The Boy Mechanic

Those were the days when children were encouraged to actually build creative things, instead of being programmed for "buy me this" consumerism, or electronic gadget dependency.

Thanks for posting.

Ace posted:

Those were the days when children were encouraged to actually build creative things ...

well, maybe not all children...

Very nice. Any chance you could get the whole article (maybe just flatten out the curved area) in on how to make your own track from tin cans?

Thanks,

 Tom

Plcprof,  Is there a possibility of seeing the front cover of the book.  I have an inkling that it may be a book I had many years ago, but no longer have.  Any other particulars on the book would help...actual title.  Thanks if you can.

Plcprof,  Thank you for the reply.  I used the term 'The Boy Mechanic", and actually found out there were 3 volumes made, with the earliest dated to around 1914.  I don't remember exactly which one I did have, long ago, but you can get all three volumes (1914 to the last one from 1952) on a CD for around $15 which would give you PDF format.  I may wind up getting the CD, as I used to read that book over and over again, with all the simplistic things that could be made, before Today's technology.  It was fun to read.

Thanks again for the response.

PLCPROF,

  Thanks for reposting that. "Back in the Day," if this ever took off, I guess that Lionel could have had competition for track from Green Giant, Libby's and Dole!

Tom

I've been able to find some pretty good deals on eBay in the last few years.

Nice projects and interesting too. Thanks for posting them. Looks like a good book to have. I don't remember ever seeing the book, but my Dad got Popular Mechanics magazines and I remember reading them when I was a kid in the '50s & early '60s. They seemed so much more interesting back then. Maybe it's just my old age?

That's pretty cool.  I'm going to order the CD for kicks.   Thanks for sharing.

-Greg

I found a book in our basement that was my dad's titled "Amateur Craftsman's Cyclopedia of Things to Make" that was "prepared by the editorial staff of Popular Science Monthly" published by Grosset and Dunlap, copyright 1937 by Popular Science Publishing Co.  It's a 343 page collection of fascinating magazine articles on how to build just about anything you could think of from an outboard motor to a tabletop stationary steam engine.  I discovered it last year while sorting books for garage sales.  I'll look through it and see what goodies I can scan, but here's a sample:

Photo looks like a modified American Flyer steam loco to me.

Becky

"Build your own" relays! I love it.  It reminds me why I was drawn into the hobby in my younger days. Model railroading taught me many skills, especially the use and control of electricity.  By the time I was ten years old I discovered that automobiles used 12 volts DC to control all kinds of electro-mechanical relays. I easily transitioned from toy trains to a lifetime career. Although today's automobiles use solid state electronics and computers for management, the purpose is the same; remote control of current.  Basically it still all relays (minus the" buzz" and "click") and its still magical!

Earl Trygar

ASE Master Tech. 

P.S.   I do miss the "buzz " and "click" though.

Very cool indeed! PM & PS are my favorite mags of all time. I have about 50 old PM, from the 50s till the intro of the Meyer's Manx dunebuggy of the 60s.

The predictions are fun! But Vern & Orwell were better at it, lol. I'm still waiting on GMs version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to zoom around in let alone a SkyTrain (Its in one, lol) (& was a golden age comic too)

I also have a 1930s encyclopedia of do it yourself creature comfort projects that are pretty interesting. I haven't a clue where its hiding, but its normally stacked with a 1920s etiquette guide that would make Ann Landers seem trampish. The full encyclopedia sets from that era are a blast to laugh at because of how far we've come and atlases a reminder of world politics at a glance. Ottoman Empire, lol...100 years ago there was only like four townships Detroit to Toledo. Today the same areas might be half a dozen cities each.

Boys Life had info on modeling and trains from time to time too if I remember right.

Why is it that people were so much more willing and/or able to do stuff like this? Roll yer own relays?  Build your own 3 rail track? Build your own outboard motor?

My Grandfather gave me his copy of a Boy Mechanic when I was ten that he had growing up, I thought it was just a old book til I started looking through it. Love the book thought I lost it a few years ago but found it recently when cleaning, I will have to look though it again and try some of the projects. I do recall there being one project for making a mail bag catcher for a toy train car.

I miss the days of the oddball projects from back then... I am surprised to see OO mentioned in the tubular track article, however. Reminds me of a 1920's article I saw (republished) on making your own gauge 2 railway.

Good timing!  The other day I was going through some old magazines from a client and came across the December 1959 issue of Popular Science.  There on the front cover was an artistic rendering of a 2329 Virginian E33, highlighting the special insert on maintaining/repairing your electric trains....Popular Science Reference Library No. 15.

Yep, this was something for 'everyman'....only rudimentary skills/tools required to keep 'em running.  In fact, there's no mention of circuit boards, speakers, whistle smoke, Wifi, IPod, etc..   The 'boy mechanic' was the geek du jour in this era, indeed...

KD

I have two of the books that were created out of the Boy Mechanic series. I eventually plan on attempting to build the Standard Gauge Steeple Cab Locomotive.  Alot of wonderful projects in the books.

They were reprinted some years ago, if your interested in the books you might locate them through: Edward R.  Hamilton, Book Seller.  Request a catalog if your a reader.

djacobsen posted:

I have two of the books that were created out of the Boy Mechanic series. I eventually plan on attempting to build the Standard Gauge Steeple Cab Locomotive.  Alot of wonderful projects in the books.

They were reprinted some years ago, if your interested in the books you might locate them through: Edward R.  Hamilton, Book Seller.  Request a catalog if your a reader.

I have a second book my grandfather gave me that has that Steeple Cab Locomotive and track projects

remember the Radio Shack catalogs....even as late as the '70s. full of electronic stuff to build your own radio. and before that, kids used to actually do and build things instead of vegetating on the couch exercising their thumbs.

handyandy posted:

Why is it that people were so much more willing and/or able to do stuff like this? Roll yer own relays?  Build your own 3 rail track? Build your own outboard motor?

I think it's a combo of things, from cheap throw away items being readily available now to TV and internet filling our free time, ads and media telling us "we can't, only they can", and dont forget the "keeping up with the Kardashians". Or even the " ick factor" our clean and sterile, health oriented, liability finger pointing society helps perpetuate. Having been in a number of different school systems as a youth, I have to say the bulk of the issue lies there. How many schools today teach you to use hand tools to build a birdhouse. You'd have trouble finding it done with a precut kit and Elmers today....after the paperwork clears the Pentagon. I was already a semi-pro  when it was covered in third grade at one school, another system 7th grade, and today I don't think its hands on, you just watch, read and test, test , test....schools great but I've met "engineers" that would have trouble with an Erector set but were designing car parts and industrial artisans  working at X-mart. Tests mean little IMO. Give me hands on talent anyday; most often, quality follows.

For those with the mindset for enjoying "do it" articles, the reading habits are subject to influence too, eg I bet I'm not the only reader that pokes around the Indestructables site, not to mention this forum too. So maybe its not just diminished acceptance but just focused on things that didn't exist before.

Imagine living rural and only having Sears & Roebuck's type catalogs to buy from, and the wait for payment, processing, and shipping. Spur of the moment impulse buying wasn't run rampent, business was slower paced except for the bigger cities. That timely and encouraging magazine at the little shop was a hobby itself; called self reliance