Jefferson Witnessed Both Demonstrations
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Thomas Jefferson witnessed the two most famous demonstrations of interchangeability in history. One was honest. One was staged. The difference still decides whether your acceptance tests mean anything.
In 1785, in a workshop near Paris, Honoré Blanc assembled nothing for Jefferson. He laid out the parts of fifty musket locks, taken to pieces and arranged in compartments. Jefferson reached in himself, took pieces “at hazard,” put several locks together, and found they fitted perfectly. The witness controlled the draw.
In 1801, in Washington, Eli Whitney demonstrated ten musket locks before President Adams and President-elect Jefferson. It worked brilliantly. Two and a half years into a contract that had yet to deliver its first musket, Whitney earned renewed faith and extensions, each with a fresh cash advance.
The schoolbooks credited him with inventing interchangeable parts. Historians eventually looked closer. Merritt Roe Smith concluded that Whitney “must have staged his famous 1801 demonstration with specimens specially prepared for the occasion.” Surviving Whitney muskets carry engraved fitting marks, the signature of hand-fitted parts, and tested parts proved not even approximately interchangeable. The muskets arrived more than eight years late. Blanc, who actually had the discipline, is the footnote.
Both demonstrations had distinguished witnesses, assembled parts, and applause. The difference was one variable: who picked the sample.
Blanc’s claim was tested on units the witness drew at random. Whitney’s was performed on specimens the claimant prepared.
Modern translation: the golden unit, the demo-ready build, the qualification sample your supplier hand-selected; that is Whitney’s table, not Blanc’s bins: random draw, independent witness, recorded result. The process design is the honesty.
So here is my question: the last time your organization accepted a demonstration, first article, qualification sample, or acceptance test, who picked the units: the party making the claim, or the party relying on it? Let me know what you think.
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Copyrights by the Institute for Process Excellence
This article was originally published on ipxhq.com & mdux.net.