How NIST’s torque tool could help keep air force jets flying
The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds arrive for the Joint Base Andrews Airshow at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George's County, Maryland, on September 10, 2025. Austin DeSisto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
June 1, 2026 06:13 PM ET
With roots in an unlikely Lego experiment from years ago, a new self-calibrating device developed with the Air Force and Snap-on could make torque calibration faster, more precise and easier to sustain.
When I was young, I spent a lot of time building with Lego bricks. My room had an old, decommissioned government desk that my father bought from NIST, and I kept one of the big drawers packed full of pieces from years of Lego sets, mostly space-themed, that I built, dismantled and turned into something else. Over time, I used them to make everything from battleships that actually floated to a city filled with tunnels and bridges for my...
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