G.— ENGINEERING. 129 



and Boulton, and many are the instances where failure has been traceable 

 to lack of this same combination. Its absence must, at the very least, 

 contribute very largely to delays in development and to the impairing of 

 a success which might otherwise have been complete. 



Invention and Industry. 



The history of the twentieth century shows clearly that Invention is 

 the heart of Industry, the root of new developments and the source of 

 improved methods of production which have led to cheaper costs and 

 a wider scope in every industry. It has also been the cause of some of the 

 greatest social upheavals and strife. Innumerable strikes have arisen 

 from it, and if there is one lesson in political science more potent than 

 another to be learned from the history of such movements, it is that science 

 is always victorious in the end. Progress may be delayed or an industry 

 may be lost to a country temporarily or permanently by such strife, but 

 the steady advance of the world's progress through the science of invention 

 is certain. One country may lose, but the world will gain in the end. It 

 is only a question of time, and if the leaders of industry, both masters and 

 men, would only recognise this fundamental truth how much faster progress 

 would be. 



It must not be imagined, however, that every invention can or, from 

 the commercial point of view, should be introduced into an industry the 

 moment it is made. Quite apart from the time necessarily spent in 

 developing and perfecting the invention, for which purpose many industries 

 have now instituted research departments of incalculable value, it is some- 

 times found that the occasion is inappropriate or that the time is not ripe 

 for the change involved. The introduction of a new invention or of a new 

 design may involve many complicated questions of policy or finance, 

 because the change may have to be accompanied by heavy sacrifice in 

 other directions, possibly affecting other industries or the public at large. 

 There may have to be heavy scrapping of spare parts, tools and plant. 

 There may also be considerable loss to the customers of the industry 

 through depreciation of the products of the industry already in use, for 

 nothing depreciates a firm's production more rapidly than the introduction 

 of a new and superior model. Manufacturers have therefore, on some 

 occasions, to collect and husband their inventions and improvements after 

 testing their merits and keep them in reserve for a more opportune occasion. 

 The opportunity may occur very suddenly. It may arise through a sudden 

 whimsical change in fashion which no one can explain, or from some other 

 cause which it has been impossible to anticipate, and if a manufacturer 

 has no policy of improvement all worked out and ready to apply he is 

 faced with the awkward alternative of falling behind the times by making 

 no change at all, or of risking his market by adopting some new model 

 which he has not had sufficient time to test thoroughly. The former policy 

 is almost always disastrous and the latter is often worse. Numerous 

 illustrations of both these courses and their results could be cited from any 

 industry. There inevitably comes to every industry a time when radical 

 change is demanded, and the firm which is best prepared for the change 

 reaps the reward of its foresight. 



Industry when viewed in its international aspect determines the lives 



1927 K 



