Rolling Can Toy – Handmade Toys for Kids

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Secure a tin can, or a pasteboard box, about 2 in. in diameter and 2 in. or more in height.
Punch two holes A, Fig. 1, in the cover and the bottom, 1/4 in. from the center and opposite each other.
Then cut a curved line from one hole to the other, as shown at B. A piece of lead, which can be procured from a plumber, is cut in the shape shown in Fig. 2, the size being 1 by 1-1/8 by 1-1/4 in. An ordinary rubber band is secured around the neck of the piece of lead, as shown in Fig. 3, allowing the two ends to be free.

Rolling Can Toy

The pieces of tin between the holes A, Fig. 1, on both top and bottom, are turned up as in Fig. 4, and the ends of the bands looped over them.
The flaps are then turned down on the band and the can parts put together as in Fig. 5.
The can may be decorated with brilliant colored stripes, made of paper strips pasted on the tin. When the can is rolled away from you, it winds up the rubber band, thus storing the propelling power which makes it return.

—Contributed by Mack Wilson, Columbus, O.

Excerpt from the book:
THE BOY MECHANIC
VOLUME I
700 THINGS FOR BOYS TO DO
WITH 800 ILLUSTRATIONS
1913, BY H. H. WINDSOR CHICAGO
POPULAR MECHANICS CO. PUBLISHERS