These grooves were
filled with putty, and to make sure that the bottles were level with the
baseboard the latter was floated on a bit of quiet water and the bottles
were pressed down at one end or the other until the bubble within rested
at the exact center.
The Tripod.
The tripod head was formed of a wooden disk 5 inches in diameter, with a
wooden pin projecting from its center adapted to engage the hole in the
circular piece above referred to. To the bottom of the tripod head were
nailed three blocks 2 inches long and 1 inch square in cross-section. The
tripod legs were made of light strips of wood, 3/8 inch by 1 inch by 5
feet long, which we secured from one of the mills at Lumberville. Each leg
was formed of two of these strips, nailed securely together to within 20
inches of the top. At the upper ends the strips were spread to receive the
blocks on the tripod head. In this position they were held by headless
wire nails driven into the ends of the blocks and fitting into holes
drilled in the strips. For a plumb line we tacked a cord to the center of
the tripod head, and attached a good-sized sinker to its lower end. In
connection with this plumb line we occasionally used a protractor
consisting of a semicircle of cardboard 5 inches in diameter, on which the
degrees of the circle were marked off with radiating lines, as illustrated
in Fig.
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