 What was Piltdon most interested in?
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, August 1958. "Feetch!" grated Ogden Piltdon, president of the Piltdon Opener Company, slamming the drafting board with his hairy fist, "I want results!" "As chief engineer you're not carrying the ball," Piltdon went on savagely. "The Piltdon Can-Opener is trailing the competition. "But Mr. Piltdon," remonstrated Feetch unsteadily under his employer's glare, "don't you remember? "But Mr. Piltdon—" "The Minerva Mighty Midget does it in four point two two and plays Home Sweet Home in chimes. Our own Piltdon opener barely manages to open a can in eight point nine without chimes. "But Mr. Piltdon, our opener still has stability, solidity. It has dignity...." "Dignity," pronounced Piltdon, "is for museums. I want it completely developed, engineered and tooled-up, ready for production. "But Mr. Piltdon, four months is hardly time enough for development, even with an adequate staff. "Excuses," sneered Mr. Piltdon. Piltdon trudged out of the room, leaving behind him an oppressive silence. A designer had to dream at his board, investigate, search, build, test, compare, discard. He had always wanted to devote all his time to research, but Piltdon Opener had not given him that opportunity. What had happened, to the proud dream he once had, the dream of exploring uncharted engineering regions, of unlimited time to investigate and develop? Ah, well, thought Feetch straightening his thin shoulders, he had managed somehow to design a few good things during his twenty-five years with Piltdon. Well, he had to start— "Chief," said Hanson a few weeks later as they entered the lab, "I'm beginning to wonder if the answer is in the hand mechanical type at all." "We must work along classical can-opener lines. Sector type cutters, traversing several arcs at the same time, had seemed to offer the answer for a while, but the adjusting mechanism necessary to compensate for variable can sizes had been too complex to be practical. Twenty-five years of your life you put in with Piltdon, and he'd fire you just like that if you don't do the impossible. The Piltdon Company is built upon your designs and you get handed this deal!" Piltdon is a household word, but who has heard of Feetch? "Piltdon ought to be rayed," he growled.
 Making money
 Making money  Being known around the world  Keeping Feetch on the payroll  Having more patents than anyone else