A DESK CHAIR

THE seat is formed of a box with a hinged cover. Midway of the depth inside is a sliding shelf upon two cleats extending the length of the box, giving space for large paper sheets, etc.

REQUIREMENTS:

Body: 1 condensed-milk box (about 74 in. deep, 13 in. wide, 1934 in. long).

Cover: 1 piece 5% in. thick, 11⁄2 in. wide, length equal

to side length of the box. I piece 5 in. thick, width 11⁄2 in. less than the width of the box, length equal to the outside length of the box.

Shelf: 1 piece 1⁄2 in. thick, width equal to one half the inside length of the box, and length equal to the inside width of the box.

Cleats: 2 pieces 1⁄2 in. thick, 11⁄2 in. wide, length equal to the inside length of the box.

Legs: 4 strips 1⁄2 in. thick, 11⁄2 in. wide, 27 in. long. 4 strips 1⁄2 in. thick, 2 in. wide, 27 in. long. Arms: 2 strips 1⁄2 in. thick, 21⁄2 in. wide, 16 in. long. Back-bar: 2 strips 1⁄2 in. thick, 21⁄2 in. wide, 2134 in. long.

Hardware: 2 134 in. brass butts.

CONSTRUCTION: Make the legs 27 inches long. Remove the cover. Nail the shelf cleats on the inside sides of the box, keeping the top of the cleats 3 inches from the bottom. Fit the shelf so as to slide readily upon the cleats. Bore a hole 4 inch in diameter, 3/4 of an inch from the edge at the center; insert the finger in this hole to move the shelf. Nail the narrow cover strip along the side on top, keeping its outside edge even with the outside edge of the box. Turn the box on its side and nail on the legs, allowing them

Body: 3 boxes (10 in. deep, 12 in. wide, 31 in. long). Legs: 4 strips 1⁄2 in. thick, 11⁄2 in. wide, 5 in. longer than three times the outside width of the box. 4 strips 1⁄2 in. thick, 2 in. wide, 5 in. longer than three times the outside width of the box.

Top: 1 piece 5% in. thick, 3 in. wider than the outside depth of the box with the cover removed, and 3 in. longer than the outside length of the box. Facing Strips: 6 strips 1⁄2 in. thick, 2 in. wide, about 7 in. long.

CONSTRUCTION: Make the legs 5 inches longer than three times the outside width of the box. Remove the covers. Turn one box on its side and remove the upper side. Do the same with the second box. Place the second box on its side upon the open side of the first box, keeping the open side of the second box at the top. Upon this open side of the second box place the third box, keeping all the cover openings facing the same way. Fasten the three boxes together by nailing two strips placed vertically across the bottoms about 2 feet apart, to hold them together while the legs are put on. Turn all three boxes

THE DESK CHAIR.

THE BOOKCASE.

to project 10 inches above the top of the box with the seat cover on. Stand the chair upon its legs, right side up. Nail the arms to the top of the legs, allowing their ends to project 2 inches over the face of the legs in front, and their outside edges to project 1⁄2 inch over the outside face of leg on the sides, the rear end of arm being

on their backs and nail on the legs, keeping their upper ends even with the top side of the last box added. Turn the stand upon its legs and nail on the top, allowing its edges to project I inch over the outside face of the legs all around. Put on the facing strips at the ends, and remove the temporary strips from the back of the stand.

BY

FIG. 1.

EVERY boy likes to see a weather-vane spinning round and round, and especially when there is a good big wind that keeps it fairly whizzing for hours at a time; but it would be more interesting if it was not for the fact that nearly all the weather-vanes look alike. If an attempt is made to have something different it is usually a sailor holding a pair of paddles to catch the wind.

There is no need for this. Any clever boy can make a great variety of weather-vanes. It needs considerable ingenuity and a lot of patience, but it is always worth while.

An attractive weather-vane representing a yacht race can be made by means of four toy boats. These are fastened to light oak sticks or small metal rods, as shown in Figure 1. If the sails are cut out of strong canvas and firmly wired into place, they will stand two or three

FIG. 2.

ther-vanes are made to spin around and around with the wind just for the sake of the attraction there is in them; but these spinning things do not really show the direction in which the wind is blowing, and so the wind-indicators are needed in addition. Always make these wind-indicators in keeping with the subject or style of the spin

ner.

A wind-indicator moves back and forth only slightly, varying with the wind. They do not spin around, but only serve to tell us from which direction the wind is blowing. For this reason the side that catches the wind should extend the farthest from the supporting rod.

The combination wind-indicator and weathervane is shown in Figure 2. This is the biplane weather-vane. Make an ordinary little biplane with two very thin boards or pieces of tin, and

FIG. 3.

seasons of weather. On top of this, for a windindicator, make a small oar, as shown in the illustration.

With few exceptions, these ornamental wea

FIG. 4

FIG. 5.

balance it on the supporting rod by means of the light wooden frame, the tail-piece, or rudder, helping to balance it. On the front there is a propeller made of tin. Now the wind will blow

this whole biplane back and forth just as an ordinary wind-indicator would vary with every breeze. At the same time, the wind will keep the propeller spinning around and around, and in this manner you get the combination weathervane and weather-indicator.

In Figure 3 is shown a sailing-skater weathervane. Instead of four objects on this there are but two. There are two ways to make these skaters: they may be cut out of tin and painted, or they may be whittled out of wood. They have skates on, and are holding in their hands a real square- or mainsail of canvas which catch the wind. The little figures spin around and look just as though they were really gliding along on

or zinc. In each arm he holds a wide-bladed sword. The arms are bent out a bit on the elbows, and the blades of the swords are turned at right angles from the arms. The soldier, of course, spins about because the wind strikes against these blades as they would against the arms of a windmill, and, at the same time, the arms themselves are spinning around in circles (see Figure 5). In this particular case, there is a hole made through the figure from foot to crown. He turns around on a rod run through this hole. On the top of this, the wind-indicator is made in the form of a sword or saber. While the soldier is flashing around trying to cut off the heads of his enemies, the wind-indicator at the top moves

skates by means of the wind, and at the same time chasing each other. For the top of this, cut a skate out of tin for the weather-indicator.

An unusually novel weather-vane can be called "the flying kites." On each of the four wooden or metal arms there is an upright arm bent at an angle of about thirty degrees, and on the end of each of these is a piece of tin cut out in the form of a kite, and painted white. Dangling from the bottom of all four of these kites is a short ribbon for the tail, but these tails must be so short that they will not reach to the bottom supports and, becoming entangled, stop the vane from spinning around. All four of these tin kites, set in this position, will serve to catch the wind from any direction. The weather-indicator can be made in the form of an arrow.

A new form of the old-fashioned sailor weather-vane who thrashes his paddles around and around is the "fighting captain." Make a figure of a man out of wood. The best height for the figure is about twelve inches. Make this fellow's arms separate, and cut them out of tin

FIG. 7.

FIG. 8.

independently of him, and points out the direction of the wind.

The old-fashioned Dutch windmill is a picturesque form for a weather-vane. The real windmills are made so that the top may be turned around and allow the sails to face the wind whichever way it may be blowing. A small weather-vane can be made on the same plan. This is shown in Figure 6. The top, or roofpart, shown at A, is put on the bottom, or housepart, B, by means of a swivel, as is indicated at C. The big fan is made on a wooden form, over which cloth is stretched, and turns independently of the top, as shown at D. Now the wind, catching these big fan-blades, will swing the top in the right direction, no matter how the wind is blowing, and, at the same time, the big wheel will be in motion. It is possible to make one of these having, as the bottom, or house-part, a real birdhouse.

The marksman is another form of weathervane made in the same way as the sail-skaters, except that there are four arms, two for the

saw can be made on the top of a barrel placed on a shed or some similar high place where it can catch the wind. This is called the "running hen" weather-vane. The upright rod is placed in the middle of the barrel with the two arms coming out just to the edge of the barrel. On the end of each of these two arms is placed the figure of a hen, or there may be a hen on one and a rooster on the other, cut out of tin or very thin wood and painted; and they may have tails of

real feathers, attached by punching holes through the tin and fastening the feathers on with wire. This is shown in Figure 8. Unlike most of the weather-vanes, the horizontal rod and the arms do not move separately. Whenever the upright rod moves, it also moves both of the arms. The motive power is a big flag, made of tin and painted. When the wind strikes this, it blows it about. The feet of these hens, also made of tin, are cut out separately and fastened on as shown in Figure & They are made to hang very loosely. On the rim of the barrel, about four inches apart, are fastened little pointed blocks of wood, as shown by B. These are made just high enough so that when one of the figures of the hens passes this piece of wood, the feet strike against the wood and flop back and forth. When the wind is blowing this weather-vane, you can see these feet flopping back and forth until it looks for all the world as though the hens were actually running.

The sockets for these weather-vanes should be made as in Figure 9; the arms consist of round rods fastened with staples as at A, B, C, and D. This enables the arms to move around independently of the wind-indicator.

In Figure 10, A shows the rod that supports the weather-indicator; B shows the movable support of the arms, while the dotted lines that run below show the big socket in which B rests and the inner socket in which A rests. These sockets are made large enough so that each will move about easily in the other if they are kept well greased and made deep enough so that they cannot blow out or tip over.