How? or, Spare Hours Made Profitable for Boys and Girls

by Kennedy Holbrook

After the crank is bent in shape, wind around it the end of a piece of smaller wire about six inches long, as shown in Fig. 3. This wire is to connect the crank to the walking-beam, but it is not to be fastened to the latter until the boat is put together.

The outside of the paddle-boxes should next be attached to No. 3 by the small screws already spoken of, which are to pass up from the under-side through the holes a a, a a, Fig. 3, into their lower edge. The extremities of these boxes should form a line with the ends of the slits, and the outside of these and the edge of No. 3, which contains the name, should form a continuous flat surface.

The other two sides of these paddle-boxes are to be secured against the sides of No. 4, their bottom line forming a continuation of the bottom of the piece, and their position determined by placing the part on top of No. 3, as indicated in Fig. 3, and making their ends form a straight line with those of the outside pieces and the slits; this is also indicated by the dotted lines on the outside of Fig. 4.

Having fastened No. 3 in its position over No. 2 (see Fig. 2, dotted lines), place the wheels in their slits and let the wires rest in the bottom of the grooves; they will then extend a fraction of an inch below the bottom of the boat. This arrangement is intentional, as the toy is intended to be drawn over a floor or carpet, and it is the friction these wheels encounter that moves the walking-beam, and thus gives it the natural appearance of a boat moving through the water. After these wires are pushed to the bottom of the grooves, insert wedges of wood above, deep enough to nearly touch them; make these of tough hard wood, so that there shall be no danger of the wheels riding up out of their proper places.

Place No. 4 in position, first drawing the wire attached to the crank through the opening, and screw it firmly down upon No. 3. There is now no danger of the axle of the wheels getting out of order, if the wedges were firmly fixed, and deep enough to keep the wire in place.

The smoke-stack should now be fastened with a strong and very long screw from the under-side of No. 5, at g. It should be very firmly attached in its place, as little children frequently use this as a handle to take the boat from the floor. Fasten on the pilot-house in the same manner at c, on Fig. 5. Having the walking-beam and its supports perfectly dry—and it would have been well to have given both a good coating of shellac dissolved in alcohol—take a wire or piece of knitting-needle nine-sixteenths of an inch long, and having fixed one end in the hole made near the top of the support to hold it, pass it through the central hole in the walking-beam, and insert the other end in the second support, then screw the piece marked c, in Fig. 7, in its place, which will of course hold the walking-beam firmly fixed. Now glue the supports inside the slit of No. 5, and in such a position that when the walking-beam is extended in a horizontal direction, the hole in the end toward the stern shall be exactly above the line of the axle of the wheels—that is, a line running across the boat from the center of one wheel to that of the other. These supports should also be caught underneath with nails, that there may be no danger of their falling through into the opening in the center.

Having fixed these in place, fasten the loose end of the wire connected with the crank through the small hole in the end of the walking-beam, so that when the crank is in a horizontal position, the walking-beam will also be in the same position. Attach a piece of wire four or five inches long to the other end of the walking-beam, and let the loose end fall through the opening in the top.

Now cover the open spaces at the top of the paddle-boxes with pieces of tin just wide enough to reach their edges, and catch it in place with tacks. Paint them with the light buff used for the deck.

Fasten the two wire flag-staffs to bow and stern, and pass a wooden one seven inches long through a, Fig. 5, down into a hole in No. 2, as shown in Fig. 2, at g. With fine wire attach a topmast five inches in length to this, allowing them to lap about an inch.

Sink a mast four inches in length into a hole bored through 5 and well into 4, so that its top will be about three inches above the deck, and fasten the stays in their positions, as seen in the cut. On a piece of blue cambric paint white stars, cut it in the shape of a flag, and attach it to the forward pole. A small “one cent flag” will do for the stern, while the name of the boat painted in red or vermilion upon a white ground, should float from the tall staff in front of the pilot-house.