The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1913-02-07
A SAIL WAGON.

When the ice has broken up, and
while the lakes, ponds and streams are
sluggish and unfit for either boating
Or Ice yachting, there remains the
homemade land yacht for the boy
whose hobby is sailing to tide over
tho time until he can make use Of his
sailing canoe or sailboat. And for the
boy who doesn't have an opportunity
TO sail boat, the land yacht is a fair
substitute and will afford him and his
companions an unlimited amount of
fun, coasting along the streets and
over vacant property.
A sail wagon can be quickly made,
as It's construction differs but slight
ly from that OF simple coasting wag
on. The sail wagon illustrated IN Fig.
is steered from the rear just as the
rudde: of a boat is controlled. This
makes 1t necessary to turn the wagon
around rear end to, so the sclidly fas-
tened pair of wheels will be at the
bow and the pivotal pair Of wheels at
the stern.
Get a pair Of planks ? inches thick,
10 or ~ inches wide, and about s feet
long for the waSon-bcd, and two pair
OF wagon. velocipede or baby carriage
wheels. for the wheels. Fig. 2 shows
a plan view Of the under side of the
wagon-bed with the wheels in place.
The wheels at the bow have {, spread
Ct 1 feet, to give the wagon sufficient
stability. which Will make it ncrcs-
sary to procure a long axle for these.
wheels. Il You have the axle that
belongs to the wheels. buy a 4-foot
length Of gas pipe. and take it and the
axle to blacksmith or muchiui;1.
Have him Gu, the iron axle into
halves. slip onc-half into each end OF
the piece OF gas pipe as shown in
Fig. 4, and rivrt or bolt them in place.
Cutting the axle and drilling; and rivet-
ing the halves to the gas pipe will
cost no more than 20 ccrts. With
staples fastcn the gas pipe axle to Il
> by I axle CA. Fig. -, and screw or
nail this wooden axle 10 The wagon
bed at the extreme bow end
The stern wheels require a > by 4
axle N3, Figs. and -, and Il cross
piece, G.. of the same size Gig y.
Nail crosspierc. G, 10 the wagon-bed
II inches from it's stern end. Then
bore five-eighths inch hole through
the center Of the length OF axle, r.
and another through The center Of
crossriece. G. and the wagon-bed, and
bolt the axle to the wagOn-bed with
Il tive-eighths inch bolt rasten the
iron axle to the wooden axle with
' staples
The details for the tiller stick, till
or post, and connections are shown in
Fig 5. White one end of the tiller
stick (D) round for handle. and bo:c
hole through it near the other end
for the post (E). which may be a piece
of broom handle. Make the three wood
en- disks which form the spool (F) out
Of hard wood, fasten them together
and screw TO the lower end of post,
T.. Nail crosspiecc to the top of the
stern ED of the wagon-bed as shown
in Fig. !, and then bore hole through
this and the wagon-ted large enough
to stick the tiller post through. Slip
the post far enough into the hole so
spool. F. will he on q level with the
wheel axle. and drive an iron pin
through hole in the post to keep 1t
from dropping further, as shown. Fss-
ten the tiller stick TO the top OF the
post with another pin.
Get some strong manila rope for
:tiller lines, loop it as shown in Fig 6.
slip the loops over the spool on the
tller post, and tie its ends to a couple
of screw eyes screwed into rhe wood
on axle. Drive a nail through one
side OF the loop, as in Fig. s. and into
The spool, to keep The rope from slip
ping. II the plank Of the wason-bed
is as. wide as the iron axle. it will be
necessary to saw away strip on each
side edge, as shown in Fig. l. SO the
wheens can turn. This will not per-
nit of making sharp turns, OF course,
but if you want to you can mount the
wheels on deep axle that will permit
the wheels to turn under the wagon
bed
Fig. I shows the bench support for
the mast Make this about inches
high and inches wide, and after nail
ing it to the wagon-bed plank, cut and
nail the board, G, to its front edge
for brace.
A rug pole makes an excellent mast
for a sail wagon, but lacking this, cut
Q pole about 2 inches In diameter and
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