OUTDOOR EXERCISER. 179 



of the nearby crank. The cylinder axle belonging to the 

 distant pens has, instead of a crank, a wooden spool, 

 eight inches in diameter, attached to one end of the 

 axle and a small flexible wire, No. 14, passes two or 

 three times around this spool. To the short end of the 

 wire is attached a weight, not shown in Fig. 82, while 

 the long end extends the whole length of the runway, 

 terminating at a point near the nearby pens, where it 

 winds upon a small spool or axle, to which a crank and 

 a ratchet and pawl are attached. 



In Fig. 84, the two spools and their connecting 

 wire are shown viewed from the end instead of from 

 above as in Fig. 82 14 is the distant spool, 14# the 

 wire and 14c the nearby spool in both figures. In 

 Fig. 84, W is a weight which is hung in the pit, P, 

 dug in the ground ; G, G, four feet deep and walled or 

 boarded at the sides, and furnished with a movable top 

 or lid with a hole in it, through which the wire passes. 

 The distance between the two spools may be fifty feet or 

 so for young chicks, or several hundred feet for grown 

 fowls, therefore the wire is represented as broken off 

 the same as in Fig. 82. And we may say that in all the 

 cuts the intention is merely to show the principles of 

 construction, whether the illustrations are made to scale 

 or not. 



In Fig. 82, the spools are represented as somewhat 

 elaborate, with rims, but these are not essential, and in 

 Fig. 84 the spools are simple round sticks without rims, 

 such as may be sawed from natural poles. The spool, 

 which has a crank attached, instead of being of wood, 

 may consist of an iron fence ratchet and pawl, Fig. 64, 

 such as is used to tighten wires on fences. We have- 

 used it with great satisfaction, it being strong, durable 

 and not liable to get out of order. These ratchets are 

 in the market wherever barbed wire is sold, price five or 

 six cents each. To operate the fence ratchet, get a 



