The Boy Mechanic Makes Toys: 159 Games, Toys, Tricks, and Other Amusements (So Many Projects, Not Enough Time) (Paperback)
by The Editors of Popular Mechanics, published by Hearst (June 1, 2007).

This is an adventurous child’s dream book. Originally published in the early 1900’s it is part of a larger series of Boy Mechanic books. See the original advertising poster below…

This book (and the others in the series too no doubt) is one of those incredible books that encourages creativity in young minds. It begins by extolling the virtues of the cardboard box along with the skills of old fashioned ingenuity and craftsmanship, and a warning – these projects have not been updated with modern ideas of safety and safeguards should be taken.

Mostly though the projects are really quite wonderful, with gorgeous little illustrations and imagination invoking titles. There is a whole chapter on Magic, ’slick tricks’, ’sleight of hand’ and ‘old time magic’. It all sounds so mysterious. For the child more interested in science, and mechanics, there is a chapter titled ‘The science of fun’, with projects including a ‘motor made of candles’ and the section on ‘gizmos and gadgets’ includes instructions on building a ’simple radio receiver’. Other science projects include a ‘perpetual calendar’ and a ‘magic lantern’. Makes me yearn to be a child again.

Other sections include ‘The great outdoors’ with instructions on making boats, and jetties and camping equipment – one project really caught my eye here (well lots did but I can’t tell you all of them) ‘An ice glider’, which is a wooden scooter like contraption with skate blades attached to the underside. All of these so far seem like they are more for the older child, but there is a section for the little ones. With wooden toy projects and a ‘jumping toy frog’ which is made from the wish bone of a fowl. There is a also instruction on making a ‘whirligig clapper’ an ingenious little toy that is designed to make a lot of noise. And for the older kids there is a section called ‘clever amusements’ with paper toys and mirror boxes, a neat little fun idea that no doubt would keep kids amused for hours is the ‘gold fish travel’ a glass tube is heated so that it bends at both ends (this is the dangerous bit they warned us about at the start) and after it cools the u-shaped glass tube is filled with water, as are two fish bowls, one end of the glass tube is placed in each fish bowl and the fish can travel from one fish bowl to the other.

The images come from the original Boy Mechanic, which I downloaded for free from here, (it is out of copyright) via MAKEzine. And the poster is from the Modern Mechanix – lot of vintage mechanic books, mags and posters there – a fun site.