The Duty of a Consulting Engineer.—An expert fills the same office as an architect, and impartially selects the engine best suited to his client's peculiar needs. His examination of the engines offered to him will proceed somewhat according to the following programme:
1. He will first study the installation from the mechanical point of view, and also the local conditions under which that installation is to operate, in order that he may not order an engine too large or too small, or a type incompatible with the foundations at his disposal, or unable to fulfil all the requirements of his client.
2. He will examine the precautions which have been taken to avoid or reduce to a minimum certain inconveniences which attend the operation of explosion-engines.
3. He will draw up specifications, with the terms of which gas-engine makers must comply, so that he can compare on the basis of these specifications the merits of the engines submitted to him.
4. He will prepare an estimate of cost and also a contract which is not couched in terms altogether in the gas-engine maker's favor, and which gives the purchaser important warranties.
5. He will supervise the technical installation of the engine or plant.
6. He will make tests after the engine is installed and see to it that the maker has fulfilled his warranties.
Specifications.—Since engines and gas-producers are constructed for commercial ends, it naturally follows that their manufacturers seek to make the utmost possible profit in selling their installations. Prices charged will necessarily vary with the quality of material employed, the care taken in constructing the engine and generator, the number of apparatus of the same type which are manufactured, the arrangement of the parts and that of the installations. Since there is considerable rivalry among gas-engine builders, selling prices are often cut down so far that little or no profit is left. It is very difficult—indeed impossible—to convince a purchaser that it is to his interest to pay a fair price in order to obtain a good installation, especially when other manufacturers are offering the same installation at a less price with the same warranties. As a result of this state of affairs, engine builders, in order that they may not lose an order, are willing, to reduce their prices, hoping
to make up in the quality of the workmanship and the material what they would otherwise lose. Often they will deliver an engine too small in size but operating at a higher speed than that ordered; or they will select an old type, or carry out certain details with no great care.