Things To Make, Archibald Williams [great book club books .txt] 📗

The cylinder will not be described in detail, as hints on making a slide-valve cylinder have been given on earlier pages. The piston rod should be three times as long as the stroke of the cylinder, if it is to serve as pump plunger; and near the pump end an annular groove must be sunk to take a packing.

The pump, if designed to work horizontally, will have the valves arranged like the pump illustrated in Fig. 65; if vertically, like the pump shown in Fig. 109. Both suction and delivery pipes should be of ample size, as the pump works very fast. The pump is mounted on a foot, F, made by turning up the ends of a piece of brass strip, and filing them to fit the barrel.

The bed can be fashioned out of stout sheet brass or zinc. Let it be of ample size to start with, and do not cut it down until the pump is complete. Rule a centre line for cylinder and pump, and mount the cylinder. Pull out the piston rod plunger as far as it will go, and slip the pump barrel on it. The foot of the pump must then be brought to the correct height by filing and spreading the ends until the plunger works quite easily in the pump, when this is pressed down firmly against the bed. When adjustment is satisfactory, mark the position of the foot on the bed, solder foot to barrel, and drill and tap the foot for the holding-down screws. Don't forget that the distance between pump and cylinder gland must be at least 1-1/3 times the stroke.

The valve motion can then be taken in hand. Cut off for the guides, G1 G2, two pieces of stout brass strip, 2-1/2 inches long and 3/4 inch wide. Lay them together in a vice, and bore the holes (Fig. 113) 1-1/4 inches apart, centre to centre, for the 1/8-inch rods, R1 R2. The feet are then turned over and a third hole bored in G1, midway between those previously made, to take the end of the support, PP, of the rocking lever.

[Illustration: FIG. 113.—End view of striking mechanism of steam pump.]

Screw G1 G2 down to the bedplate, 3/4 inch away from the cylinder centre line. G1 is abreast of the mouth of the pump, G2 about half an inch forward of the end of the cylinder.

The striker, S, is a piece of brass strip soldered to 1/2 inch of tubing fitting the piston rod. (See Fig. 113.) Its length is decided by running a rod through the upper holes in G1 G2, allowance being made for the notch in the end. The collar is tapped for two screws, which prevent S slipping on the piston rod. The rods for R1 R2 are now provided with forks, made by cutting and filing notches in bits of brass tubing. The notches should be half as deep again as the rocking lever is wide, to give plenty of room for movement. Solder the forks to the rods, and put the rods in place in the guides, with the forks as far away from G1 as the travel of the slide valve. Then measure to get the length of the rocking lever support. One end of this should be filed or turned down to fit the hole drilled for it; the other should be slotted to fit the lever accurately.

The rocking lever, RL, which should be of steel, is slotted at each end to slide on the pins in the forks, and bored for the pivot pin, which, like those in the forks, should be of hardened steel wire. Assemble the rocking lever in its support and the rod forks, and solder on the support.

To the back end of R2 solder a steel plate, A, which must be bored for the pin in the valve fork, after the correct position has been ascertained by careful measurement.

The stops, T1 T2, are small, adjustable collars, kept tightly in place on
R1 by screws.

Setting the Striker.—Assemble all the parts. Pull out the piston rod as far as it will go, and push the slide valve right back. Loosen the striker and the forward stop, and slide them along in contact until the striker is close to the pump. Tighten up their screws. Then push the piston rod fully in, draw the valve rod fully out, and bring the rear stop up against the striker, and make it fast. Each stop may now be moved 1/16 inch nearer to a point halfway between them to cause "cushioning" of the piston, by admitting steam before the stroke is quite finished.

A pump made by the author on this principle, having a 1-1/4 inch stroke and a 1/2-inch bore, will deliver water at the rate of half a gallon per minute against a head of a few feet.

Note.—To steady the flow and prevent "water hammer," a small air-chamber should be attached to the delivery pipe.

An Alternative Arrangement.—If the reader prefers a steam pump which will work at slow speeds, and be available, when not pumping, for driving purposes, the design may be modified as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 114. The striker becomes a cross head, and is connected by a forked rod passing on each side of the pump with the crank of a fly wheel overhanging the base. The valve is operated in the ordinary manner by an eccentric on the crankshaft. The steadying effect of the fly wheel and the positive action of the valve make it possible to use a larger pump plunger than is advisable with the striking gear. With a pump piston of considerably greater diameter than the piston rod, the pump may be made double-acting, a gland being fitted at the front end for the piston rod to work through, and, of course, a second set of valves added.

[Illustration: Fig. 114.—Plan of steam pump with fly wheel.]

For exhibition purposes a small, easily running, double-action pump might be worked by the spindle of a gramophone. A crank of the proper throw and a connecting rod must be provided. Both delivery pipes feed, through an air-chamber, a fountain in the centre of a bowl, the water returning through an overflow to the source of supply, so that the same water may be used over and over again.

Plain Rectangular Box Kites.—The plain box kite is easy to make and a good flier. Readers should try their hands on it before attempting more complicated models.

Lifting pressure is exerted only on the sides facing the wind, but the other sides have their use in steadying the kite laterally, and in holding in the wind, so that they justify their weight.

Proportions of Box.—Each box has wind faces one and a third times as long as the sides, and the vertical depth of the box is about the same as its fore and aft dimensions. That is, the ends of the boxes are square, and the wind faces oblong, with one-third as much area again as the ends. Little advantage is to be gained from making the boxes proportionately deeper than this. The distance between the boxes should be about equal to the depth of each box.

After these general remarks, we may proceed to a practical description of manufacture, which will apply to kites of all dimensions. It will be prudent to begin on small models, as requiring small outlay.

Having decided on the size of your kite, cut out two pieces of material as wide as a box is to be deep, and as long as the circumference of the box plus an inch and a half to spare. Machine stitch 5/8 inch tapes along each edge, using two rows of stitching about 1/8 inch from the edges of the tape. Then double the piece over, tapes inside, and machine stitch the ends together, three quarters of an inch from the edge. Note.—All thread ends should be tied together to prevent unravelling, and ends of stitching should be hand-sewn through the tape, as the greatest strain falls on these points.

The most convenient shape for the rods is square, as fitting the corners and taking tacks most easily. The sectional size of the rods is governed by the dimensions of the kite, and to a certain extent by the number of stretchers used. If four stretchers are employed in each box, two near the top and two near the bottom, the rods need not be so stout as in a case where only a single pair of central stretchers is preferred.

Lay the two boxes flat on the floor, in line with one another, and the joins at the same end. Pass two rods through, and arrange the boxes so that the outer edges are 1/2 inch from the ends of the rods. (These projections protect the fabric when the kite strikes the ground).

Lay the rods on one corner, so that the sides make an angle of 45 degrees with the floor, pull the boxes taut—be careful that they are square to the rods—and drive three or four tacks through each end of the box into the rods. Then turn them over and tack the other sides similarly. Repeat the process with the other rods after measuring to get the distances correct.

The length of the stretchers is found approximately by a simple arithmetical sum, being the square root of the sum of the squares of the lengths of two adjacent sides of the box. For example, if each box is 20 by 15 inches, the diagonal is the square root of (20 squared plus 15 squared) = square root of 625 = 25 inches. The space occupied by the vertical rods will about offset the stretch of the material, but to be on the safe side and to allow for the notches, add another half-inch for small kites and more proportionately for large ones. It is advisable to test one pair of stretchers before cutting another, to reduce the effect of miscalculations.

The stretcher notches should be deep enough to grip the rods well and prevent them twisting, and one must take care to have those on the same stretcher exactly in line, otherwise one or other cannot possibly "bed" properly. A square file is useful for shaping the notches.

Ordinarily stretchers do not tend to fall out, as the wind pressure puts extra strain on them and keeps them up tight. But to prevent definitely any movement one may insert screw eyes into the rods near the points at which the stretchers press on them, and other eyes near the ends of the stretchers to take string fastenings. These attachments will be found useful for getting the first pair of stretchers into position, and for preventing the stretchers getting lost when the kite is rolled up.

The bridle is attached to four eyes screwed into the rods near the tops of the boxes. (See Fig. 118.) The top and bottom elements of the bridle must be paired off to the correct length; the top being considerably shorter than the bottom. All four parts may be attached to a brass ring, and all should be taut when the ring is pulled on. The exact adjustment must be found by experiment. In a very high wind it is advisable to shorten the top of the bridle if you have any doubt as to the strength of your string, to flatten the angle made by the kite with the wind.

[Illustration: FIG. 115.—Details of stretcher attachment for diamond-shaped box kites.]

Diamond Box Kites.—In another type of box kite the boxes have four equal sides, but the boxes are rhombus-shaped, as in Fig. 116, the long diagonal being square to the wind, and the bridle attached at the front corner.

For particulars of design and construction I am much indebted to Mr. W. H. Dines, F.R.S., who has used the diamond box kite for his meteorological experiments to carry registering meteorographs several thousands of feet into the air.

The longitudinal sticks used at the corners have the section shown in Fig. 115. They are about four times as wide at the front edge, which presses against the fabric, as at the back, and their depth is about twice the greater width. This shape makes it easy to attach the shorter stretchers, which have their ends notched and bound to prevent splitting.

[Illustration: FIG. 116.—Plan of diamond box kite, showing arrangement of stretchers.]

Fig. 117 is a perspective diagram of a kite. The sail of each