88 



KINKS OF ALL KINDS 



how this difficulty could be ovei> 

 come. Suddenly I remembered 

 the telephones I used to make 

 when I was a small boy, out of 

 two tin cans and a piece of thread. 

 This gave me a hunch, and I im- 

 mediately proceeded to get busy 

 in the following manner : 



After procuring two tin cans 

 about four inches in diameter and 

 five inches long, I soldered two 

 strong hooks, one on each side of 

 the cans well up toward the top 

 or opening. The hooks I placed 

 opposite each other running 

 lengthwise, with the points to- 

 ward the bottom of the can. 



I then purchased one-quarter of 

 a pound of No. 5 music wire, 

 which runs about two thousand 

 feet to the pound and possesses 

 great tensile strength. The boring 

 of a very small hole in the bot- 

 tom of each can finished the job. 



The following Sunday I started 

 out with the rest of the fellows, 

 entertaining considerable qualms 

 as to whether my field telephone 

 would work at so great a distance. 

 Upon arriving at the range we 

 cut four sapling stakes about three 

 feet long and drove two into the 

 ground at each end of the range, 

 just far enough apart to allow the 

 cans to fit in between. The hooks 

 on the cans of course encircled 

 the stakes. We then inserted the 

 ends of the wire through the holes 

 in the bottom of the cans and 

 after threading them through a 

 small glass bead about one-quarter 

 of an inch in diameter, twisted 

 them around the bead. The bead 

 was placed on the ends of the 



wire to prevent it from pulling 

 through the hole in the can. 



All that was left to do was to 

 stretch the wire tight enough to 

 clear the ground so that it would 

 not touch anything, and we were 

 all set. 



Much to our delight the tele- 

 phone worked fine. Although it 

 was a very windy day and there 

 was considerable hum caused by 

 the wind vibrating the wire, we 

 experienced no trouble at all in 

 communicating with each other at 

 100 yards. Of course, it was not 

 as distinct as a regular telephone, 

 but by speaking slowly and dis- 

 tinctly we could understand every- 

 thing that was said with very lit- 

 tle repeating. We found that loud 

 talking caused too much vibra- 

 tion and that a normal tone of 

 voice worked much better. 



The total cost of the outfit was 

 about 50 cents and about thirty 

 minutes' labor, but it certainly 

 paid for itself the first day. It 

 not only made our muting pleas- 

 anter, but relieved the strain on 

 our vocal organs. 



One word of advice to anyone 

 who desires to make a telephone 

 of this character: Considerable 

 care must be taken in handling 

 this fine music wire, as it is steel 

 and has a tendency to curl and 

 kink. However, should you kink 

 and break the wire, it makes no 

 difference, as the damage can be 

 easily repaired by simply tying the 

 ends in a figure eight knot. Con- 

 fidentially, I wish to state that we 

 had four knots in our line before 

 we had it installed, but it did not 



