Corollaries to Murphy's Law

[ChazzC]

While adding a water filter to my Heat Pump's Humidifier I developed several additions to Murphy's Law (https://www.thoughtco.com/murphys-laws-explain-unfathomable-truths-2832861), related to the handling of small parts:

1) If (when?) a part is dropped, it will bounce/roll further than seems physically possible.

2) If dropped inside, the part will travel until it is under an immovable object; if outside, the part will end up in a deep, narrow hole or in tall grass.

3) The part will be precisely 1/2" ± 1/8" further away than can be reached, regardless of the tools at hand.

 

[RJSakowski]

While adding a water filter to my Heat Pump's Humidifier I developed several additions to Murphy's Law (https://www.thoughtco.com/murphys-laws-explain-unfathomable-truths-2832861), related to the handling of small parts:

1) If (when?) a part is dropped, it will bounce/roll further than seems physically possible.

2) If dropped inside, the part will travel until it is under an immovable object; if outside, the part will end up in a deep, narrow hole or in tall grass.

3) The part will be precisely 1/2" ± 1/8" further away than can be reached, regardless of the tools at hand.

Add to this;
4. If a part that is dropped has multiple directions in which to bounce, it will bounce in the direction where it is least easy to detect its presence.

 

[gjmontll]

I have previously read and never forgotten another one for your list... "Interchangeable parts aren't."

 

[mmcmdl]

I had one today . The bearing on the zero turn deck locks up on the day you need to cut 3 yards and leave for vacation .

 

[silence dogood]

I have previously read and never forgotten another one for your list... "Interchangeable parts aren't."

Eli Whitney, the cotton gin guy. had the dubious distinction of coming up with interchanging parts. Even though he never made muskets, Whitney was able to get a government contract by showing the officials that the parts were interchangeable. This was at the time when many products were initially made by hand with a lot less accuracy. What he did not tell them was that earlier Whitney secretly tried each part until there were some that were basically interchangeable. He lost big with his cotton gin but made up for it with his muskets. Hmm. Sound familiar.

 

[higgite]

Universal parts and accessories are always in the wrong universe.

Tom

 

[rabler]

Not a corollary, but fairly standard phrase thrown around between my wife and I; "Let's not tempt Murphy."

 

[brino]

The tool that was in your hand last will never be in the place you remember putting it.

Brian

 

[francist]

2) If dropped inside, the part will travel until it is under an immovable object; if outside, the part will end up in a deep, narrow hole or in tall grass.

Haha, so true!

When I was disassembling my Bernina 730 the other week I made a rather curious discovery. Stuck to the edge of a very degraded foam drip liner right down at the bottom of the main pillar where you’d never go unless you were tearing the machine right down was a small pin. Roughly half-inch long maybe (13mm, remember, Swiss machine) and maybe a couple millimetres in diameter with nicely squared ends. I remember thinking “..weird, I don’t see a pin like this anywhere else on this machine and I’m also not seeing a part that needs one…” but I stuck it in a bag anyway. It could be anything, really.

Well today I’m putting the final touches on the reassembly and am just about to reattach the stay for the top lid. It’s a tricky thing — there’s this slidey bit that you have to hold up with one finger when you hold the clamp open with another finger as you try to wheedle the alignment just right so that you can slide in this hokey little roll pin and then tighten the clamp. All in the space of about a matchbook. I was just about to make the first stab when I caught myself and draped some rags over the open machine arm. I mean, if I were to drop this stupid little roll pin it would drop past all these gears and right down the main pillar….THE PIN!!

Yup, sure enough that pin was the real pin the the last Tech had dropped down the top of the machine right at the end of his assembly and no way was he going to get it out. Put a roll pin in instead, who’s going to know…?

 

[wachuko]

The tool that was in your hand last will never be in the place you remember putting it.

Brian

I hate it when the “Time People” forget to put stuff back….