By Dan Beard
Figs. 190-196.
The Adam Poe Elevator
If the reader wants something that is not only practical but picturesque as well, he will find both of these qualities combined in the Adam Poe elevator. Besides which, the whole machine can be made from the rubbish heap of any country house, farm, or camp, or it may be made in miniature for a toy.
Fig. 190 is a rough sketch of an Adam Poe elevator located on a side hill. A glance at this sketch will show you that the whole machine consists of two pieces of clothesline, some tomato cans, and a few little sticks for spreaders.
The loop or belt of clothesline runs over three spools. In a tree-top house only two spools would be necessary, for the middle spool (Fig. 192) is used as a support to keep the top line of cans from sagging.
When a boy turns the crank or windlass at Fig. 190 the can-laden belt of clothesline moves over the spools; the cans on top, being all upside down, go down into the water in that position at Fig. 194., and come up on the under side of the spool filled with water.
When they reach the top spool (Fig. 190), they turn upside down and empty the water into a wooden trough placed there to catch it, and from the trough the water runs into the barrel (Fig. 196). Fig. 193 shows the clothesline with the wooden spreaders attached by a wire and the tin can attached to a spreader.
Fig. 192 shows a front view of the middle or supporting spool with a broomstick shaft. This spool and the lower one (Fig. 194) are both made of "hard-bread" crates.
Fig. 195 shows some wooden washers, which are simply pieces of boards with holes bored through them, and used each side of the "hard-bread" crate to prevent it from rubbing against the upright posts. Fig. 197 shows the end of the spreader, the wire, and the notches in the flat stick to hold the wire when it is bound to the rope. A "hard-bread" crate may not be handy for my readers, but a slatted cylinder is an easy thing to make.
Figs. 198-201.
An Enlarged View of Fig. 190.
To make the round end or wheel (A B C D E F G H), it is first necessary to have a square piece of plank; then saw off the corners (H-G, F-E, D-C, A-B), as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 199. The corners may again be cut off, as shown by the finer inside dotted line, and your wheel is done. But for the ends of the spool of Fig. 201 we need a square hole through the centre of the wheels, as shown by the dotted line at U (Fig. 199).
To get the center of a square, rule two diagonal lines from corner to corner. Where they cross each other at U will be the centre of the square. Now then, if we make this wheel out of two pieces of board instead of one, as shown in Fig. 199, it will be an easy matter to cut a square hole in the centre at U with a saw, after which the pieces can be held together by two cleats (K J), nailed to the end piece, as shown in Fig. 191.
R S T of this figure are the tin cans. L L are two cleats nailed over the notches in the upright posts.
Fig. 198 is a side view showing how this is done. A hole bored through the post where the small end of the shaft comes through would answer the purpose as well as a notch, but we must resort to the notch at the other end, for, as the reader may see, the shaft has square corners, and it is only trimmed down (P, Fig. 201) where it bears on the upright. The handle to the windlass (M 0, Figs. 191 and 200, on page 150) is made so that M fits astride of the shaft, and 0 is nailed to the bottom.
This machine can be constructed by any bright lad of eight years or more. It may be made very useful on a farm, very convenient for the camp located on the bank of a stream, and a source of endless amusement and fun for an S. D. B. Fort or a house in the trees.
It may be used also to fill an elevated water-tank or a barrel or a cask which is used to supply the little fountain in your fish-pond. In fact, there are many ways in which this can be used which will appeal to the practical mind of any American boy. It can be run by any sort of an engine or windmill and made to carry water, sand, gravel, or any sort of material fine enough to be scooped up, and I hope that it will supply a long-felt want to the reader, who may be able to put it to more uses than I have mentioned.
