Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1901-01-23
A MECHANICAL GENIUS.
San Francisco Lad Who Makes Models
nf Ia fflealiina.


San Francisco Lad Who Makes Models
of Battleships.
Eddie Won Geldern, 13-year-old boy,
one year ago, after a single hours in
spection of the United States battleship
Iowa, went off and executed a remark
able model of the ship. accurate in pro-
portion and delicate in detail, COM
posed of odd scraps and waste picked
up about his own home and in his
neighbors' back yards. He has now,
unaided and untaught, constructed out
of odds and ends of materials, with a
few odd tools, partly of his own manu-
facture and contrivanee, model of Il
steam engine and electric car good
enough to be exhibited before the
Technical Society of the Pacific at its
last meeting in Academy of Sciences
building, and which commanded the
respectful attention of the members Of
that grave and dignitied body.
The steam engine is an elaborate
piece Of work, perfected, rs model
or a sketch. to use the boys own term,
down to some of its finest details. The
boiler is made of strips of tin, neatly
turned and riveted together, then
nailed down TO foundation board, so
that they appear, together with sim
liar strip of zinc at the front, to consist.
of series of castings. The sandbrake
consists of metallic tip taken from
the end of discarded curtain pole, and
n circular tin can forms the sinohe-
stack. The headlight is 81 in little
box constructed by ohe boys deft
| hands, but for the ornament which
caps it he is Indebted to his mothers
discarded cdrtain poles. There are
steam cylinders With eccentric move
ments. symmetrical and accurately
pfoportoned. and a whole system Of
running gear and mechanism beneath.
down to the compressed airbrake and
hose. all as conscientiously executed as
if the lives of human passengers de-
pended upon their being carried out to
the finest detail.
In the engine cab the boy has accom-
plished some of his most patient imi-
tatiye work. for it is rugged with a
throttle and steam gauge, the doors TO
| the boiler and furnace Icing carefully
defined On one side the engineers
raised seat is carefully padded, and he
is even furnished with the usual pad
| ded armrest on the window, while the
| bell rope bangles above the iireman's
seat opposite. All of the other windows
in the cabs are glazed with discarded
camera plates. The engine is about
three and one-half feet long and Of
proportionate breadth and height
The trolley car, four feet long or
more, is a less complex structure, but
shows the same fidelity, patience ard
accuracy. and is one of the most hol-
est make believe cars possible. from
the stout wheels beneath, taken out Of
cord and tackle pulleys, to the trolley,
which reaches up to draw power from
an Invisible wire.
THAT trolley was an old bamboo
fishing rod once upon time" OK
plains the young builder gravely. II
had to buy the glass for the windows.
for there weren't any dry plates the
right size, you see. I've got the adver-
tiscments along the top of the wall
above them. II you'll look IN you can
see"
The seats. simulated to represent
the rolling curves of the Slated
benches extending along the sides Of
the car were Ia ked out with the aid Of
an old jackknife, and beneath the ear,
at each end. the boy has built that alb
soIute essential to street cars in every
civilized community. safety tenders Of
as Ingenious n pattern MS he could de-
wise. san Francisco Chronicle.
talk about equal suffrage said a
man the other morning; "the women
don't suffer half as much as the men
and eyer will. The only difference is
that the men don't complain as much
as the women"