CHAPTER VI

WINDMILL, WATER-WHEEL, AND WELL

=Windmill= (Plate XII). Cut a square of wood, side 5 inches. This is the stand A in Fig. 306. To the centre of this glue a large reel, B.

Next cut two 4-inch squares of wood and drill through their centres holes of about 1/4 inch in diameter. Glue one to the top of the reel so that the holes coincide. Next cut and glue into position the supports, C. For these stripwood 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch can be used.

Cut two pieces of wood, 4 inches by 6 inches. These form two sides of the windmill; glue and nail them to the other 4-inch square, which forms the bottom of the windmill.

Next cut two pieces of wood as in Fig. 307, for the other sides of the windmill. Drill a small hole in each at D about 1-1/2 inches from the top.

On one of these sides mark and paint a door and windows as in Fig. 308, and over the door make a small roof, like the roof over the porch of the signal-box (Chapter XII). The windows and door may be cut out with a fret-saw and the door hinged on by means of a strip of strong linen. Glue and nail these sides in position. Make and fix the roof.

_The Sails._ For these, two strips of wood, 1/4 inch square and 12 inches long, are necessary.

In the centre of each of these, cut a slot half-way through the wood so that one may fit tightly into the other (F in Fig. 309). The sails are made of cardboard, and are rectangular in shape, measuring 5 inches by 2 inches. They are coloured light brown, with dark markings on them, as shown in the plate. Shape each end of the arms of the sails as in Fig. 309. This is easily done by filing, if the wood is fairly soft. Saw half-way through the wood at E, and file, or cut off the wood with a pen-knife. To this flat surface the sails are glued, so that they may be inclined to the wind. Now glue the two arms together, and when they are firm make a hole through the middle, F, where the arms cross. Take a short steel knitting needle, about 6-3/4 inches; fix one end into this hole with glue; then glue a small piece of cardboard or wood over it, and a cork washer behind, to keep the sails from touching the walls of the windmill; pass the needle through the holes in the sides of the windmill and glue a little knob of wood to the other end to prevent the needle slipping back. If a needle cannot be obtained, an old bicycle spoke, or even a wooden meat skewer, will do, but in the latter case the holes in the walls must be made larger, and the sails fixed to the end of the skewer by a small nail.

Now glue a piece of round rod into the reel (H in Fig. 306) so that it projects about an inch. Place the mill on this stand, so that the rod passes through the hole in the bottom of the mill. The mill can be turned round in any direction so that the sails may catch the wind. Make a small ladder to reach the door.

A very pretty but somewhat more difficult windmill is shown in Fig. 310. It is made of cardboard. The foundation, platform and railings can be made as described in the case of the lighthouse (Chapter XIII).

The truncated hexagonal pyramid forming the body of the windmill is made as follows. With centre O (Fig. 311), and a radius of about 10 inches, describe an arc, A B.

From any point on this arc mark off six spaces, each 2 inches.

Join the several points to each other and to O. With radius about 3 inches make arc C D. Join points where C D cuts radii, by dotted lines. Draw the flanges; make half cuts along the dotted lines, cut out along the dark lines, and fold into shape. Fasten together with seccotine; turn in the flanges at the bottom, and fasten them to the platform.

The _Top of the Windmill_ can be cut from one piece of cardboard. Draw square, A B C D (Fig. 312), large enough to project beyond top of hexagonal pyramid (side of square should be about 3 inches). On the middle of D C draw M K = 4 inches, and draw a similar line on A B. Join A J, J B, K D and K C, by curved lines. Produce A B and D C both ways. Make B F, C E, D H, A G, equal in length to arc B J. Draw the flange E F P O. Make holes in the middle of A J B and D K C through which the knitting-needle (on which the sail is fastened) may pass. Draw flanges on B J, J A, etc. Make half cuts along the dotted lines, and cut along the dark lines.

Before fastening the top together, put a very small paper-clip through the middle of square, A B C D, and fasten it to a square of cardboard of the same size, so that it turns freely on it. This second square will be gummed to the top of the hexagonal pyramid, so that the top of the windmill may be turned in any direction. Bend up A J B and D K C at right angles to square, A B C D. Bend up B C E F and A D H G and gum them to the flanges of A J B and D K C; gum flange F O to A D H G. The sails are made as already described.

=A Water-wheel= (Plate XII). _The Wheel._ Cut two discs of cardboard, 4 inches in diameter. Make holes in the centre, glue them to a small reel (about an inch high), and pass a round rod through for an axle. This wheel is an overshot water-wheel--that is, one that receives the water _shot over_ the top, and must be fitted with 'buckets.' These receive the water at the top of the wheel and retain it until they reach the lowest point (see Fig. 313).

The 'buckets' may be made of stiff paper or thin cardboard. Cut pieces 1 inch in width, and in length the distance of the two wheels apart plus 1/2 an inch. Mark these out as in Fig. 314, where _a b_ is the distance between the wheels, and _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_ are flanges for fastening the bucket to the wheels. Fold as in Fig. 315. Make at least twelve of these buckets; divide the wheel into twelve parts, and fasten the buckets between the wheels.

To make the toy technically correct, the buckets should rest against a solid wheel contained within the two outer ones, as in Fig. 313, so that no water can run down toward the centre of the wheel. This can be easily managed, if desired, in the following manner:

Before fastening the wheels to the reel, cut a long strip of paper, with flanges, as in Fig. 316, in which _a b_ is the distance between the two outer wheels. Describe a smaller circle on one of the wheels, about 3 inches in diameter; glue the reel in position, then bend down the flanges of this strip of paper (Fig. 316), and gum these round the smaller circle of the wheel. Now gum the other wheel to the reel and to the flanges of the paper.

The wheel should be painted brown, with spokes marked in darker colour. The plate shows the wheel and the mill-house. A hole is made in the side of the house, into which the axle of the wheel is inserted; the other end is held by the upright standard shown in the plate. The shoot may be made of cardboard; it should slope a little and should come just over the top of the wheel, which revolves freely beneath it.

A chimney may be made of a cork, one end being cut on the slant, so that it stands upright on the roof, which is made of cardboard. The whole should be suitably coloured.

_An Undershot Wheel._ This wheel is very simple to make. It has a number of float-boards arranged round it and is turned by a stream of water moving against the float-boards at its lowest point (Fig. 317).

Fig. 318 shows how the float-boards, which are made of cardboard, are fastened between the wheels. With this undershot wheel, the shoot represented in the plate is not required.

=A Well= (Fig. 319). The round part of the well is made from a mantle-box or other round box. A is a fairly deep box turned upside down, with a circle cut out into which the mantle-box fits closely. This gives a fair depth. Cover the well with paper coloured to represent bricks; colour the box, A, green. The cardboard roof is glued to posts, D, and to triangular pieces of wood, B and C, glued to each side of D.

Holes are drilled through the posts to take the roller, E, which is a round rod about 1/2 an inch in diameter. Drill small holes in it at each end. Push a pin from the end F through the side post into the roller. Bind a piece of wire to form a handle, G, and push one end of this into the roller. Bend a piece of wire or pin to form a hook, tie this to a piece of string, wind it round the roller and fasten the other end of the string to roller with seccotine. If a small chain is used this can be fastened by one of its links to the roller with a staple, and should be so fastened before the roller is put in position.