The Radio Boys' First Wireless Part 11

"About five inches each way, I should say," answered Bob, reflectively. "That will give us room to drill holes in each corner to put the clamping bolts through. In that drawer under the table you'll find some drills. I think a three-sixteenth drill ought to be all right. There are four bra.s.s bolts in that bag on the table, and you can measure them and see what size drill you'll need. I bought them for three-sixteenth, anyway."

"You go ahead and cut out the pieces, Jimmy," said Herb. "I'll do the real hard work, like measuring the bolts and picking out the drill.

Then when you get the end pieces cut out, the drill will be all ready for you to put the holes through."

Jimmy gave him a withering glance, but rolled up his sleeves and set to work. Once started he made the sawdust fly, and before very long had two stout looking pieces of solid oak cut out.

"Where's your drill, Herb?" he inquired then. "Don't tell me you haven't got that ready yet!"

"All ready and waiting," was the reply, and Herb handed over the required tool. "Go to it, and see that you make a first cla.s.s job of it."

Clamping both pieces of wood in the vise, Jimmy ran the sharp hand drill through in a workmanlike manner, and then viewed his work with pardonable pride.

"There you are," he said. "If this condenser doesn't condense, it won't be because it hasn't got two good end pieces, anyway."

"It's funny that you should have to condense electricity," said Herb, with a twinkle in his eye. "It's just the same as milk, isn't it?"

"Yes, it isn't," said Bob. "Another wise remark like that, and you'll find yourself out in the wide, wide world, young fellow."

"I should say so," said Joe. "That was a fierce one, Herb."

"Well, I'll promise to be good," returned Herb. "But I still think that was a pretty fine joke, only you fellows haven't got enough sense of humor to appreciate it."

"We've got sense enough not to appreciate it, anyway," said Jimmy.

"It's weakened me so that I'll have to have another piece of chocolate to brace me up," and he suited the action to the word.

"When you've all had all the candy you want, we can go ahead and make this condenser," said Bob. "Don't let me hurry you, though."

"No chance of your hurrying me," replied Jimmy. "I'm so all in now I can hardly move. But Herb and Joe will do anything you want them to. They've been taking it easy, right along, so they shouldn't mind working a little now."

"Jimmy has done more work to-night than I've seen him do altogether in the last six months," said Joe. "So we'd better let him rest himself awhile now. He's apt to get sick if we don't."

"Well, I guess this paper has soaked up all the wax it's going to, so we can go ahead with the rest of it," said Bob, as he started fis.h.i.+ng squares of impregnated paper out of the saucepan.

He laid one sheet on one of the blocks that Jimmy had cut out, and on top of that laid a sheet of tinfoil, then another sheet of paper and one of tinfoil, alternating in this way until he had a number of sheets lined up. The little tabs or projections on each sheet of tinfoil he arranged in opposite directions, so that half of them could be attached to a wire on one side of the condenser and half to a wire on the other side. Then he placed the other wooden block on top of the whole thing, pa.s.sed the four screws through, one at each corner, and tightened them up evenly. This squeezed all superfluous paraffine from between the plates, and held the whole a.s.sembly very securely and neatly.

"That looks fine so far," said Jimmy, critically. "But how do you mean to connect up all those tabs on the plates?"

"I guess about the only way will be to solder them," replied Bob.

"I used to have a soldering iron around here somewhere." He rummaged in the big drawer under the bench and soon produced the iron, which he then proceeded to heat over a gas flame.

"While that iron's heating, I might as well follow Jimmy's example and rest," said Bob, throwing himself down on the sofa. "I've been thinking we haven't heard much lately of Buck Looker or any of his gang. Has anybody heard what he's up to now?"

"I saw him only this afternoon," said Joe. "He had Lutz and Mooney with him, of course, and they all looked at me as though they'd like nothing better than to heave a brick at me when I wasn't looking.

Buck asked me how the wireless 'phone was coming along, and when I told him that we had our aerial up and expected to be receiving stuff within a few days, he seemed surprised."

"What did he say?" asked Herb.

"Oh, he just predicted that we'd never get it working, and as I didn't feel like arguing with him, I started on. I hadn't gone far though when that little sneak, Terry, yelled after me: 'Hey, Atwood, don't forget that all that goes up must come down.' The others snickered, and I had half a mind to go back and make him tell me what he meant.

But then I thought he wasn't worth bothering with, and I went on home.

What do you suppose he meant, anyway?"

Bob thought a moment before replying.

"You say you told him that we had our aerial up?" he asked, at length.

"Yes, I did tell him that."

"Well, it would be just like them to try to pull down our wires, if they thought they could get away with it. Maybe that's what Terry meant about 'all that goes up must come down.' What do you think?"

"Say!" exclaimed Joe, leaping to his feet, "I'll bet that was just what he meant, the little sneak. But he'd never have nerve enough to try anything like that himself."

"Maybe not. But I think Buck Looker might," said Bob. "If he does, I only hope I'll have the luck to catch him at it."

"Those fellows need a good licking, and it's up to us to give it to them," said Herb indignantly. "I'm game to do my share any time."

"Oh, well, it may have been just some nonsense of Terry's. But we'd better be on our guard, anyway," said Bob, rising to get the soldering iron. "Whew! but this is hot now, all right. I'll let it cool a bit, and get the condenser ready for soldering."

CHAPTER XIII

THRAs.h.i.+NG A BULLY

Stripping a length of copper wire, Bob nipped off two short lengths with his pliers and fastened them to opposite sides of the condenser with small staples. Then he brought all the tinfoil plate terminals on each side in contact with the wire on that side, and connected the terminals with their respective wires with a small drop of solder on each. Then he produced a roll of ordinary bicycle tire tape and wound the whole thing neatly in this, leaving only the ends of the two copper wires projecting a distance of perhaps a quarter of an inch.

"There!" he exclaimed, "we can solder our other wires up to them when we come to connect up the set. It isn't very fancy, but it ought to do the work."

"Gee, Bob, you must have been studying up on this," said Jimmy. "To look at your work, any one would think you'd been doing this all your life."

"I did look it up after you fellows went home last night," admitted Bob. "This condenser isn't made just the way they say, but the principle is the same, and I guess that is the main thing."

"We won't worry about how it's made if it only works," said Joe, "and I guess it will do that all right."

"We'll hope so, anyway," said Bob. "But there's only one way to find out, and that's to hook our set up and see if we get signals through.

And if we do--oh boy!"

"I'll bet it will work like a charm," said Jimmy enthusiastically.

"We haven't got to make much more now, have we?"

"We've got to make a panel and mount all these inventions on it,"

said Herbert.

"That won't take very long," said Bob. "Of course, we can't do it to-night, but to-morrow's Sat.u.r.day, and if we get started early we may be able to fix things up so that we can hear something to-morrow night. Sat.u.r.day night is the time they usually send out the biggest number of musical selections, and if we have luck we may be able to listen in on them."

"Wow!" exclaimed Herb. "Won't that be the greatest thing that ever happened? You can't start too early to suit me."