We weren’t completely problem free, though. Once we were going to nail down

some loose planks and the planks kept cracking because we never glued them down in the first place. Another time we had a balance problem. The paddle and its axle made one side of the boat heavier than the other. We had to glue on metal washers to keep the raft balanced. Then we were done.

The Locomotive

The locomotive was used between 1850 and 1940. It carried passengers and freight. It traveled very long distances and made life easier. This locomotive shortened the traveling time for long distances. It carried many

different things from passengers to produce. Society benefited by this machine because people could take advantage of more

land. Less travel time meant more trading. People could visit family easier and quicker. For our project, we used electrical wires, batteries and wood. They only used

wood, boilers, water, and fuel in the past. Electricity made it easier to run. We came up with the idea of building a steam locomotive because it was very impor- tant at that time. This is one of the few machines that survived that time period because there were newer things to replace the others with. We designed it. First, we made the chassis out of wood. Then we added the flooring and glued the

conductor's box together. We then glued on the round cardboard tube to the project. We had to decide if we wanted a smokestack or not and we decided to have one. We had trouble placing the battery holder in the right place; now we put a rubber band to hold it in place. We did some electrical testing. One time it worked when it was raised but not

on the floor. To solve this, we had to enlarge the axle with a washer. It worked after that. We figured out the wiring in a snap. One time we even put glue on the bottom of the battery pack. It made a short cir- cuit and burnt my thumb because the battery pack was melting! Our machine works by electric-

ity going to a switch and motor. This activates a drive train con- nected to the wheels’ axle. Some of the problems we

encountered were: gluing the motor, placing the battery holder, trying to decide where the wires go, and getting it to run on the table or floor. We solved the prob- lem of getting it to run by length- ening the axle. We tried placing the battery holder in several areas and resolved with placing it in the back of the locomotive. Our big- gest problem was when we glued the battery holder onto the wood and it started to melt. It caused

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Ann Rubino