Years later he tells a questioning reporter the device failed.

That meant the device had failed, which was terrible news.

But he knew that the device in the room so far below had failed!

However, this device was defective and failed to record anything.

Nothing at the time suggested that the device had failed.

There was no way of knowing when the next device might fail.

And so the japanese koto brought her close to him when other devices had failed.

There was no other sound and for a moment he thought the device had failed.

A device designed for one purpose may fail when put to another use.

I know of no reason why my device should have failed.