Mahlon Pitney

“ Properly limiting the inquiry (and, as we have seen, the trial court did so limit it) , there was no question of attributing negligence to an employer for merely failing to promptly instal the latest, best, and safest appliance; it was a question of keeping an older type of appliance in use after its insufficiency had been demonstrated by experience, and perhaps under conditions materially different from those which had obtained when its use began, in the face of notice that it was not reasonably safe and suitable. ”

“ The plaintiff in the action (defendant in error) was an experienced locomotive engineer. At the time of his injury, which occurred at night in the month of November, 1910, he had just oiled his engine, taken it from the roundhouse, and placed it upon the outgoing track in readiness for his run. The engine was equipped with a Nathan lubricator, an appliance containing oil for the steam cylinders and the air pump, the oil being conducted to and within the parts where needed under steam pressure from the boiler. ”

“ The metal shield was designed in part, at least, to prevent injury to the engineer from flying pieces in case the glass should break. This type of lubricator had been in use for over twenty years, and had been used upon all defendant's engines down to a time between three and four years prior to the accident. Then a new type, known as the Bull's Eye, came into use, and was recognized as a better appliance because, being unbreakable, it was safer for the engineer, and at the same time obviated the loss of time and delay of trains attributable to breakage of lubricators of the Nathan type ”