 What was Feetch most interested in?
Here's why you should ask for a "Feetch M-D" next time you get a can opener! [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!" Kalvin Feetch shrunk visibly. "But Mr. Piltdon," remonstrated Feetch unsteadily under his employer's glare, "don't you remember? Feetch adjusted his spectacles with shaking hands. It has dignity...." "Dignity," pronounced Piltdon, "is for museums. Four months, Feetch! I want it completely developed, engineered and tooled-up, ready for production. Otherwise, Feetch—" Feetch's body twitched. Four months, Feetch, no more!" 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. Twenty-five years! thought Feetch. 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." "Got to be," answered Feetch tiredly. Departures, such as the thermal or motor-driven types, would be too expensive for mass production." They began testing, Hanson operating the openers and Feetch clocking. "Four point four," announced Feetch after the last test. 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. "Well, well," said Feetch. Piltdon is a household word, but who has heard of Feetch? "Hello," said Feetch as an aproned machinist entered carrying a glistening mechanism. "Yes," said Feetch. "Spinach, I think," said Feetch. "Dear, dear," said Feetch, regarding the piles of food on the bench. Feetch shook his head. What motions can we plot in the area of disappearance and what are their analytical mathematical formulae?
 Research and development
 Making money  Research and development  Working for Piltdon  Being known around the world