Holbrook argus., 1901-02-16
A MECHANICAL GENIUS.
San Francisco Lad Who Makes Models
of Battleships.

of Battleships.
Eddie Won Geldern, a 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 contrivance, models of a
steam engine and electric car good
enough to be exhibited before the
Technical Society of the Pacific at it's
last meeting in Academy of Sciences
building, and which commanded the
respectful attention of the members of
that grave and dignified body.
The steam engine is an elaborate
piece Of work, perfected, as model
or a sketch, to use the boys own term,
down to some of it's finest details. The
boiler is made of strips of tin, neatly
turned and riveted together, then
nailed down to q foundation board, so
that they appear, together with sim
liar strip of zinc at the front, to consist,
of a series of castings. The sandbrake
consists of a metallic tip taken from
the end of discarded curtain pole, and
circular tin can forms the smoke
stack. The headlight is set in n little
box constructed by the boys deft
hands, but for the ornament which
caps it he is indebted to his mothers
discarded curtain poles. There are
steam cylinders with eccentric move
ments, symmetrical and accurately
proportional, and 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-
tative work, for it is rugged with a
throttle and steam gauge, the doors to
the boiler and furnace being carefully
defined. On one side the engineers
raised seat is carefully padded, and he
is even furnished with the usual pad
ded arm-rest on the window, while the
bell rope bangles above the f1reman'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 and
accuracy, and is one of the most hon
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 a time" ex-
plains the young builder gravely 81
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-
tisements along the top of the wall
above them. If 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 hacked out with the aid Of
an old jackknife, and beneath the car,
at each end, the boy has built that alb
solute essential to street cars in every
civilized community, safety tenders Of
as Ingenious n Oattern as he cOu1d do
vise.-San Francisco Chronicle