The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-19

TT is not to be supposed that conditions used to be when Diamond Jim made his rounds and sent in half of a hundred dollar bill to an official he desired to sell stuff to and asked the messenger to tell him the other half was outside and want ed to see him. They are getting better every year. There is not the 1ooseness, the graft, the favoritism, that once pre- vailed. The situation today is far from ideal Maybe it will be improved great lv when the recommendations of the interstate commerce commission are fol lowed, especially in regard to the pur- chase of material.
 In the Machinery club and down in Lib erty street, where the salesmen of the great supply houses gather some queer stories are told of how big orders were obtained and how the fate of this house or that one depended on one single act. There is the case of the Norton injector. Norton is not the name, but it is near enough to serve the purpose in this in stance By quickness of wit, by hazard ing all to turn the tables on those who planned to surprise and discomfit him Norton won the regard of a lot of men without whose good will he might never have achieved fortune and a commanding position in his particular field. It is not a highly moral tale that is woven around him. but it is true and human nature does not change even if conditions do
 Perhaps no one who went to conven- tion of master mechanics held in the con tinental Hotel in Philadelphia had less reason than Norton to believe it was to mark the turning point in his career. He had an injector to show to the delegates, and like all the other men who had wares to display he rented room in the hotel and arranged to entertain in the custom ery manner every man he could induce 10 inspect his stock. The injector plays a small but important part in the makeup of locomotive. In the boiler the steam is made, and from the boiler the steam goes out to turn the powerful machinery. At regular intervals the water supply in the boiler must be replenished. The cold water is drawn from the tender by a series of pipes and gradually heated. and when the gauge shows that the water within the boiler is below a proper level the in iector comes into play. It drives hot water into the boiler to take the place of that which has been transformed into steam. In some cases it works automatically: in others by hand. If an injector should fail, a locomtive would be helpless. To shoot water of a proper temperature and of the required amount into the boiler at the proper time is the province of the injec- tor To inject too much would mean to lower the steam pressure unduy. To in iect too little would be to risk an ex- plosion.
 Nortons injector was a good one, but he had not been successful in getting railroads to adopt it. Formerly the mas ter mechanics had more to say about the style injector a locomtive should use than they have today. Most of the mas ter mechanics had been firemen and en- ginoers and had their own fancies. Not in frequently their suggestions as to the kind of injector locomotive should have de- pended on the impression the agent or the salesman of the injector made upon them.
 To Norton that convention was wedge to obtain business. If he succeeded in winning the good will of a fair number of delegates it meant fair measure of pros- perity If he failed it would mean long struggle.
 Tho majority of men go to conventions more for pleasure than for business. Mas ter mechanics are no exception to the rule.