¶ Tolerance Sequence
Index Entry
Tolerance Sequence:
“We’ve discovered that while you can’t be exact, you can progressively reduce error, and that’s exactly what mechanica and technology are doing. As we went, for instance, from building a man’s house, where an eighth of an inch is a close enough tolerance to make the house stand up, to a hundredth or a thousandth of an inch automobile tolerances; and you couldn’t fly unless you held the tolerances finer–to ten thousandths of an inch. Then in rocketry we’re getting into millionths of an inch, which is all that we’ll allow for error. The space program has a fantastic record so far of not having lost a single man in space-- coming out of the extraordinary reduction of tolerance of error. I find that what we will tolerate in the way of error is very important in the hierarchy of events.”
¶ Citations
- RBF to World Game at NY Studio school, 12 Jun-31 Jul’69, Saturn Film Tape #327, p.1.
