Water Periscope

 

 

 

Search  Inquiry Net

Back ] Home ] Up ] Next ]

Games of Ball
Bee Messengers
Boat Plans
Dead Bugs
Choosing Up
Counting Out
Leap Frog
Swimming
Tag
Water Periscope
Circus in the Woods
Boys' Vaulting-Poles
Woodcraft Camps
Deaf Scout Jamboree 2006
Do It Yourself Camps

Scout Books

Site Contents

By Dan Beard

abhb060.gif (4367 bytes)
Fig. 60.
Wooden Water-Telescope

Nearly three-fourths of the whole world is covered by water. Old Isaak Walton in his quaint book says that this vast expanse of territory is " Nature's storehouse, in which she locks up all her wonders." The previous chapters on fresh water and marine aquariums have already shown how a portion of the "wonders" may be kept in your own house, in what might be termed little glass side-shows to the great marine menagerie. This chapter will tell you how to make an instrument through which you can peep under the watery tent of the big show itself, and see the curiosities swimming about in their native haunts. 

The water-telescope is not made of aqueous fluid, as its name might imply, but is a contrivance made of wood or metal, through which, when one end is partly submerged, objects beneath the water can be plainly seen that would otherwise be invisible. 

It is astonishing how many fathoms of water become almost as transparent as air when viewed through one of these simple and amusing contrivances. In Norway, the fishermen make practical use of the water telescope when searching for herring shoals or cod, often by its means discovering new and unlooked-for fish. 

How to Make a Wooden Water-Telescope. 

All that is necessary is a long wooden box, a piece of glass for one end, and some paint and putty for making the scams water-tight. Fix the glass in one end of the box, and leave the other end open to admit the eyes of the observer, as shown in the illustration (Fig. 60, above).  

abhb061.gif (3416 bytes)
Fig. 61.
A Tin Water-Telescope

A Tin Water-Telescope, 

is a funnel-shaped tin horn, about three or four feet long, eight to ten inches in diameter at the bottom, and broad enough at the top to admit both eyes of the observer (Fig. 61). Sinkers should be soldered on near the bottom, as shown in the illustration (Fig. 61, above). This in a measure counteracts the buoyancy of the air contained in the water-tight funnel, and helps to submerge the big end. 

The inside of the funnel should be painted black, to prevent the light from being reflected upon the bright surface of the tin. 

If any difficulty is found in procuring a circular piece of glass, the bottom may be made square and square glass used, and fitted into a leaden frame made for the purpose. 

Any tin worker can, at a moderate cost, make an instrument like the one just described. 

A water-telescope will add greatly to the entertainment of a boating party or picnic, furnishing a new and novel feature that will become popular wherever it is introduced. 

Mr. Fred Holder tells me that while collecting marine animals with his father, Dr. Holder, the naturalist, they had a boat built with a glass in the hull, arranged and worked upon the same principle as a water-telescope. It was of great service where the water was not too deep. While one person rowed the other watched the bottom, which Mr. Holder describes as having the appearance of a beautiful panorama passing beneath him. Fish of all colors and forms filled the intervening space, and sometimes a "devil fish " would cross the scene, flapping its great wing like fins as it flew rather than swam through the clear water.

American Boy's Handy Book

 

 

   

 

 


Additional Information:

Peer- Level Topic Links:
Games of Ball ] Bee Messengers ] Boat Plans ] Dead Bugs ] Choosing Up ] Counting Out ] Leap Frog ] Swimming ] Tag ] [ Water Periscope ] Circus in the Woods ] Boys' Vaulting-Poles ] Woodcraft Camps ] Deaf Scout Jamboree 2006 ] Do It Yourself Camps ]

Parent- Level Topic Links:
Scuba ] Skills ] Games ] Shelter ] Fire ] Night ] B-P's Camping ] Hikes ] Indian ] Spring ] Summer ] Autumn ] Winter ]

The Inquiry Net Main Topic Links:
 [Outdoor Skills]  [Patrol Method [Old-School]  [Adults [Advancement]  [Ideals]  [Leadership]  [Uniforms]

Search This Site:

Search Amazon.Com:

When you place an order with Amazon.Com using the search box below, a small referral fee is returned to The Inquiry Net to help defer the expense of keeping us online.  Thank you for your consideration!

Search:

Keywords:

Amazon Logo

 

 

Scout Books Trading Post

Dead Bugs, Blow Guns, Sharp Knives, & Snakes:
What More Could A Boy Want?

Old School Scouting:
What to Do, and How to Do It!

To Email me, replace "(at)" below with "@"
Rick(at)Kudu.Net

If you have questions about one of my 2,000 pages here, you must send me the "URL" of the page!
This "URL" is sometimes called the "Address" and it is usually found in a little box near the top of your screen.  Most URLs start with the letters "http://"

The Kudu Net is a backup "mirror" of The Inquiry Net.  

©2003, 2011 The Inquiry Net, http://inquiry.net  In addition to any Copyright still held by the original authors, the Scans, Optical Character Recognition, extensive Editing,  and HTML Coding on this Website are the property of the Webmaster.   My work may be used by individuals for non-commercial, non-web-based activities, such as Scouting, research, teaching, and personal use so long as this copyright statement and a URL to my material is included in the text
The purpose of this Website is to provide access  to hard to find, out-of-print documents.  Much of the content has been edited to be of practical use in today's world and is not intended as historical preservation.   I will be happy to provide scans of specific short passages in the original documents for people involved in academic research.  

 

Last modified: October 15, 2016.