[Keith Seymore]

Another story that comes to mind is about a certain die that kept having breakdowns (again, back in the late 50s/early 60s).

Most of the "details" on a die (ie, the small parts that are attached to the main body) are attached using a hardened "cap screw" type bolt. The intent is to keep the bolt from breaking, but in this case the bolt kept pulling the threads out of the die. The die makers would have to go out there, drill the hole out larger, tap the larger hole and then install the next upsized bolt. Naturally, after a while, it wasn't practical to go any bigger and you would have to build a new tool and start the process over. That can get pretty expensive.

One night Dad was working and his supervisor came over and said "Van, there's someone here I'd like for you to meet. He has a new product I want you to try out". So dad took the guy back to one of the broken tools. This salesman had a little "kit" with him and he opened it up. There was a drill, and a tap, and some kind of funny little thread things.

Dad says "...what are those?".

The salesman said "These are called 'Heli-coils'.."

Dad was like "why didn't I think of that..."