Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1891 — HOME-MADE MAGIC LANTERNS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME-MADE MAGIC LANTERNS.

What Can Be Done by Ingenious Amateur Photographers. Amateur photography has brought the magic lantern into prominence, as the making of slides has been much facilitated by the improvements in dry plates. Anybody can make one at home at a little expense that will answer for all ordinary purposes, says the New York Herald. The lantern to be described is showjj in Fig. 1, the side being removed. The body is made of ordinary white wood, with a sheet-iron top, and an ordinary kerosene lamp is used. The only thing necessary for the ajnateutf photographer to purchase will be a pair of condensing lenses, as the lens from the camera will do for a projecting lens. Condensers are very reasonable in price, and a pair of very good four-inch lenses can be obtained for from $4 to $5, unmounted. They can be mounted at home as follows: Place the convex sides of the lenses nearly together, allowing only a small space, say one-eighth of an inch, between them, and measure the distance between the edges of them. Then have the tinsmith cut a strip of tin long enough to encircle them, and about half an inch wider than the distance measured. Then make a couple Of grooves along the edges of these Strips for the edge of the lenses to fit into. These grooves can be made by running the tin through the tinsmith’s beading machine. Set the condensers in the grooves, wrap the tin tightly around them and wind a piece of wire around the outside to hold the tin in place. Figure 2 is a cross section of the condensers as they appear when mounted. Before the body of the lantern is made the lamp to be used should be selected. In the illustration (Fig. 1) an ordinary house lamp is shown. Take a piece of board about a foot wide and stand it up iu front of the lamp and cut it off about three inches longer than the' height of the lamp and chimney. Mark a spot on the board opposite where the flame of the lamp comes and make this spot the center of a hole large enough to hold the condensers in their box. Make side pieces of the same length and about the same width as the front and nail them to

the latter. The back should be made open. Bore a row of half-inch ventilating holes across the bottom of- the back. Now fasten the mounted condensers into the hole in the front, having one side flush or nearly so with the outr side and extending back into the body. Have a cover of sheet iron, so arranged that th& light will be kept in and still allow tne air to circulate. On the front of the box fasten an arm at right-angles with it for holding the lens. This can be done with a small bracket. A slot is cut in this strip to allow the screw which holds the block carrying the lens to move to and- from the condensers. Cut a hole in the center of a piece of thin wood large enough to screw the lens into and make it hold securely. Fasten this at right angles with a small block having a hole in it. Put a small carriage bolt through this hole and the slot in the horizontal strip and a small thumb screw or nut on the under side will hold the lens stationary. When focused the bracket holding the horizontal strip would not be fastened to the front of the body until the arrangement for holding the lens is completed. Then fasten it at a height so that the light from the condensers will be focused on the lens.

To complete the lantern fasten cleats on the front to hold the slides. These should be arranged 3J inches apart, as the standard slide is 3J by 4 inches. The cleats should hold the slide directly over the condensers and as near them as possible. Place the lantern on a table in front of a white wall or screen, and set the lighted lamp inside the box, moving it back and forth until aaolear disk oi light is thrown on the ftxeen. The distance from the screen will regulate the size of the disk. If a single flab wick burner is on the lamp the flame should be at right angles with the condensers, in order to give the best .light. The round-wick burners are also good.

The splendid Mozart centenary festival at Salzburg recalls to the mem ory how the great composer died Id December, 1791. He finished his days in the top flat of a house in one of the poorest streets of the city. He left 60 florins in money, and the sale of hjs effects realized about $9. He was laid in a pauper’s grave, marked by a plain wooden Cjross, and nobody knows now where that grave is. William Hayes has just retired from the Brooklyn police force with a pension of $550 a year and a fortune oi $40,000. Officer Hayes appears to have clubbed the tree of prosperity as vigorously as the heads of the viotims. Instead of wearing silk robes, the judges of the new Federal Court oi Appeals might better consider the pro priety of sitting in their shirt sleeves. Seersuckers are not to be sneezed at n the summer time. A letter-carrier in Kansas City, named Jefferson A. Harlow, feU asleep near an open window, with the moon shining on his face. On awaking, he made the appalling discovery that he was totally blind. Plate glass for mirrors was first made in London by Venetian artists in 167 a