A Four-cylinder Motor, so sectioned that it shows interior of cylinder, valves, piston, crank shaft and connecting rods.
A BOY’S TEXT BOOK
ON GAS ENGINES
INTRODUCTION
Boys, when I was a small boy, I remember how much I was interested in everything which was mechanical. The engineer was my hero; the solving of the mysteries of an engine and the learning how to drive one, was my ambition.
I remember well how I tried to read the dry, technical description of motors, steam engines and such things. I remember, too, how hard it was to understand those books; how the various technical terms used to bother me, until at last, in despair, I would throw the books aside. It seemed as if the men who wrote them never realized that boys existed,—that boys wanted to know about such things.
At other times how glad I was when I found a good-hearted engineer who seemed to know and understand my feelings and my desire to learn. How easy it was to comprehend his explanations, because he used homely, everyday things to illustrate his meaning. He made you forget there was anything complicated about machinery. He simply took up one part at a time, and when he had finished with it, everything was as plain as the nose on your face.
Boys, then and there I decided that if I ever did understand some of these seeming mysteries of engineering, I would write a book that boys could understand. I would write it so that they couldn’t help it, it would be so plain; there would be no secrets; they should know all about it, and what is more, should be able to reason it all out for themselves.
Fig. 1—The Essential Parts of a Gas Engine.