The Mouse in the Trap.
The Mouse in the Trap.—Cut a piece of cardboard of the size of a penny, and paint on one side a mouse, and on the other a trap; fasten two pieces of thread one on each side at opposite points of the card, so that the card can be made to revolve by twirling the threads with the finger and thumb. While the toy is in its revolution, the mouse will be seen inside the trap. Many others may be made upon the same principle.
Distorted Landscapes.—Take a piece of smooth white pasteboard and sketch a picture upon it. Prick the outlines in every part with a pin or needle, then put the pricked drawing in a perpendicular position, and place a lighted candle behind it. Stand in front of it another piece of pasteboard, and trace with a pencil the lines given by the light, and you will have a peculiar distorted landscape. Take away the candle and the pricked drawing, and put your eye where the light was, and the drawing will lose its peculiarities. To find the proper position for your eye it will be best to cut out a piece of card, adjust it, and look through a hole made to occupy the place where stood the flame of the candle.
Fig. 1., Fig. 2., and Fig. 3.
The Working Woodman.—The wind, as well as a pendulum, may be used to make wooden figures move. In Fig. 1 we have two pieces of wood, each an inch thick, an inch and a half wide, and twelve inches long. If we place them as in Fig. 1 we have four arms five and a quarter inches long. Each one of these four arms has now to be cut into a shape to adapt it as a windmill sail; that is it has to be made into a slanting thin blade not more than an eighth of an inch thick, and all the blades must present a similar slope to the wind. As mistakes are likely to occur, here we will endeavour to make the point clear. Take the arm A, Fig. 2. Suppose you have slanted this from x to y. Now imagine that B comes round to A’s position, then it, too, must be sloped in precisely the same way, and not sloped from y to x. The same applies to arms C and D. Imagine them coming to this upright position, and make them all alike as they arrive there.
Fig. 4.
The method of fixing the four arms into one piece is shown in Fig. 3. A hole should now be bored exactly in the centre at the crossing of the arms. The platform upon which the figure of the woodman will stand, shown in Fig. 4, consists of a piece of wood half an inch thick, six inches wide and twelve inches long. At each end is screwed a block to hold the shaft which communicates the movement of the sails to the figure. This shaft is a piece of strong wire fifteen inches long, bent into a crank, as shown in the diagram, and working round and round in the two blocks. The end of the wire that comes through the centre of the windmill sails should be bent up or down to prevent it from slipping out of position. The vane, which will cause the mill to keep in the right position whichever way the wind blows, is shown twice in Fig. 4. It is of thin wood, and is fastened to the underside of the platform by means of the little catch, which should be left when the vane is made. The figures whose parts are shown should be cut out of thin wood with a fret-saw, and put together so that the joints turn easily on the pins that are put through them. Two bodies are needed. To adjust the figure take off one side of the body and place the woodman in the act of completing his stroke, with the axe touching the wood, then put a peg or small tack or nail immediately behind the projection on the top of the legs. This will keep his body from bending too far forward. Now let the axe be raised to the beginning of the stroke, and put a peg in front of the projection. The arm is connected with the crank by a piece of wire. You may not find the right place at first, but a few trials will put you right. Bore a hole in the arm, put the wire through, and twist it round to keep it there.
