I like this way of approaching it.
1. Note how spaced out the writing is: ‘tanks’ at the end of the first line, and ‘mfgrs’ at the end of the second. See how much space each of these five letter words uses. Whoever wrote this writes in a relaxed spacing of letters that suggests the mystery word might well include less (not more) letters than first meets the eye.
Agreed.
2. Note the spacing of ‘installed’ at the start of the second line, immediately below the ‘mystery word’. At nine letters, it takes up about the same space as the mystery word. From this, I believe the mystery word is nine letters long.
Your assessment below calls for ten letters. Let's make that assumption.
3. I do not believe the mystery word is two words totaling nine letters as the gaps between the words are consistently prominent and I do not see any gaps in the mystery word to suggest it’s actually two words.
Agreed. We're looking at a single word.
4. Note the ‘tails’ hanging down below the line of the letters ‘g’ and ‘f’ in ‘fuel’ ‘by’ ‘original’ and ‘mfgrs’. The tails are distinct ‘fat’ loops compared to the upper strokes in ‘f’, ‘t’, and ‘d’. I do not see any trace of a ‘fat tail’ in the first work - I don’t think there’s letter with a tail: p, g, y, etc.
Let's make that assumption.
5. Note the letters ‘t’ in ‘tanks’ and ‘installed’. The upper portion of the ‘t’ is a single line (not a loop), and has a distinct ‘cross’ to make the ‘t’. The letter ‘f’ in ‘fuel’ cannot be mistaken for a ‘t’ (fat loop below); it looks like the mystery word has two ‘t’s with two letters between them.
Let's make that assumption.
6. Note the ‘s’ in ‘mfgrs’. It looks similar to the small letter just prior to the second ‘t’. ‘st’
Let's make that assumption.
What I think I’m looking at is a capital letter followed by two small letters then a ‘t’; one more small letter and then ‘st’. The last three are almost nonexistent, but look to me like three small letters and a ‘d’.
That's actually ten letters. Let's assume you are correct.
Based upon the above assumptions, let's see what that gives us.
Our mystery word:
• is a single word
• is 9 letters long
• must NOT include a lower-case g, j, p, y or z
Position 1 - Capital letter
Position 2 - any letter except the excluded ones or t
Position 3 - any letter except the excluded ones or t
Position 4 - t
Position 5 - any letter except the excluded ones or t
Position 6 - s
Position 7 - t
Position 8 - any letter except the excluded ones or t
Position 9 - any letter except the excluded ones or t
Position 10 - d
So -
[Cap] - - t - st - - d