April 21, i$0p.] 
POHEST AND SfRfiAM 
BiB 
angle and the other with the pencil held lightly between 
the thuinb and first and second fingers, drawing the re- 
quired line. The ruler is held firmly by the left hand; 
if it be a T square, the head is held tight against the left 
edge of the drawing board, The line is invariably drawn 
along the edge furthest from the body, and this edge 
is placed not directly on but a short distance below the 
point or points which mark the positiob of the litle. A 
space of 1-32 to t-i6iii., called daylight is left hetweeli the 
point and the edge. The ruler in positioil, the Hne is 
drawn by a quick steady motion from left to right. 
Where the T square is used all horizontal lines are drawn 
with it, the vertical and inclined lines being put in by 
means of the various triangles. For marine drafting* in 
which many long parallel lines are necessao% the T square 
may be replaced by the long straight-edge held in place by 
a couple of flat bricks of lead. It is absolutely essential 
that, however held, the ruler should not move while the 
line, or series of lines if they are parallel, is being drawn. 
In laying out the design in pencil the fewest possible num- 
ber of lines should be drawn, and each should stop at its 
proper limit, not continuing indefinitely to be erased 
later. ■ ' 
While a certain amount of erasure and change is un- 
avoidable the exact length and position of each line should 
be carefully determined before any attempt h made to 
draw it, even in peiicil ; the desigii as a whole should be 
carefully considered so as to avoid the necessity for 
changes of the general plan, atid the papei- shotild be kep^t 
as clean as possible. The best and quickest Wofk in draft- 
ing is done by careful planning of the design in advance;' 
drawing each line in its proper order and exact position 
and shape, and leaving the least possible amount of change 
and cleaning up to be done at the end. In Fig. 65 is shown 
the position of the left hand in holding the triangle 
against another triangle, T square or straight-edge, as it 
is constaantly used in drawing a series of parallel lines, 
as in sectioning. The guide or fixed triangle is held by 
the thumb and little finger firmly on the paper, the ruling, 
triangle is held by the first, second and third fingers, and 
is slid along the requisite distance by a slight movement 
of these' fingers. It is a great aid to the draftsman to be 
able to perform this rapidlj"- and certainly, holding the 
guide ruler immovable at all times and alternately moving 
the other the correct distance and then holding, it- while 
the line is being drawn. A good deal of practice will he' 
Fig. 63. 
required before this can be done. In drawing with either 
pencil or pen, the instrument should be held, not bj^ the 
extreme point, -but as high up from the point as possible, 
so as to avoid -cramping the fingers and to give a free 
sweep to them. In drawing short lines with the triangle 
or set curve as a .guide, the pen or pencil is held nearer 
to the point, the third and little fingers resting on the 
ruler and helping to steady it, as partly shown in Fig. 65. 
In drawing along a batten this is im.possible, as the fin- 
gers must be raised well clear of the weights. In draw- 
ing any long line, by the straight-edge or batten, the pen 
is held high up, as in Fig. 66, and the drawing is all done 
from the shoulder rather than the wrist, with a long 
steady sweep of the whole arm. In this work, such as 
the inking in of a sheer line or level line 4ft. long, the 
body should be poised easilj' and naturally on both feet, 
the weight being thrown on the left foot as the pen starts 
at the left end of the batten, and being transferred to 
both feet and then thrown on the right foot as the end 
of the line is reached. It is no easy matter to ink in a lint 
4ft. long, especially on tracing cloth, and leave a hard 
even width of black. 
Sharp tools are essential to good work; the pencils 
should have a long taper to the wood with about half an 
inch of lead projecting; this point being brought to the 
desired shape, conical or flat, by rubbing on a fine file or 
sandpaper. These should be kept out of the way, at a dis- 
tance from paper and instruments, as there will always 
be an abundance of verjr fine black dust about them. 
The drafting pens should be brought to a round point, 
similar to a duck's bill, the edges of each blade being just 
sharp enough to avoid cutting thin paper. Sometimes 
the points are worn down so short that it is necessary to 
have them ground by an instrument maker, but if only 
the edges are dull, as often happens with continual use, 
they are sharpened by setting the two points quite close 
together by tneans of the adjusting screw and then 
tickling them up with a small piece of oilstone. The pen 
should be held firmly in one hand, in a good light, and 
carefully rubbed by the stone, held in the other hand, until 
it is seen that the points are of equal length, practically 
semicircular in outline, and each with a keen edge. The 
pen may then be lightly dressed on the edges and dut- 
sides of the blades on a piece of very fuie emery paper 
held on some flat surface, after which the blades are 
opened until about parallel at the points and the inner 
sides dressed up on the emery paper wrapped around a 
flat piece of wood of the correct thickness to fit between 
the points. After this the points are closed and whetted 
back and forth over the emery paper in such a- manner 
that, the pen being held constantly vertical in one direc- 
tion, the -end of the handle described a semicircle and at 
the same time the whole of the semicirculair- end of laitch 
blade is brought in contact with the paper. 
After this is done the .pea js, thoroughly cleansed of all 
oil and dirt, some ink is freshly mj'xed and the pen 
filled, using a clean steel writing pen for transferring the 
ink from the satlGer to the pen. The points are set close 
together and a hne of medium width is drawn; this 
should be evenly continuous from end to end, drying with 
a black gloss if both pen and ink are right. It may be 
necessary to rub . more ink, to get a deeper degree of 
blackness, or to touch up the points of the pen to secure a 
more even distribution. 
When a good line can be drawn at one stroke, or pos- 
sibly by a second over the first, the pen should be set 
very fihe and a thin line drawn, a harder test than the 
first. Aftef this hat- been successfully accomplished, the 
screw is loosened and the blades separated to make as 
wide a line as can be drawn, upward of one-eighth of an 
I'ig. fl'l. 
inch. When the pen will draw this cleanly and evenly, 
it may be accepted as in good working condition. In the 
case of the pen points of compasses and bow pens, the sharp- 
ening is a more difficult matter, as the point must be held 
at one particular angle and cannot be held in slightly dif- 
ferent positions, as when the plain pen is held in the 
hand. The most difficult of all pens to sharpen are tho-se 
of the smallest bows of the old pattern, Fig. 45 ; the new 
bows, Fig. 47, can be handled much more readily and held 
at the best working angle to the paper. 
After a more or less intimate acquaintance with most of 
the implements of the shipwright, from the spud-wrench, 
old-man and rachet-drill of the shipyard to the planhneter 
and integrator of the drafting room, the writer has no 
hesitation in sa^dng that the drafting pen stands alone 
among ail tools as the most perfect embodiment of the 
inate cussedness of inanimate things. It will not work 
when dull or dirty, and it may not work even when neAv, 
sharp and clean, and properly nourished with good ink. 
There may. be some draftsinen who can say why this is 
60, but to most it is an unfathomable mystery. A pen 
that. is. gentle and willing' one one day may be sulky and 
obstinate on the next under apparently the same condi- 
tions except that the work is more urgent. The only ef- 
fective remedy for this state of affairs is the possession 
of a goodly stock of pens, which may be of various sizes 
and. .patterns .and thus ' exactly suited for all varieties of 
work.: while some at least of this collection will at any 
given time be in a working humor. 
With the.;pencil the draftsman may if . he choses draw 
a line close to, in fact almost' under the lower edge of the 
ruler, but. with, the pen- it is advisable" to keep a safe dis- 
tance away from the edge (almost a sixteenth of an inch) 
or the ink may suddenly leave the pen and run over, down 
and under the ruler, a bad blot following. At the same 
time it is quite possible for the practiced hand to draw an 
ink line, especially a fine one, almost touching the ruler, 
and it is sometimes desirable to do this. 
The pen should if possible be held exactly perpendicu- 
lar to the paper, both in the direction of the line and 
transversely ; but it ■ w-ill ;often be found that the point 
will work better if held at a slight angle., the end of the 
handle inclining slightly forward, to the" right, or in 
toward the body. Whatever this angle may be at the 
start, it shotdd be maintained for the entire distance, or 
the line will not ba parallel with the edge of the ruler, 
but wavy and crooked. If the edge of the ruler is very 
thin, about i-i6in. as in the ordinary set curves, there is 
very little trouble from this cause, but on the other hand 
there is a much greater chance of blotting through the 
edge of the nen touching the ruler and the latter drawing 
out all tht ink. With a thick ruler, of Vgin., as in some 
Fig. 65. 
straight-edges and T squares, or even of li'm. as in the 
larger battens, there is miich less danger of this blotting, 
but any slight change in the angle of the pen is sure to 
make a crooked line. At the same time the writer at 
least prefers to draw with a thick rather than a thin edge. 
In some cases, as in drawing the very slight curves of 
a boom or mast in a sail plan, a thick ruler may be used 
to advantage, the point of the pen being close to the edge 
at the start, with the upper end inclined outward, frorn 
the body. As the pen moves ahead, the handle is slightly 
inclined in, the point curving away from the straight 
edge until the swell of the spar is reached, when it is 
gradually thrown out until at the end of the line the 
point almost touches the ruler. In this way many lines 
.that are not straight, but still of too slight a curvature 
for either the set curves or the spline, may be readily 
drawn. 
In the every-day- practice of' the draftsman there are 
tliree points on which opinions differ as to the best po.§- 
sible methods. In the first place, in the general construc- 
tion of the drawing, the pencilling may be carried on quite 
rapidly, the lines being all drawn in full, not dotted or 
broken, and no special care being taken to stop each at 
its correct ending bitt leaving more or less pencil work to 
be subsequently erased. In this case it will be necessary 
in the inking to determine the proper nature of each line, 
solid, dotted or broken, as well as its limits, as it is 
drawn, and to use the pen accordingly. In the alternative 
plan each line is put in with the pencil in its final shape 
and position, so that there is nothing to do in the inking 
but to copy exactly the pencil lines with the pen. This 
method perhaps takes more time in the end than the for- 
mer, but there is no doubt that it is the correct one, and 
the beginner will do well to accustom himself to it. One 
important advantage is that after the pencil drawing is 
once completed by the designer, it may be turned over to 
a comparatively inexperienced hand, so far as planning 
and designing go, who will merely copy it mechanically 
with the .pen. 
In some cases where this method is followed the draw- 
ing is made with a HHHH pencU instead of HHHHHH 
pencil and is not inked in at all, but a trac- 
ing in ink is taken from it; both for a per- 
manent and legible record and for blue printing. In case 
of subsequent alterations in the design, as is often the 
case in machinery, parts of the original drawing are 
erased, new ones pencilled in, and a fresh tracing made. 
Another point is in regard to erasing and cleaning, it 
is the practice of some draftsmen to make no erasures of 
errors or blots during the penciling and only to clean up 
the drawing before inking; while others use every effort 
to keep the drawing correct and clean all the time. This 
latter method may involve some serious erasures, _ which 
will mar the surface of the paper and interfere with the 
inking; but it is decidedly the better. For one thing, if 
a man stops at once as soon as he has made a blot or an 
error and takes the time to correct it, he is likely to be 
much more careful than if he leaves everything to sonif 
indefinite time in the future when he will clean up and 
correct everything before inking. We should advise the 
learner to stop as soon as a mistake has been made, either 
in pencil or ink, and to remove all traces of it as fully as 
possible before going on with the work. 
The third point concerns the inking in. It is the prac- 
tice of many to complete the drawing entirely in pencil 
before a line is drawn in ink; while others complete the 
main part of the work only, and ink it in afterward, ad- 
ding various details in pencil. There may be occasional 
conditions which justify this method, but as a rule the 
Figi 66. 
drawing should be completetd to the last line in pencil 
before any pen work is begun. 
In default of practice in a good office, or instruc*-ion 
under a competent teacher, the learner will have to rely 
on his own ingenuity in planning the most expeditious 
methods of plotting and pencilling: his main construction 
lines, the foundation of his drawing must be correctly 
placed on the paper and must be absolutely accurate in 
their relations to one another ; they must also be arranged 
so that distances may be quickly plotted on and measure- 
ments taken from them. Some of the auxiliary lines will 
not appear in the completed drawing, and these may be 
drawn only in part, enough perhaps to give an intersec- 
tion or a tangent. All similar distances should be set off 
and all circles of the same diameter drawn at one setting 
and handling of the dividers or compasses. There are 
many small points of this kind wdiich it is difficult to par- 
ticularize, but which at the same time do much to lessen 
the time and labor of drafting. 
[to be continued.] 
The Canada C«p» 
As in the case of the 90-footers, the greatest possible 
secrecy is being maintained as to the dozen yachts build- 
ing for the challenge and defense of the Canada cup, but 
some little news is leaking out. Concerning the Duggan 
boat, the Montreal Gazette says : 
The utmost secrecy pervades Harry Hodson's yards, 
and will continue for some weeks yet. The cause of all 
the mystery is the building of the 35-footer for the de- 
fense of the Canada ctip. The vessel under construction 
is owned by the J. Wilson Morse syndicate of the Royal 
Canadian Y. C, and is being built from designs by Mr. G. 
Herrick Duggan. The particulars are being kept secret. 
The frame, which is of oak and elm, is in position, and 
is kept carefully under lock and key in a sheet iron 
building at the end of Hodson's wharf. The employes 
have strict orders to keep all curious people at bay. 
The first strake of planking has been placed upon the 
frame, but the work is now at a standstill awaiting the 
shipment of British Columbia cedar for the remainder of 
her planking. As far as can be learned the craft will be 
of extreme lightness and will embody several radical 
changes in the accepted model for 33-footers. In spite of 
the delay in the arrival of planking material, the boat will 
be ready for landing on May 1. The contract calls for tlie 
deliverer of the little vesel complete at the middle of May. 
The public will not be allowed the slightest glimpse of 
the Toronto candidate for the defense of Canada's cup 
until she slides into the water. 
The following is from the Toronto Globe: 
There will be a Canada cup defender from the Halifax 
design after all, and it won't be built in Hamilton, either, 
though that hope was entertained but a short time ago. 
The Halifax designer is Mr. H. C. McLeod, general man- 
ager of the Bank of Nova Scotia, who has been v.e-ry ^tis"- 
