TRYING TO FIND OUT HOW THE INJECTOR WORKED.
Among the mechanics I associated with, the injector was spoken of as a machine having a secret method of action. There was supposed to be some part inside, where a vacuum was formed, which sent the water into the boiler. We were all familiar with the vacuum of condensing engines, and it was a convenient solution of the mystery. I remember committing what we regarded as a heinous sin, in trying to find out the secret of the injector. On a Sunday forenoon in a Scotch town, where it was considered next to a crime to miss going to church, three of us stole quietly into an engine-house, and took an injector apart, when we knew the foreman, like a pious man, was listening to the sermon. All our plans had been laid the previous day, and the necessary tools laid conveniently at hand. The feeling of disappointment we experienced at finding nothing to explain the working of the thing, is still vivid in my memory.