ign of any machine brings out the innumerable shortcomings.

If we see a machine that seems perfect, it is perfectly safe to
set it down in black and white that we do not fully comprehend it.
It is safe to say that the only perfect machine is the new model
that is to be tried very soon.

With these facts in mind it does not require very much courage to
go ahead with an imperfect design, but unfortunately these
thoughts will not stay in the mind of the average designer. They
are crowded out by the flood of ideas for still further
betterment. That is why it is just to give high rank to the man
who had courage to go ahead and build, even when he realized the
faults of a design.

Perhaps one of the aids to this action is the knowledge that the
apparent opportunity to improve a design may only be apparent. In
reality the change is only a change, and is no betterment, a very
common outcome of such ideas. The knowledge of the great array of
failures of such "improvements" is wholesome and helpful to bear
in mind.

The Inventor Sees Opportunities to Improve.

The inventor, from his point of view, sees the great need
and opportunity to improve the design of the machine being
manufactured. He sees that the big machines are nothing but
enlarged editions of the early and smaller ones. He knows that
with a change of size there should be a change of design. He knows
that although a granite rock weighing a few tons will not be kept
suspended in air by a heavy wind, a small part of the same rock
will be carried away by a breeze, and may be kept suspended by a
very slight current of air. He knows that the small particle of
granite has a greater superficial area in proportion to its
weight. He sees on every hand that a change of dimensions
frequently entails a change of design.

He also sees the opportunity to effect a great saving by building
the large machine for its special service, and not on the exact
lines of the smallest model. The failure of the management to
adopt his plans seems nothing less than unreasonableness to the
inventor, for like other mortals he is a trifle slow at grasping
the fact that no two beings have exactly the same point of view or
the same quality of sight.

Another inventor sees a chance to make further improvements and he
is disturbed because there is a ban on changes. He feels that the
mechanical success of his previous work should be a sufficient
guarantee of the economic advantage of the l