INVENTION OF THE INJECTOR.
The feed injector was invented by Henri Giffard, an eminent French scientist and æronaut. Its successful action was discovered during a series of experiments made with the view of devising light machinery that might be used to propel balloons. Although Giffard designed the most perfect balloon that was ever constructed, the injector was not used upon it; and the invention was laid aside, and almost forgotten. During the course of a sea-voyage, Giffard happened to meet Stewart of the engineering firm, Sharp, Stewart, & Co., of Manchester, England. In the course of a conversation on the feeding of boilers, Giffard remembered his injector, and mentioned its method of action. Stewart was struck with the simplicity of the device, and undertook to bring it out in England, which he shortly afterwards did, representing the interests of the inventor so long as the original patents lasted. By his advice, William Sellers & Co. of Philadelphia were given control of the American patents.
Seldom has an invention caused so much astonishment and wild speculation among mechanics, and even among scientists, as the injector did for the first few years of its use. Scientists were not long in discovering the philosophy of the injector’s action, but that knowledge spread more slowly among mechanics. It was regarded as a case of perpetual motion,—the means of doing work without power, or, as Americans expressed it, by the same means a man could raise himself by pulling on his boot-straps.