NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS REPORT

8957

REPORT ON LATIN AMERICA TRAVEL

CONCERNING

U. S. IN THE PAN AMERICAN STANDARDS COMMISSION (COPANT)

MEETING IN CARACAS , VENEZUELA

JUNE 7 TO JUNE 26, 1965

Subjects: Standard Definitions — Modular Coordination

Standard Definitions Building Materials

Standard Definitions — Elements of Building

Standard Requirements — Hollow Concrete Blocks

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS
THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

The National Bureau of Standards is a principal focal point in the Federal Government for assuring

maximum application of the physical and engineering sciences to the advancement of technology in industry and commerce. Its responsibilities include development and maintenance of the national standards of measurement, and the provisions of means for making measurements consistent with those

standards; determination of physical constants and properties of materials; development of methods

for testing materials, mechanisms, and structures, and making such tests as may be necessary, particularly for government agencies; cooperation in the establishment of standard practices for incorporation in codes and specifications; advisory service to government agencies on scientific and technical

problems; invention and development of devices to serve special needs of the Government; assistance

to industry, business, and consumers in the development and acceptance of commercial standards and

simplified trade practice recommendations; administration of programs in cooperation with United

States business groups and standards organizations for the development of international standards of

practice; and maintenance of a clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination of scientific, technical, and engineering information. The scope of the Bureau’s activities is suggested in the following

listing of its four Institutes and their organizational units. Institute for Basic Standards. Applied Mathematics. Electricity. Metrology. Mechanics. Heat. Atomic Physics. Physical Chemistry. Laboratory Astrophysics.* Radiation Physics. Radio Standards

Laboratory:* Radio Standards Physics; Radio Standards Engineering. Office of Standard Reference

Data. Institute for Materials Research. Analytical Chemistry. Polymers. Metallurgy. Inorganic Materials. Reactor Radiations. Cryogenics.* Materials Evaluation Laboratory. Office of Standard Refer- ence Materials.

Institute for Applied Technology. Building Research. Information Technology. Performance Test Development. Electronic Instrumentation. Textile and Apparel Technology Center. Technical Analysis.

Office of Weights and Measures. Office of Engineering Standards. Office of Invention and Innovation.

Office of Technical Resources. Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information.**

Central Radio Propagation Laboratory.* Ionospheric Telecommunications. Tropospheric Tele- communications. Space Environment Forecasting. Aeronomy.

* Located at Boulder, Colorado 80301. ** Located at 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22171.
NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS REPORT

NBS PROJECT NBS REPORT

40521X1 August 17, 1965 8957

(421.05)

Report on Latin America Travel

Concerning

U. S. in the Pan American Standards Commission (COPANT)

Meeting in Caracas, Venezuela

Subjects: Standard Definitions

Standard Definitions

Standard Definitions

Standard Requirements

Modular Coordination

Building Materials

Elements of Building

Hollow Concrete Blocks

June 7 to June 26, 1965

By

Charles T„ Mahaffey

Codes and Standards Section

Building Research Division

IMPORTANT NOTICE NATIONAL BUREAU OF S'

for use within the Government, and review. For this reason, tl whole or in part, is not authi Bureau of Standards, Washing

the Report has been specificall

Approved for public release by the

Director of the National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST)

on October 9, 2015.

-ess accounting documents intended

s subjected to additional evaluation

e listing of this Report, either in he Office of the Director, National

y the Government agency for which

copies for its own use.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

My trip to Caracas, Venezuela had three objectives:

(1) To bring to fruition the efforts expended during the two week

Seminar in Bogota, Colombia (4/26/65 to 5/7/65) on the subject

of Modular Coordination for Construction.

(2) To repr esent the Unite d States (being so named by the Amer ican

Standards Association) at the meeting of the Commission for

Materials for Construction and Modular Coordination of the

Comite Panamericano de Normas Technicas-- COPANT.

(3) To further an understanding of construction standards problems

in the Pan American countries in order that NBS, ASA and other

standards organizations in the United States might efficiently

channel their efforts in the field of Pan American standards.

Part IDuring my involvement with the ICONTEC (Instituto Colombiano de

Normas Technicas) committee attempting to develop Colombian standards

for Modular Coordination, two needed courses of action became apparent.

(a) A module common to all of the Latin American countries needed

to be established and officially recognized.

(b) Basic terminology used in Modular Coordination needed to be

defined and agreed upon by all of the Pan American countries.

It was felt that these two objectives were of primary importance in

order that the Colombian committee on Modular Coordination could start

developing a useful Colombian standard. I can report that both of these

objectives were achieved during the meeting in Caracas to the complete

satisfaction of the Colombian delegation and the many other countries

involved

.

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The Colombian delegates, Arturo Londono and Jose Patino came to

the meeting well prepared, took a leading role in the discussions and

were extremely pleased with the final results. It is interesting to

note that this was the first time that Colombia has participated in such

meetings. This fact and their knowledgeable contributions, bears out

the high regard for and value of the recent NBS conducted standards

seminar in Bogota.

As further proof of the intense interest by Colombia in the subjects

discussed during the seminar in Bogota, Senor Londono presented me with

a completed draft of a proposed national building code for Colombia.

One of the subjects I dwelt upon during the seminar was building codes.

A Dr. Osuna, head of the ICONTEC committee on building codes, took an

active interest in the code portions of the seminar. Since this seminar

was held only six weeks prior to the Caracas meeting, Dr. Osuna’ s production of this code in such a short period of time is an outstanding

achievement

.

Part II

The meeting got off to an unexpected start. If one could call it

a ’’start.'’ I arrived at the magnificent 30 story towers that make up

Centro Simon Bolivar at 9:00 a.m. on June 7th, as per schedule, to find

that the meeting had been hastily postponed for one week. After being

assured that:

(a) The Colombian delegates definitely planned to attend at the

new date

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(b) The new date, June 14th, was firm.

(c) OEA (Organization Estados Americano) (OAS) would pay for my

22 day stay instead of 14.

I cabled Washington (c/o Dr. Bruce Foster) from the U. S. Embassy in

Caracas, advising him that my best judgement was to stay over, pending

NBS approval.

The extra week proved to be most enlightening. The director of

the COPANT project on Modular Coordination, Dr. Juan Cabrerizo (who also

was a week early) and I had an opportunity to discuss Pan American standards problems at great length. We spent the entire week together, being

joined occasionally by other standards people of Venezuela. I had

the opportunity of meeting Dr. Pi Sunyer, Director of COVENIN (Comision

Venezolana de Normas Industr iales) , Senor Luis Hurtado, chief engineer

of the Ministry of Public Works and Director of the Seminar, and Dr.

Rafael Salas, president of the commission on Modular Coordination. All

of these men spoke English quite well and we were able to exchange personal ideas regarding Pan American standards problems. Out of these

meetings, two points were made clear, regarding the nature of the most

valuable form of assistance that United States standards organizations

can provide. Not only do the Latin Americans need technical assistance

in the form of clarifying explanations of existing U. S. standards, but

they need assistance in selling the concept and usefulness of standards

within their respective countries. Dr. Cabrerizo was most explicit on

these two points but hesitated to state which one was of greater importance.

A third point, regarding the dissemination of technical information

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pertaining to construction, was brought out later on during the Seminar io.

This latter development will be discussed at greater length in Part III

of this report.

The Seminar io did get started on June 14th. All of the member

nations of COPANT were in attendance except Mexico. The Seminar io was

divided into two parts; one section on Definitions used in Modular Coordination and included the development of a COPANT standard on hollow

concrete blocks, the other section was charged with the development of

definitions of terms used in construction. I stayed with the Modular

Coordination group for the whole two weeks except during the Plenary

sessions, when all of the members reviewed the work of both sections.

I punctually attended every meeting. They were typical of any

interesting standards meeting, except that they often ran well past midnight . Although I made a creditable contribution to the work of the group,

my inability to speak Spanish prevented me from contributing fully.

Dr. Pi Sunyer of COVENIN kindly arranged for an interpreter, who unfortunately knew nothing of construction let alone Modular Coordination, and

could not effectively translate simultaneously. He (Mr. Federico Brecht)

provided me with translations of the minutes of each meeting and will

mail to me translations of the final acts of the committees. Although

it is difficult to find ideal combinations of technical and bi -lingual

abilities, such a requirement is essential for really effective participation

in Latin American standards meetings.

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Ten centimeters was established as the basic COPANT module. This

was almost a foregone conclusion although a short lived attempt was made to set the module at one centimeter. Ten centimeters agrees in

principle with the American Standard module of 4", being 3.937 inches,

but there was little chance of getting 4" adopted in view of the widespread use of the metric system in all of the Latin American countries.

A great number of definitions used in modular coordination were

also thoroughly argued over, but the arguments always produced unanimous

agreements

.

The final document approved by the COPANT Modular Coordination

Committee agrees in principle with portions of the current American

Standard A62. This standard, bearing a 1946 date, was probably one of

the original documents in the world on this subject. It was reaffirmed

in 1957, but the Canadians, the British, the Danes, the French, and

others have greatly extended and refined this concept that had its

technical inception in the United States. In view of the worldwide

interest in the use of modular principles it is now obvious that a

series of international standards will soon be needed. However, this

COPANT action, in clarifying the size of the basic module and in providing reasonable definitions, should provide all the Latin American

countries with the essential basic tool needed to foster the industrial!

zation of building that is so badly needed in everyone of the countries.

Part III

The delegate from Columbia, Arturo Londono, proposed to the Modular

Coordination Committee that a formal recommendation, regarding the neces

sity of establishing a Pan American construction information center in

Latin America, be sent to COPANT. His proposal was received with great

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interest and he was asked to prepare a formal statement of the objectives

of his proposed center.

From the reasoning behind Dr. Londono's proposal and the private

talks I had with some of the delegates, it is apparent that construction

problems are felt to be of vital importance in all Latin American countries

at this time. Many governments are using construction programs as a

means of stimulating their economies, counting on this action to give

impetus to their general industrial growth. Housing in particular is

chosen as their primary concern at this time because;

1. It fills a basic need of their rapidly expanding population.

2. It provides employment for a great number of all classes of

workers

.

3. It stimulates all other industries.

4. The efforts expended in housing, quickly produce visible results.

I sensed an air of urgency among the delegates concerning item 4 above,

as if they felt that the time left for visible action was growing short

in some of the countries. Chile hopes to have ready next year a six year

housing program aimed at producing 360,000 living units. Colombia currently has many housing projects under way in various parts of the

country. Venezuela hopes to soon be producing 60,000 units a year and

intends to raise it further to around 100,000. One factory I visited in

Caracas now has an order for 700 prefabricated rural school buildings.

Similar programs are envisioned for the other countries.

To meet the enormity of this challenge, they need ready access to

the world of construction standards and published informat iLon on the

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various disciplines pertaining to good building practices. By "access”

they mean something a lot more than neat rows of "please do not take--

this is our only copy" books of out of date standards , in some embassy

library. They mean ready access to the latest standards, where they

are used and when they are needed.

All of the delegates know the value of standards to their countries

industrial growth, but they know they are of lasting value only when

they are used . To be used, standards must be readily available. Too

many times the delegates have witnessed short lived pump priming housing

programs take place. A great building flurry happens but when the priming

is stopped the economy falls back to its old level, because no sustaining base of national construction standards were formulated. It is hoped

that the Pan American information collection and dissemination center

proposed will stimulate the establishment of standards prior to, during

and after the housing programs get underway so that the impetus gathered

can be sustained in tangible industrial growth.

The proposal was presented and explained to the delegation in the

final plenary session. It was enthusiastically received and won instant

unanimous approval. The welcome it received bears out the desire of the

Latin Americans to fend for themselves. While they appreciate the help

we have given them in the form of seminars and related technical assistance, they know this help cannot go on forever. They also know that it

is insufficient for their needs since it cannot reach and remain with

enough people. They feel that the information center can be fashioned

to fulfill these requirements.

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They hope for our active participation in establishing this new

information center. The National Bureau of Standards is specifically

mentioned in their proposal as one of the world's great organizations

they hope to be able to plug into. I recommend that careful scrutiny

be given this proposal, particularly during the coming inception period.

It may be nothing more than an idyllic dream, but again it may be one

of the most useful collaboration tools we could find. In view of the

seemingly avid Latin American interest in Bouwcentrum, which is devoted

to disseminating all kinds of information pertaining to construction,

this proposed center might just receive the type of support needed to

make it a reality.

Dr. Londono of Colombia was named by the delegation to prepare

specific operational proposals. He hopes to have a committee meeting

(perhaps in Bogota) on this subject sometime in September 1965. In

view of Dr. Londono 1 s great respect and admiration for the Bureau of

Standards, we could use the intervening time to great advantage in helping him prepare a program that would mesh with our established collection

and retrieval systems.

It is hard for us to fully comprehend the standards and construction

information situation in Latin America. By comparison we are literally

drowning in standards, so much so that we have to construct an ASA to

sort out the national standards. The same condition exists here regarding technical information in that we have so much that we have to invent

ways and means of retrieving it out of our voluminous files. Our

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counterparts in Latin America are trying to devise a means of getting

at this information. It does seem possible that the mechanism involved

could be made common to both of our needs.

The establishment of a Pan American information center in Latin

America could someday mean more to us than just good will, good business

or good politics, in that it could lead to a two-way flow of information

that would enrich everyone's storehouse of knowledge.

Following is a list of the delegates attending this two-week seminar.

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DELEGATES

Field Director OEA (OAS) Juan V. Cabrerizo

Seminary Director L. E. Hurtado Velez

Argentina (IRAK) Lucia Alicia Raffo de Mascaro

Alfredo M. Sarmiento

Brasil (ABNT) Edgard de Oliveiro Fonceca

Central America (ICAITI) Rene Gonzalez Carrera

Chile (CORVI) Ernesto Gomez G.

Gustavo Urrutia Melendez

Colombia (ICONTEC) Arturo Lendono Dominguez

Jose Manuel Patino Sanchez

United States (ASA) Charles Mahaffey

Peru (INANTIC) Alberto Jimeno Blasco

Jorge Schoster Mejido

Uruguay (UNIT) Oscar Diaz Arnesto

Venezuela (COVENIN) Jose Grases

Henrique Hernandez

Carlos Jara Calderon

Ruben Manzur Pacheco

Domingo Mederos Herrera

Jose de Jesus Mijares

Jose Puig

Carlos Ramos

Miguel Salvador D.

Rafael Salas Jimenez

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