Sources page biographical material

5.S. CHAIN CUTTING AND REJOINING
The basic problem is to minimise the cost or effort of reforming a chain from some fragments.
Loyd. Problem 25: A brace of puzzles -- No. 25: The chain puzzle. Tit Bits 31 (27 Mar 1897) & 32 (17 Apr 1897) 41. 13 lengths: 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 12. (Not in the Cyclopedia.)

Loyd. Problem 42: The blacksmith puzzle. Tit Bits 32 (10 & 31 Jul & 21 Aug 1897) 273, 327 & 385. Complex problem involving 10 pieces of lengths from 3 to 23 to be joined.

Clark. Mental Nuts. 1897, no. 7 & 1904, no. 14: The chain question; 1916, no. 59: The chain puzzle. 5 pieces of 3 links to make into a single length.

Mr. X [cf 4.A.1]. His Pages. The Royal Magazine 9:4 (Feb 1903) 390-391 & 9:5 (Mar 1903) 490-491. The five chains. 5 pieces of 3 links to make into a single length.

Pearson. 1907. Part II, no. 67, pp. 128 & 205. 5 pieces of 3 links to make into a single length.

Dudeney. The world's best puzzles. Op. cit. in 2. 1908. He attributes such puzzles to Loyd (Tit Bits prob. 25) and gives that problem.

Cecil H. Bullivant. Home Fun. T. C. & E. C. Jack, London, 1910. Part VI, Chap IV, No. 9: The broken chain, pp. 518 & 522. 5 3 link pieces into an open chain.

Loyd. The missing link. Cyclopedia, 1914, pp. 222 (no solution) (c= MPSL2, prob. 25, pp. 19 & 129). 6 5 link pieces into a loop.

Loyd. The necklace puzzle. Cyclopedia, 1914, pp. 48 & 345 (= MPSL1, prob. 47, pp. 45 46 & 138). 12 pieces, with large and small links which must alternate.

D. E. Smith. Number Stories. 1919. Pp. 119 & 143 144. 5 pieces of 3 links to make into one length.

Hummerston. Fun, Mirth & Mystery. 1924. Q.E.D. -- The broken chain, Puzzle no. 38, pp. 99 & 178. Pieces of lengths 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 6 to make into a closed loop.

Ackermann. 1925. Pp. 85 86. Identical to the Loyd example cited by Dudeney.

Dudeney. MP. 1926. Prob. 212: A chain puzzle, pp. 96 & 181 (= 536, prob. 513, pp. 211 212 & 408). 13 pieces, with large and small links which must alternate.

King. Best 100. 1927. No. 7, pp. 9 & 40. 5 pieces of three links to make into one length.

William P. Keasby. The Big Trick and Puzzle Book. Whitman Publishing, Racine, Wisconsin, 1929. A linking problem, pp. 161 & 207. 6 pieces comprising 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6 links to be made into one length.