Читать книгу Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys - Joseph H. Adams - Страница 9

A practicable rear-yard fountain may be made with a brick or concrete basin, an underground pipe-line and an overflow, thus insuring a continuous flow and discharge.

In Fig. 9 the basin, pipe, and trap are shown with the inlet pipe fitted for a hose connection. Three plates of different sizes are used for the traps, and if care is taken in drilling the holes an opening may be made in the bottom of each plate so that it will slip over the stand-pipe. Tin or enamelled iron plates will answer the purpose very well for a while, but the tin plates would soon rust unless frequently painted. The white earthern-ware plates will present the best appearance and will last indefinitely.

Dig a circular hole thirty inches across and twelve inches deep, and with cement and sand make a hard bottom or bed. Use a trowel and smooth the cement so that the top surface is smooth. With some bricks form a circle, as shown at Fig. 10. With a cold-chisel and mallet cut away the edges of two bricks so that the overflow pipe will pass between them, as shown at A in Fig. 10.

The pipe should be half or three-quarter inch galvanized water-pipe, and it may be purchased at a plumber’s shop for a few cents a foot.

The supply-pipe is three-eighths-inch galvanized water-pipe, and should be set in place under the concrete bottom of the basin before the cement is poured in. The upright, or stand-pipe, is thirty-six inches high from the elbow, B (Fig. 10), in the ground. The cross-pipe leading out is eighteen or twenty inches long, and the short upright that comes to the surface outside the basin is fifteen inches long and is to be provided with a hose connection so that a garden hose may be attached to it. The stand-pipe in the basin and the cross-piece should be embedded in the cement concrete, and when it is dry and hardens around the pipes it will hold them securely in place. When the circle of bricks is complete, fill in the crevices with equal parts of cement and sand mixed into a mortar. This will lock the bricks together; then plaster the cement all around the inside of the circle and some at the outside so as to make a water-tight basin.

Earth is to be put back into the hole outside the circle of bricks and the sod replaced, so that grass will grow right up to the edge of the basin rim, which should project an inch or two above the surface of the ground.

From a plumber or gas-fitter obtain some old pieces of brass tubing an inch in diameter, cut one of them fourteen inches long, and slip it down over the stand-pipe. The lowest and largest plate rests on this. Next cut a piece of tubing nine inches long and slip it over the pipe. The second plate rests on this and the top plate is supported by a piece of the tubing cut six inches in length and slipped over the pipe. If porcelain dishes are used, make the first hole in them as follows:

Obtain a stout, three-inch steel wire nail, a block of wood about three inches square, having an inch hole bored at one end, and a small hard-wood mallet. Place a plate on the block of wood, inverted so that its centre will be exactly over the hole. Place the point of the nail on the plate, taking care to get it in the centre; then give it a sharp, quick blow with the mallet. If this is properly done a small piece of the porcelain will be driven out, but remember that if the blow is not properly centred it will break the plate. For this reason it is best to practise first on a broken plate; or if the porcelain seems to be impossible, the painted tin or enamelled plates will have to answer. A perforated porcelain plate is shown in Fig. 11 A. The ragged hole can be smoothed out or chafed away with an old rat-tail or half-round file. A brass reducer and a gas pillar should be screwed fast to the top of the stand-pipe so that a jet of water about a quarter of an inch in diameter will shoot above the pipe.

If a little wooden ball is to dance at the top of the jet, a half-circular basket will be necessary to catch the ball when it falls, so that the stream of water can pick it up again. This is made from brass or galvanized wire, and where the wires cross bind the joint with fine copper wire and solder the joints so as to make them rigid. A small brass ferrule or short piece of pipe should be soldered to the bottom of this basket, so as to hold it in place when slipped over the pillar or nozzle. This basket and its shape is more clearly shown in Fig. 11 B. It should be six or eight inches in diameter and three inches deep, with the wires close enough together to prevent the ball from falling through.

If it is not possible to get the bricks of which to form the basin, a concrete wall can be made instead. Dig the hole as before described; then construct a cylinder of wood twenty-four inches in diameter and eight inches thick. Floor over the bottom of the hole with concrete, after the stand-pipe is in place, and around the edge of the concrete floor and outside the cylinder embed some small stones so that the filling will hold fast. This is shown at c c in Fig. 12. Slip the wooden cylinder over the stand-pipe so that it will occupy the position as shown in Fig. 12. Make a mixture of coarse sand or gravel and cement, half and half, and add a shovel or two of small stones, preferably cracked, such as are used for the under-dressing to macadam roads. Tamp this down in the opening in the ground so as to fill up the ditch or moat as shown at Fig. 13. The outside of the cylinder should be thoroughly coated with lard or some heavy grease before the concrete is poured in, so that the wood will not absorb the moisture from the concrete and cause it to bind in the hole. As a precaution it would be well to make the bottom of the cylinder an inch smaller in diameter than the top, so that it may draw out easily after the concrete has set. The two slots shown in the top of the cylinder are hand holes to grasp it by.

With nearly clear cement, having but a small portion of sand added, finish the inside of the basin and the rim with a trowel so as to give it a smooth and even surface. The force of water may be regulated with a faucet.