Chapter X

LAND-YACHTS AND PUSHMOBILES

A Land-yacht

A few years ago the only kind of yacht known to the boys were those that sailed in the water, but in this advanced time, when many unheard-of things have been made possible, the land-yacht has made its welcome appearance. Down on the Southern coasts, particularly Florida and California, where the sand packs fine and hard, the land-yacht is an important feature both for pleasure and business, and if properly handled in a good breeze it will run from ten to twenty miles an hour. No end of fun can be had with a properly constructed boat, and the ingenious boy may employ old baby-carriage or bicycle wheels for the running-gear.

A yacht of medium size can be made on the lines of Fig. 1 at a comparatively small cost for the timbers and sail-cloth, spars and hardware. The leg-of-mutton sail is used in preference to the square sail, as it has the greatest area close to the ground and is less liable to upset and much easier to handle.

To begin with, obtain some spruce joist clear-grained and free from knots. They should be two-by-four inches and twelve feet long. Cut one of them eight feet long and use it for the main cross-piece to which the front wheels are attached. Form a V of two twelve-foot joist, and fasten them to the cross-piece as shown in Fig. 2. About ten inches of each piece should project beyond the cross-piece. The timbers are bolted fast and at the rear end they are bevelled and brought together, then bolted through from side to side as shown in the plan (Fig. 2). Three feet back of the long cross-piece a shorter timber is set in between the V-shaped frame as shown at A. At the middle of this timber a hole one inch and a half square is cut and into it a tenon on the butt-end of the bowsprit fits as shown in Fig. 3.

The bowsprit is seven feet long and is bolted fast to the long cross-piece. Where the end fits into the timber A two angle-blocks are nailed fast. Seat-planking is cut and screwed or nailed fast to the V-shaped frame as shown in both Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. The boards should be ten inches wide and cut to overhang the timbers an inch or two at both ends.

If the wheels from an old baby-carriage are to be used the axle should be cut in half with a hack-saw and each part clamped under an end of the cross-timber with U-shaped clamps having the ends threaded and provided with nuts and washers as shown at Fig. 4. The rear or steering wheel is set in a fork that a blacksmith will make from strap-iron, and a round piece of the same metal, having a square-headed upper end, will do for the rudder-post as shown at Fig. 5. A short axle threaded at both ends and provided with nuts will hold the wheel in place, and when the post is passed up through a hole made in the timbers a tiller can be slipped over the square shoulder and bolted fast so that it will stay in place.

The tiller is of hard-wood two inches broad at the rear end, one inch in thickness, and tapered so that it will be about an inch square with the corners rounded where it is grasped by the hand. The handle part of it should be bound with linen cord to improve the grip. Give the deck wood-work and timbering a few coats of red, buff, or light-green paint.

The mast-step is rigged over the forward cross-timber. Two upright pieces of board twenty inches long and eight inches wide are attached to the outside edges of the frame-joist with screws. On top of these a cross-piece is made fast so that the step presents the appearance of a bench. Two pieces of board six inches wide are fastened from the corners down to the bowsprit and cross-timber to brace the step as shown at Fig. 6. An iron brace is made fast to the top of the step, behind the mast, and to the bowsprit, as may be seen in the illustration.

A hole three inches in diameter is cut at the middle of the step-board, and through this the mast is slipped. A half-inch round iron is driven into the bottom of the mast after a hole has been bored with a bit. It should be long enough to project out about two inches. This steps into a hole bored in the top of the bowsprit, and with the three wire stays that are caught at the top of the mast and into the eye-bolts, shown by the arrow-heads in Fig. 2, the mast is held securely in place.

A round pole fourteen feet long may be used for the mast, but if it is impossible to find one a very good mast can be dressed from a three-inch-square spruce stick that is free from large knots or cracks. The dressing may be done with a draw-knife and plane, and near the upper end it should be tapered.

The boom is sixteen feet long and two inches in diameter, and if it is possible to get a long curtain-pole it will answer very well; otherwise it will be necessary to cut it from a two-inch-square spruce stick.

The mast end of the boom is provided with a crotch made with two jaws as shown at Fig 7. They are cut from hard-wood with a draw-knife and compass-saw, and held to the boom with carriage bolts or screws and string bound round the three parts.

The sail is made of heavy, unbleached muslin that can be had at a dry-goods store for ten cents a yard. It may be sewed by hand or on a machine, and through the middle it would be well to take a lop so as to make a strengthening rib. The sail measures ten feet on the mast, fifteen feet on the boom, and eighteen feet on the leach. It is caught to the boom with stout cord and to the mast with wood or iron rings, and with a halyard and pulley at mast-head the sail may be raised and lowered at will.

In localities where there are hard roads and where the wind has a good sweep these land-yachts have become very popular. Of course they are much safer than water-boats for there is no danger of drowning, and it is quite impossible to capsize a land-yacht if the cross-timber is long enough to give the wheels a good spread.

Wheels with rubber tires will make the running motion easier and so add to the owner’s comfort.

A Sail-wagon

For level streets or sidewalks where trees do not interfere and where the walks are wide, a sail-wagon will afford much amusement.

In the drawing (Fig. 8) a sail-wagon of medium size and simple construction is shown. Obtain a pine, white-wood, or spruce plank fifteen inches wide and about one inch thick. It should be planed on one or both sides and measure eight feet long. Round the ends with a compass-saw and build a bridge for the mast, as shown in the drawing. This bridge should be twelve inches high, eighteen inches long, and eight inches wide, and should be braced underneath with angle-brackets. In the middle of the top board cut a hole three inches in diameter, and directly under it, in the plank, bore a half-inch hole for the mast-pin to step into.

One foot back from the front end arrange an axle-bar three feet long and two by three inches thick. Make another bar the same size for the rear axle but do not bolt it fast. This must be arranged on a king-bolt so that it can be turned by a post and tiller. The king-bolt and post should be in one piece, and this will have to be made by a blacksmith. Two round iron plates of metal one-eighth of an inch thick and five inches in diameter are provided with screw-holes at the outer edge and with round holes at the middle. One of these plates is to be attached to the middle of the axle, as shown at Fig. 9 A, and the other to the under side of the plank in the middle and about ten inches in from the end. A hole is to be bored and cut three-quarters of an inch square in the axle-tree, and the holes in both iron plates are also three-quarters of an inch in diameter. Have a blacksmith make an iron post eight inches long and three-quarters of an inch in diameter. A piece of iron should be welded at the lower end so as to make it three-quarters of an inch square for a distance of three inches. At the top form a square shoulder an inch long, and above it have a short round shank threaded to take a nut as shown in Fig. 9 B. Drive this shaft up through the square hole in the axle-tree, and to prevent it from dropping nail a piece of wood or tin over the end of it and to the under side of the tree. Slip the round post up through the plate and board so that it extends several inches above the top of the board. Make a tiller of hard-wood fifteen inches long and three inches wide at the post-end and taper it to the handle. Cut a square hole in the broad end to fit over the square shoulder on the iron post, then screw the nut on over a washer to hold the tiller in place. To prevent the tiller from splitting near the hole it would be best to bind the wood at both ends of the hole with copper wire as shown in Fig. 9 C. When the wagon is in motion a turn of the handle will operate the axle and steer the moving vehicle easily.

The wheels should be all the same size, but if they cannot be had and only a pair of large and small ones are available place the smaller ones at the rear. The axle need not run the entire length of the axle-tree, but shorter pieces may be bolted fast to the ends of the trees. Give the wagon two or three coats of paint and it will then be ready for use.

From spruce or pine cut a mast five feet long and three inches in diameter, using a draw-knife and plane to shape it. Taper the stick at the top, place an iron band about the bottom, and drive a half-inch iron pin into a hole bored in the bottom so that two or three inches of it will project. The foot of the mast is to be slipped through the hole in the bridge and the pin stepped into the hole made in the long board directly under it. From two-inch spruce cut a sprit seven feet long and a boom seven feet long with a crotch formed at one end, as described in the boat chapter. The sprit acts as a gaff, and at the same time it does away with halyards and makes it possible to use a shorter and stouter stick for the mast.

From unbleached muslin make a sail three feet and six inches on the mast, six feet on the boom, three feet at the head, and seven feet on the leach. A sail of this proportion will set properly, and when the peak is jacked up with the sprit the boom will clear the boy on the deck when it swings over. To stiffen the sail bind the outer edge with thin rope or cotton line a trifle smaller than clothes-line.

A Pushmobile

The pushmobile (Fig. 10) is another interesting road or sidewalk car and one with which two boys can share considerable fun. In general appearance the pushmobile resembles something between an automobile and a buck-board, as there is a long reach between the fore and aft wheels. The body consists of a long board one inch and a quarter in thickness, eighteen or twenty inches wide, and seven feet long. Or two nine-inch planks may be fixed together with the battens that hold the axles and a shorter one under the seat. At the front of the body a keg is mounted and held fast with iron straps which go over the top of the keg and are fastened to the sides of the large board as may be seen in Fig. 10. This keg will represent the engine cover, and at either side of it and mounted on the board two tin cans arranged with glass at the front will serve as lamps. By perforating the tops and sides of these cans a candle may be used or bicycle lamps may be substituted for them. The glass is fitted to the cans by bending a piece of spring-wire in a circle and placing it within the can. Against this wire a circular piece of glass will rest, and to hold it in place another wire may be slipped within the can. If large baking-powder or coffee cans are used the greater portion of the cap may be cut away with a tin-shears, leaving a rim and flange just wide enough to hold the glass in place.

The seat is made from a box eighteen inches wide and high and arranged with back and sides which can be built up six inches above the seat as shown in Fig. 10. This seat is to be securely attached to the board with long screws driven up through the under side of the board and into the lower part of the box. The steering-shaft and wheel are arranged about one foot in front of the seat. This is a shaft of hard-wood (such as a curtain-pole or any good tough stick) about one inch and a half square or in diameter. It mounts on a block of wood which is screwed fast to the large board and provided with a hole through which the shaft will pass so that it will extend down through the large board. A collar of wood or iron is slipped down over the shaft and screwed fast to it so as to prevent it from slipping down too far. Another collar is provided and made fast at the bottom to prevent the steering-cable from slipping off. The arrangement of the collars and wire is shown at Fig. 11 A. At the top of the shaft a small wooden wheel should be slipped on over a shank that may be cut down in size to fit the opening in the wheel; and with a screw the wheel is to be made fast to the shaft so that it is held securely in place.

The rear wheels are attached to an axle that in turn is bolted fast to a bar of wood eighteen inches long and two by three inches in thickness. These wheels are held in a fixed position, and the bar to which they are attached is located about a foot in from the end of the long board. The front axle is bolted to a movable bar which is held to another bar by a king-bolt, so that the lower axle-bar can turn in the same way as on a wagon. The bar to which the axle and movable bar are attached is located about one foot from the front of the long board. This arrangement can be seen at Fig. 12, which is a front view showing axle and fifth wheel, as the turn-plate between the axle-tree and the body of the wagon is called. The fifth wheel is made of two pieces of tire-iron, one fastened to the under side of the fixed bar, the other to the top of the axle-tree, so that when greased the lower part will turn easily.

Flexible wire-cable or very strong twine should be used for the steering-gear. The ends are made fast to the axle-tree as shown at A in Fig. 12. Several wraps of the wire or twine are taken about the lower end of the shaft, and the wire passes through a hole to prevent it from slipping. The wire should be attached first at one end of the tree, carried to the shaft, and given several turns, then passed through the hole. Several more turns are to be made above the hole, then the loose end should be attached to the other end of the axle-tree. If a small turn-buckle can be had, make it fast to the wire and axle at one end so as to draw the wire taut and hold it in place, for the tighter the wire the better the shaft will act when turned by the wheel.

A brake is to be made fast at one side of the car as shown in Fig. 10. Have a blacksmith turn a piece of one-inch thin tire-iron for you as shown at Fig. 11 B, and bore two holes at the short end and two larger ones farther up as indicated in the drawing. With screws attach a brake-block to the short end, and with a square-headed lag-screw make this brake-bar fast to a block fastened at the under side of the long board so that the lever and brake-block will act on the tire of the wheel. The hand-bar is of iron twenty-four inches long and provided with a hole at the lower end and another one six inches above it. The upper end of the bar is drawn out on the anvil so that a wooden handle can be slipped on it, then it is bolted to a block attached to the lower front side of the seat as shown in the illustration. A stout wire connects the lower end of the hand-bar with the top of the brake-bar, so that when the handle is pulled back the wire and top end of the brake-bar is drawn forward and the block pressed against the wheel.

Several coats of paint will give this pushmobile a good appearance and it will then be ready for use.

One boy on the seat steers the machine, while another grasps the overhanging edges of the long board and pushes as he runs behind. On level sidewalks or streets a good run and push will send the car along at a good speed and the pusher can then jump on behind. When going downhill both boys can ride, and if the driver has his hands full with the wheel and shaft the boy behind can reach forward and operate the brake.

If coasting is done on very steep hills or roads it would be well to have a brake to operate on both rear wheels, for the momentum of a rapidly moving car will often drag a “dead” wheel if the other three are running easily; whereas if both back wheels are “dead” the car can be brought to a quick stop.