In what is being hailed as a revolutionary breakthrough, technicians at Toledo’s Bester Labs were able to successfully attach plates to a metal ring. Also made of metal, the plates have now rendered plate-less metal rings completely obsolete. This is a major step forward in metal ring technology, an advance unequalled since metal rings were first developed in the early 1930s.

For decades, many in the metal ring industry had considered the addition of plates to be science fiction hokum, a belief which was dispelled in 1998 when metal ring technician Amanda Brock published a mathematical proof that plates would be possible, under certain, difficult to achieve conditions. Though many continued to debate the veracity of Brock’s claims, a few advanced labs began testing to determine if plates could be successfully added to metal rings.

After nine years, and fifteen billion dollars, Bester Labs managed to fulfill the dream of countless generations by adding plates to metal rings for the first time. “This signals the dawn of a new age,” said Assistant Ring Technician Tommy Branson. “With pluck, determination, and a few billion dollars, anything is possible, even plates on metal rings.”

The prototype metal ring with plates, dubbed EVX-17, will be on display at the Toledo Hall of Science until January.