Ingersoll Rand: (9 September 1892- )

With her striking blue eyes downcast, Ami Imaginaire fidgets nervously with the photo album in front of her. She takes a deep breath and begins to describe the day that her life changed forever. “It was an average Tuesday morning and I woke to my alarm as usual. I began my morning routine – yoga and coffee. It was as I was wandering through to the conservatory that I noticed an overpowering smell of hydrogen peroxide. I looked out the window and, to my horror, I saw a series of tanks and mesh grids all over my garden…”. At that point, Ami’s voice cracks and she is unable to go on. When she is able to compose herself, she tells an all-too familiar story for the residents of Unsinn – a story of the guerrilla, known to legend as Ingersoll Rand.

Ingersoll was born on 9 September 1892 in the town of Non-è-Vero in the mountains of Switzerland, the son of travelling circus folk. Ingersoll grew up poor but quickly proved himself resourceful; at the age of 6, he converted his circus’ tent to a cantilever marquee, which could be installed in a matter of minutes, and found new ways to test the flexural stiffness of his siblings while operating the cannon. His relationship with the circus soured after his experiments with biaxial bending began to cause too much stress and he fled the country. From that time on, Ingersoll travelled around Europe always wanting to use his quick mind to improve the lives of others.

The impacts of his earlier, carefree days can be seen all over Europe, where he built overhead shelters for river trolls, giant swimming pools for pigeons and log-flumes for literate, adventurous rodents. Few photos exist from this time but stories of his good deeds spread across Europe. Alas, Ingersoll’s fall from grace was not far away. Two Interpol officers, Detective Daniel and Inspector Fluor interrupted him erecting a tower in western Italy, causing him to flee and the tower to begin to tip, squashing the Mayor’s cat. Ingersoll went into hiding and became increasingly bitter about the lack of recognition his work had achieved over the years.

Resentful, he took out his frustrations through his work, attacking the cities of London and Paris by building the Millennium Bridge and the Pompidou Centre. As Daniel and Fluor closed in on him, he went further underground targeting those he felt were responsible for financing those who persecuted him, which brings us to the sight that Ami Imaginaire woke up to find in her garden… a sewage treatment plant built by the international man of moduli, Ingersoll Rand, the guerrilla civil engineer.

Ingersoll Rand (9 September 1892- )