The Hero of the Eraser.
The drafting board may show that no such arrangement of parts can ever be made, that the whole scheme must be altered to make it practical. A real hero is required for the work of juggling the elements of a drafting board. He must have patient endurance and sufficient strength of character to use the eraser heroically, for the eraser is mightier than the pencil in the drafting-room. There are a thousand valiant knights armed with pencils to one stalwart pusher of the eraser.
In the drafting-room the work of harmonizing must go on; compromises must be made between the ideal scheme of the dreamer and the requirements of the manufacturing and selling departments.
Next to the noble knight of the eraser comes the idealist who has been toughened by experience in the cold world.
The idealist aims to design and construct a perfect machine. He is encouraged in his work by seeing a little clearer each day, month, and year of the time spent in the right kind of application to his work. He knows that the work of last year is faulty, that this year's work seems nearly perfect, excepting for a certain slight change that has just entered his mind. He cannot think of allowing any machine to be made without this later improvement.
He is inclined to the optimistic view, his memory works best on the good work of the past, and is extremely poor in holding afresh the view of previous mistakes.