Popular Science Monthly 



131 



A Simple Method of Securely Fastening 

 Umbrella Handles 



IT frequently happens that an umbrella 

 having an expensive handle will get 

 broken. The owner may naturally desire to 

 have the handle put on another umbrella. 

 By following these instructions any person 

 can make the change of handles. 



Clean out the hole in the handle, then 

 wrap a few layers of cloth on it and clamp it 

 in a vise, using just sufficient force to the 

 jaws to hold it upright. Then put powdered 

 sulphur in the hole — heat the end of the 

 umbrella rod red-hot and push it down in the 

 sulphur. The heat will fuse the sulphur and 

 cause it to grip the rod tightly. This method 

 can also be used to fasten rods into stone, 

 iron or wood. — W. S. Standiford. 



Inserting Manifold Papers Evenly 

 in a Typewriter 



THE insertion of manifold papers is a job 

 which taxes the patience of many who 

 have occasion to use the typewriter. It is 

 difficult to keep the papers "squared." The 

 difficulty may be overcome by folding a 

 narrow strip of paper, placing it over the 

 top of the sheets, and then inserting them 

 in the machine. This keeps the sheets in 

 the desired position. 



Laying Out and Finishing a 

 Plain Blanking Die 



THERE are numbers of good machinists 

 who, with a little instruction, could 

 qualify as tool and die makers, for whom 

 there is great demand. The following 

 article deals with a very simple die, but it 

 gives some idea of the fundamental rules so 

 that a lathe man who masters the instruc- 

 tions given will not be entirely inexperienced 

 when called on to do this work. 



We will assume that a die is required to 

 blank some pieces of No. 20-gage hard sheet 

 brass, ard the dimensions called for are as 

 given in J ig. 1. The tools necessary for this 

 layout are the square, dividers and scriber. 

 The steel for the die is placed in the shaper, 

 and unless the sides are unusually rough, a 

 cut is taken on the piece to be used for the 

 bottom. After this is done the piece is 

 reversed and the top is planed off and 

 smoothed with a tool, as shown at A. Again 

 clamp the piece in the planer and trim off the 

 four sides, taking care to make them as 



square as possible. This will be a great aid 

 in laying out the more complicated die 

 work. It is very necessary to have a bottle 

 of blue stone solution at hand, which when 

 applied to the surface of the steel will pro- 

 duce a copper-colored coating for taking the 

 lines that are drawn thereon for the work. 



After the blue stone has been applied, scribe 

 the center lines B-C Fig. 2; then the lines 

 li-m. on each side of the line B; draw the 

 intersecting lines at the end, always measur- 

 ing from the center. The radius of projec- 

 tion is 3^ in. and is measured with the 

 dividers, taking for a center the point on the 

 line C at D. The die is now laid out. 



For drilling the core, a line is drawn on the 

 inside as in Fig. 3, on which there are spaced 

 the punch marks so that a drill will not quite 

 touch the outline when drilling the holes. 

 This spacing should be as close as possible so 

 that the core can be easily removed. 



Before the holes are drilled, the die is 

 strapped to the face plate of a lathe, and 



4: 



Ijf] 



STOP PIN 



Shape and size of the piece to be punched, 

 details of making the die and tools used 



after centering it on D it is drilled and 

 reamed to size. The clearance for the 

 passing of the blank at this point can be 

 made by adjusting the compound rest on the 

 lathe carriage, instead of filing the die after- 



