Electrolytics

Years ago, I had read a book about the Whirlwind computer developed at MIT. In that book was the claim that margining had been invented during that project, the idea being to increase the voltage and make the weak tubes fail so that overall reliability would be improved after they were replaced. I've wondered if that's really true or was the technique in common practice and it just became formallized at that time and entered into historical lore. Of course Whirlwind was also important for other developments like core memory and employing a young grad student by the name of Ken Olson. BTW, I think the book was: Project Whirlwind: History of a Pioneer Computer by Kent C. Redmond, Thomas M. Smith Digital Press, 1980. Definitely a good read, alas, my copy is miles away. Regards, Jim