120 ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE ENGINEERING 



my opinion on any particular engine, don't do it, but 

 take it for granted that any one of the engines shown, 

 if treated and handled as I have endeavored to show 

 you how to treat and handle an engine, will do jand be 

 what the maker claims for it; and if you buy, or are 

 employed to run any one of them, you will have as 

 good as the best, and don't forget this: That when 

 you hear an engineer condemning a standard engine 

 or finding fault with its construction you will find that 

 he is neither an engineer nor a mechanic. 



It is true there are some good engineers who im- 

 agine they can build a better engine than the ones they 

 run. Now this thinking so could do no harm either 

 to the builders of the engine or himself, if he did not 

 talk it on all occasions, for by so doing he hurts the 

 reputation of the engine among those who are not 

 posted on engines, and he hurts his own standing as 

 an engineer among those who know what a good en- 

 gine is. 



This is only another way of saying to you, don't 

 talk too much. If you have any spare time work off 

 your surplus energy behind a chunk of waste, your en- 

 gine will look better for it, and your reputation as an 

 engineer will go up two points, while the same time put 

 in talking would have let you down a few points. You 

 would have saved the waste, but had a dirty engine. I 

 have seen a good engineer have a dirty, greasy en- 



