Evening star., 1902-03-19
AN ENGINEERS TALK.
Says His Machine is Much Like Hu-
man Being.

stationary engine, or, for that matter,
an engine Of any kind, Is very much like a
man in that it exhibits whims and moods,
and altogether acts on certain occasions as
II 1t felt good or disagreeable, as the case
may be-" said an experienced engineer.
Engines to a certain extent, and as far as
an inanimate object can go In this respect,
take on the dispositions and habits Of the
men who run them. The engine of today
compact, high-pressured, and a hundred
fold more complicated in it's details of con-
structiOn than the old low pressure engine
Of twenty-five years ago, is one may say,
possessed Of a sort of nervous system that
gets out of order just as the human ner-
vous system gets disorganized. yet both the
mechanical and human engines continue to
perform their ordinary daily functions of
operations.
This modern generator of propulsion,
say, of 10000 horse power, will go into a
space which would have cramped an engine
One-tenth the size generation ago. If a
man Is careless and slovenly in his habits.
his engine fails to respond to it's full ca
pacity, runs down in health and becomes
despondent, as 1t were. and unable to work
with proper vigor Another man of differ
ent character will take the same engine
administer tonic in the shape Of good, In
telligent care, and the engine throws off it's
former lassitude takes on an apparently
rejuvenated feeling, works easily and faith
y,
and happy as 1t was once miSerab BILE.
''The life of some engines is remarkable
while others go to pieces more readily |
have seen many engines thirty and forty
years old working as good as ever, in Eng
land. and 1t Is a matter of record that an
engine there over century in age was per-
forming it's work satisfactorily at last ac-
counts.
Engines get tired like men. and while
they cannot lie down and rest, they appear
to stubbornly resist forcing and pressure,
and so marked is this strange characteristic
of an engine that engineers will let it have
the rest 1t appears to demand, after
which they work with appreciative smooth
ness. The almost perfect engine Of today
from the giant 10.0O0-horse-power engine Of
an ocean flyer to a one-horse- power pump
in n residence is the result of remarkable
evolution of the old-fashoned steady-going
slow-moving engine with thirty pounds
pressure to the big fellows OF high pressure
whose f1ywheels literally do fly at the rate
of 800 revolutions minute.
IAN engineer instinctively knows when
his engine is sick. though it is not always
possible for him to be able to locate the
cause of the illness at once. He knows
however. that she is off her feed. like
horse. and he is uneasy until he discovers
the cause Of the mechanical indisposition
and she resumes her accustomed song that
all engines more or less sing. And tha noise
OF the movements Of an. engine Is as dis
tinct to an engineer who may run it as are
the voices of children to their own parents.
put TO the PUBIC all engines SOunQ af1ke.
Locomotive engineers are different from
stationary engineers in many respects
They may take out a different engine every
day or week 1t Is repaired for them In the
shops. cleaned In the round houses, for an
engineer gives his locomotive no attention
once he steps down from the cab at the
end Of his days run. A locomotive engineer
need not be mechanic. and they usually
are not such as compared to the stationary
engineer. The locomotive engineer need
only to know how to run his machine ac-
cording to the time schedules, and other
men attend to the mechanical construction
and repairs Stationary engineers are bet
ter mechanics and they make their own re-
pairs where possible.
"One reason why locomotives get tired or
sick Is from the change OF water on The,
different runs. The water froths In the