One brief example: BNC: Abbr. for British Naval Connector, a widely used bayonet style coaxial cable connector originally designed for the wireless set on the Titanic. To join two sections of cable, a flimsy tin pin in the centre of a thin metal tube on the male end is jammed blindly into a circular socket with a microscopic centre hole on the female end, and then a rotating ring around the male end is tightened until its threads are stripped, bending the pin against the buffer surrounding the centre hole and mashing the metal tube, thus ensuring that no contact whatsoever is made.

A brilliant read.