least four months out of the year.