Chapter XXIII: Conclusion

Unless the average boy has materially changed his habits, in recent years, it matters not what the preface of a book may contain, for it will be unceremoniously skipped with hardly more than a passing glance. With this in mind, the author has tried to "steal a march" on you, and instead of writing a longer preface, and including some material which might properly belong in that place, has added it here in the nature of a conclusion, thinking that you would be more likely to read it last than first.

Some time ago, when in search for something that might be described in this book, I thought of some old boxes into which my things had been packed when I had dismantled my workshop before going away to college. They had been undisturbed for a number of years and I had almost forgotten where they had been put. At last a large box was unearthed from amongst a lot of dusty furniture put away in the attic. I pried the cover off and took the things out one by one and laid them on the floor. Here were galvanometers, microphones, switches, telegraph keys, sounders, relays, and other things too numerous to mention. They had all been constructed so long ago that I was considerably amused and interested in the manner in which bolts, screws, pieces of curtain rod, sheet-iron, brass, and other things had been taken to form various parts of the instruments. The binding-posts had almost in every case seen service as such on dry cells before they came into my hands. The only parts that it had been necessary to buy were a few round-headed brass screws and the wire which formed the magnets. In several instances, the latter were made so that they might be easily removed and mounted upon another instrument. The magnets on the telegraph sounder could be removed and fitted to form part of an electric engine or motor.

One particular thing which struck me very forcibly was the lack of finish and the crudeness which most of the instruments showed.

Of course it was impossible to avoid the clumsy appearance which the metal parts possessed, since they were not originally made for the part that they were playing, but I wished that I had taken a little more care to true up things properly or to smooth and varnish the wood, or that I had removed the tool-marks and dents from the metal work by a little filing.

If I had done so, I should now be distinctly proud of my work. That is not to say that I am in the least ashamed of it, for my old traps certainly served their purpose well, even if they were not ornamental and were better back in their box. Perhaps I might be excused for failing in this part of the work through lack of proper tools, and also because at that time there were no magazines or books published which explained how to do such things, and when I built my first tuning coils and detectors nothing on that subject had ever been published. I had to work out such problems for myself, and gave more thought to the principles upon which the instruments operated than to their actual construction.

The boys who read this book have the advantage of instructions showing how to build apparatus that has actually been built and tested. You know what size of wire to use and will not have to find it out for yourself. For that reason you ought to be able to give more time to the construction of such things. The purpose of this conclusion is simply a plea for better work. The American boy is usually careless in this regard. He often commences to build something and then, growing tired before it is finished, lays it aside only to forget it and undertake something else. _Finish whatever you undertake_. The principle is a good one. Remember also that care with the little details is what insures success in the whole.

If in carrying out your work, you get an idea, do not hesitate to try it. A good idea never refused to be developed. It is not necessary to stick absolutely to the directions that I have given. They will insure success if followed, but if you think you can make an improvement, do so.

Of course, such a book as this cannot, in the nature of things, be exhaustive, nor is it desirable, in one sense, that it should be.

I have tried to write a book which, considered as a whole, would prove to be exhaustive only in that it treats of almost every phase of practical electricity.

The principle in mind has been to produce a work which would stimulate the inventive faculties in boys, and to guide them until face to face with those practical emergencies in which no book can be of any assistance but which must be overcome by common sense and the exercise of personal ingenuity.

The book is not as free from technical terms or phrases, as it lay in my power to make it, because certain of those terms have a value and an every-day use which are a benefit to the young experimenter who understands them.

Any one subject treated in the various chapters of the "Boy Electrician" may be developed far beyond that point to which I have taken it. The railroad system could be fitted with electric signals, drawbridges, and a number of other devices.

Many new ideas suggest themselves to the ready-witted American boy. I shall always be pleased to hear from any boy who builds any of the apparatus I have described, and, if possible, to receive photographs of the work. I should be glad to be of any assistance to such a lad, but remember that some of the drawings and text in this book required many hours even to complete a small portion, and therefore please do not write to ask how to build other apparatus not described herein. And, as the future years bring new inventions and discoveries, no one now knows but that, some day, perhaps I will write another "Boy Electrician."

THE END.