= he

later on a low priority basis and in September correction sheets covering
the errors were sent to all recipients of the report, It should be noted
that the errors were all trivial in nature and in no way modified the
conclusions of the report,

We had fully hoped that this report would dispel all doubt as to
whether battery additives of sodium and magnesium sulfates were
beneficial to the operation of lead-acid storage batteries, This how-
ever, proved to be a false hope since the Proponents of AD-X2 began
looking for minor flaws in the report and the testing procedure, ignor-
ing the major conclusions of the report,

As a result of the dissatisfaction on the part of the proponents of
Battery AD-X2, Mr, O'Connor asked me later in the summer if we would be
willing to run still another test. I informed him that we would attempt
to run one under two conditions, first that it be designed to establish
Some pertinent factor not included in the tests run the preceding June,
and second, that Mr,- Ritchie would furnish for the tests batteries which
would not take a charge, Also during this period we had frequently
pointed out that if the claims made for the Battery AD-2 were true, then
it certainly should be possible to relate these claims to some pertinent
phenomena which could be consistently measured and reproduced in the
laboratory,

September 1952 Heeting

As a result of these discussions with Mr, O'Connor a meeting was set
up at the Bureau late in September to discuss possible future tests and
also to hear reports from Dr, Harold Weber of the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology on an effect he had found due to the introduction of Battery
AD-X2 in a storage battery, No definite conclusions were reached at this
meeting about subsequent future tests, although the possibilities of carry-
ing out additional tests both at the Bureau and at MIT were discussed,

It was, however, generally agreed that the possibilities for addition~

“ay, tests would be further pursued and also that Dr, Weber woud furnish
the Bureau a copy of his test results and of the experimental procedure
by which they were obtained, Following receipt of this information the
Bureau's statisticians were to give Dr, Weber an estimate of the number
of samples necessary to establish definitely the existence or non-exist-
ence of the effect reported by him, It should be noted that the effect
reported by Dr, Weber was not observed under normal operating conditions
but only when the normal electrolyte in the battery was dumped and
replaced with a very dilute solution of sulphuric acid, Specific in-
formation as to Dr, teber's testing procedure and result was not re-
ceived by the Bureau until the MIT reports was released by the Senate
in December 1952,

At the September meeting there was some discussion about Bureau
participation in MIT tests if such tests took place, but no definite de-
cisions were reached, ‘hen the Bureau was informed that MIT was planning
to make tests and invited to have observers present, it was concluded after
Some serious deliberation that it would be better if the Bureau did not
participate in these tests, A major factor influencing this decision was
Mr, Ritchie's attitude toward the Bureau and Bureau personnel, fle stated



- bo

have a more thorough and up-to-date statement on the subject of battery
additives, Requests for the revision for the circular began in June
1948, apparently largely as a result of representations made to the
Nationel Better Business Bureau by Pioneers, Inc., that AD-X2 should

be exempted from any general statements made about battery additives.
Correspondence and discussions as to what the new circular should con-
tain continued for many mouths and interim statewents were prepared for
the National Better Business Bureau in March of 1949, and April and July
of 1950. ‘The first of these made no reference to specific brand name
products but the latter two made specific reference to AD-X2. ‘This
deviation from the usual practice was at the request of the National
Better Business Bureau in order to reply to statements made by the pro-
ponents of AD~X2 that the generalization made in prior bulletins did not
apply to that product and that it had not been tested by the Bureau, :

Here it is interesting to quote from a letter from the Oakland
Chamber of Commerce to the National Better Business Bureau, a copy of
which letter was sent to NBS by the Chamber: "We realize that for the
protection of the public your panphlet, ‘Battery Compounds and Solutions,'t
has a definite place and were it not for the pamphlet there would be more
evidence of the existence of the 'battery dope racket, $ However,
Pionears, Inc., should, in our opinion, be definitely excepted as regards
such publication. With all due respect to the National Bureau of
Standards whom you quote in your pamphlet, we fee] that they have not poss
been exactly cooperative regarding the product SAD-X2' manufactured by
Pioneers, Inc."

This quotation is interesting in two respects. First, as to the
claim that there is a battery dope racket and that technical information
such as was supplied by the National Bureau of Standards to the National
Better Business Bureau serves a useful purpose. Second is the reference
that the National Bureau of Standards has been uncooperative. There have
been many similar statements from other proponents of Battery AD-X2 re-
garding not only lack of cooperation but even unfairness on the part of
the Bureau. I would like briefly to examine this phase of the problem.

Why AD-X2 was Tested

First, every action which the Bureau has taken with respect to the
testing of AD-X2 and the dissemination of information with respect ‘
thereto has been brought about as a direct consequence of the represen-
tations and pressures of the proponents of AD-X2. The Bureau became
aware of the existence of the product first by approaches made by the
manufacturer, and initially declined to make any tests on it because
there was no reasonable evidence that the product was, in fact, dif-
ferent from any of the other numerous additives the Bureau had previously }
tested, and also because the Bureau does not evaluate proprietary pro- (
ducts for individual manufecturers. :


-6-

to the general public, and are not available elsewhere, including deaon-
stration of the results of the Bureau's work by exhibits or otherwise
as may be deemed most effective," :

Publication Priorities

Since the act specifically refers to a consideration of the impor-
tance of the data to scientific or manufacturing interests, serious effort
is made in establishing priorities in the Bureau's publications program,
to making determinations of such interests, In fact, many of the Bureau's
publications are initiated as a result of requests from professional
groups or associabtiors of manufacturers, In all cases, however, there is
a careful attempt made to insure that the publication will be of broad
general interest and that it will be completely impartial in the presen-
tation of data, The latter requirement can be largely met by confining
the reports to straight-forward presentations of scientific and technical
data on the properties of the materials and devices investigated,

A laboratory study on the properties of aluminum under a particular
set of environmental conditions might disclose characteristics for alumi-
num superior to those of steel under the same set of environmental condi-
tions, The publication of such data would not be considered as prejudicial
to those interested in promoting the use of steel, rather the withholding
of such data would be considered prejudicial to the interests of the’
general public and those interested in promoting the use of aluminum,

In science and technolofy a specific, reproducible observation is a fact
that knows no favorites,

Hearing Aid Report

An interesting example of the way the Bureau fits its publications
program to the interests of the general public is given by a report put
out sometime ago on hearing aids, The initiation of this report was due
largely to requests received from medical groups and groups interested in
the rehabilitation of the hard of hearing, There was also some interest
in the publication on the part of the hearing aid industry, /fter the
report was distributed some individuals in the hearing aid industry
objected to the report on the grounds that it was prejudicial to their
particular interests, Consequently 2 extensive survey was made of the
entire hearing aid industry as to their interest in the report and its
gmeral usefulness to the public, Also included in this new survey were
the groups initially responsible for initiating the request for the
report, As a result of this survey a number of important suggestions
were obtained for a revision of the report, Consequently the first
report was withdraw and a revised one isstel which incorporated a
broad concensus of interests and‘usefulnessy

Testing Techniques

I would next like to discuss briefly some aspects of the Bureau's
testing program, particularly in relation to the development of accurate


= 22 =

emphatically at the September meeting that he would believe no results
which were not favorable to his product and that he did not believe Bureau
Personnel could be depended on to give a fair test, Injour desire to
bring this controversy to a satisfdctory'close, we concluded that it
would be better if MIT carried out its tests completely independently,

Following receipt of a report of the MIT tests a new series of tests
was started in the Bureau in an effort to detemine the reproducibility
of the MIT test results and their applicability to normal storage battery
operation, The major results of these subsequent Bureau investigations
‘were incorporated in a report made to the House Interstate and Foreign “a
Commerce Committee on February 10, 1953, This latter committee has legis-
lative jurisdiction over the functions of the National Bureau of Standards
in connection with a review the committee made of the Bureau's functions
in February, this report was requested by the Chairman of the Gommittee,

A major conclusion of the Bureau's investigations with respect to the
effect reported by MIT is that the effect is observable in the batteries
only with electrolyte of extremely dilute acid concentration, so dilute
in fact that it appears to be of no significance whatever in normal
storage battery operation,

Subsequent to the preparation of the report for the House Committee,
Bureau scientists sought to find more information as to the basic
mechanism of the effect reported by MIT, These subsequent investigations
have shown very definitely that at extreme acid dilutions, as well as
at normal acid concentrations, the addition of sodium and magnesium
sulfate mixtures inhibits the charging process by a smal] but definitely
measurable amount, Thus it now appears that these mixtures inhibit
rather than assist the reduction of sulfation in lead-acid storage
batteries, although in normal operation the effect is so small as
generally to be non-observable. The effect reported by MIT is one of
enhancing the discharge of the battery at extremely dilute acid concen-
trations, Thus, under these unusual conditions the additive inhibits
the charging process but so facilitates the discharging process that
there appears to be a gain, This apparent gain, however, is a delusion
because it is encountered only in the part of the discharge process
where there is insignificant useful energy left in the battery,

These later results of the Bureau together with its prior tests on
AD-<2 have been summarized in a detailed report which will be made
available to the Committee set up by the National Academy of Sciences,
The report could also be made available for the record of this conmittee
if the chairman so desires,

Tests by Other Laboratories

The Bureau's experience with battery additives is not unique, since
other laboratories both within and without the Government have also
investigated them and for the most part as far as we have been able to



~19-

Manufacturer Approved Batteries

4n essential feature of this test which was carried out in June 1952
was that the batteries which were used for the test were to be disassembled
and inspected by Mr, Ritchie or his representative and returned to the Bureau
as suitable for complying with the objectives of the test, This was done by
Mr, Ritchie and Mr, F, A, Harrellin the latter's battery shop in Arlington,
Va, Mr, Ritchie did say that these batteries were ndét as badly sulfated as
he had hoped, but that he did believe’ them suitable for the test, Most
certainly the test would not have been conducted if he had not given such
assurance,

Incidentally, the batteries were obtained from another government
agency as non-usable batteries and the representatives of this agency told
representatives of the Bureau that they had made prior unsuccessful attempts
to charge the batteries, There was definite evidence when the batteries
were disassembled and inspected that prior attempts had been made to charge
them, This was concurred in both by the Bureau's representative aad lir,
Ritchie. 11 of these batteries took a good charge and there was definitely
no superiority in the performance of the treated over the untreated batteries,

Here I believe that it is important to point out that had we put AD-X2
in all of the batteries rather than in just half of them, we would have
duplicated the experience reported by most of the proponents of AD-X2, Here
was a group of batteries which a prior owner had claimed would not take a
charge, AD-X2 was put into one-half of them and they took a charge, However,
nothing was put in the remaining half and they also took a charge and per-
formed just as effectively as the treated batteries,

Li Devia

Some minor deviations were made in the testing procedure in the
interests of expediting the test and insuring uniformity in the handling of
the treated and untreated batteries, Most of these deviations involved
technical considerations, but which could not conceivably make any difference
in the outcome of the tests. In any case this is a point which the National
Academy committee is qualified to settle very promptly,

In the test there were two groups of treated and untreated batteries,
In accordance with Ilr, Ritchie's specification one group was to be
examined visually and manually for the physical condit ion and appearance
of the battery plates. after the charging process was completed, The other
group was to be tested for electrical capacity,

n . i t a

For the group which was to be subjected to visual inspection, Mr.
Ritchie claimed, for the treated batteries, "The paste will be found to be
soft and porous and the active material in both the positive and the negative
plates will be found to be in firm contact with the grids, . There will be
little peroxidization of the grids in the positive plates. There will be no
warping or buckling of the plates and little shedding, ‘fhe overall appearance
of these batteries will indicate many months of useful service,”

Aeneangii


-ll-

applications, An example in the latter category is the. development of
a special reserve type battery for use in radiosondes, ‘the devices
with which information on weather phenomena in the upper atmosphere

is obtained reliably, quickly and efficiently, In the reserve battery
for the radiosondes it was necessary to obtain a battery very light in
weight, of extremely long shelf life, and capable of operating at the
very low temperatures of the upver atmosphere,

Other work in the development of batteries has involved appli-
cations to a number of specialized military requirements such as use ‘
in aircraft, in guided missiles, in submarines and in proximity fuzes,
Thus, our staff is constantly alert and experienced in the development
of new and better batteries,

Battery Evaluation Techniques

Closely related to our work on the development of batteries is our
work on devising improved instruments and techniques for the evaluation
of batteries, Nany of the batteries purchased by other government agencies
for their particular needs are ordered to conform to specifications de-
signed to meet the particular requirements of the using agency and to
insure that the government obtains the highest quality at the lowest
cost, In order to determine conformmce of batteries with specifications,
it is naturally necessary to have well established techniques for test-
ing and evaluating battery performarce, In these activities the other
government agencies have drawn extensively on the staff and facilities
of the National Bureau of Standards for assistance,

Battery Additives

The Bureau's work with battery additives, materials intended to
improve the performance of lead-acid type storage batteries, goes back
to the early 1920's, A technical pa@er summarizing the results of
these early investigations was published in the transactions of the
American Institute af Electrical Engineers in 1925, Around this same
period the Federal Trade Commission made its first request to the
Bureau for the evaluation of an additive to determine if it conformed
with the advertising claims made by its manufacturer. Also in 1925
the Bureau issued in its Technical News Bulletin a brief statement
discussing the effect or absence of effect of battery additives on the
performance of lead-acid storage batteries,

During the next six years a number of other additives were
examined for such agencies as the Federal’ Trade Commission, the Post
Office Department and the Navy Department,



-~ 6.

of measurement and testing techuiques requires collaboration between the
members of groups working on similer and related problems, For this
reason the Bureau consults and cooperates with a wide range of industry
and university scientists axl engineers on a variety of technical prob-
lens of mutual interest, In the battery field we work closely with
various experts in the battery industry, both ‘in the developmmt of new
principles and techniques for new and improved types of batteries and in
the development of more reliable evaluation techniques,

Statistics and Testing

Another example of the interest ard effart the Bureau devotes to
the development of advanced and reliable testing procedures is show
by the formation a few years ago of a Statistical Engineering Laboratory
which gives substantial attention to the improvement of the techniques
of experimentation, ‘The statistical quality control procedures which
have been so widely adopted by industry during the last decade are but
a small part of the new statistical tools now proving invaluable in
experimental work, whether this work is concerned with scientific research,
engineering, development, testing or operations analysis. These new tools
are especially concerned with the achievement of objectivity in experi-
mentation, in testing, and in the setting of more exacting standards for
drawing scientific conclusions,

The Bureau has taken leadership in applying modern statistical
experimental design to large scale laboratory operations’ and has assembled
an outstanding staff that has won a worldwide reoutation, As a conse-
quence this staff has been deluged with requests fa lectures and many
of the country's leading universities and other laboratories periodically
borrow members of this staff, In fact, very frequently when difficult,
expensive or crucial experimaits are involved there is a strong likeli-
hood that a visit will’ be made to the NBS statisticians. The Hoover
Commission made particular reference to the outstanding work of this group,

As a technical. laboratory, the National Bureau of Standards is
concerned with the development of scientific and technical information
and the analysis and interpretation of such information, As explained
before, the information shovld be in a form that can be expressed in
mumbers with the conditions under which the information was obtained
clearly ard specifically defined, Since scientific analysis and con-
clusions must be based on well-defined observational techniques and pro-
cedures, it is not possible to give consideration to observations of a
general qualitative nature and under’ environmental. conditions. which are
poorly defined or not defined at all,

Probil.em_of Comparative Measurement

Very often in scientific or engineering work one is concerned with
the effect of some modification in the treatment or handling process on
the behavior characteristics of the material or device under investigation,
This involves comparative measurements and whenever comparative measure-
ments are important, it is essential that there be a standard or base to
which the measurements can be referred, Since we are concerned with the
battery additive matter it will probably be best to take this as the example,

seggimedita;


-T-

and reliable testing techniques and procedures, Here it is necessary
to stress the importance of measurement in the progress of science and
technology, The advancement of science and technology depends to a
very appreciable extent on observations of materials end devices under
various environmental conditions, In.order for these observations to
be useful in furthering the progress of science, it is essential that
they be reduced to numbers so that comparisons can be made between the’
behavior of materials under different sets of environmental conditions,

Furthermore, it is important that these measurements be expressed
in numbérs which have the same meaning in different laboratories, This,
in turn, means that we have to have units and standards for measuring,
Providing the latter, of course, is a primary and unique function of
the National Bureau of Standards,

Thus, the Bureau, because of its basic function, is very inti-
mately concerned with the measurement problem, The organization, there-
fore, gives substantial effort and emphasis to the development of
accurate and reliable measurement techniques, Appreciable attention
is also given to the developmentfo? instruments and equipment by’ which
measurements can be inade under various environmental conditions,

Pr

em of

asurenent

Because of the importance of instruments and measurement to all
fields of science, most of the major professional societies have stend-
ing committees assigned to instrument and measurenerty7problems, One
very important group is the American Society for Testing Materials,
This national society is’ an affiliation of leading nrofessional organi-
zations, end individuals, mamfacturers and consumer groups with interest
in the testing problan, The concern of the society is to develop
uniform testing procedures so that when measuremmts on a particular
material and device are made in one laboratory, these measurements will
have a definite and reproducible meaning to an engineer in mother
Laboratory,

The exbent of the Bureau's interest in the important work of
the American Society for Testing Materials is shown by the fact that a
total of over 00 positions on ASTM committees are held by Bureaw personnel,
Of these, 13 represent chairmanships of main committees dealing with
such diverse subjects as mametic properties, cenents, gypsum, asbestos
products, porcelain enamel, electrical insulation, spectroscopy, textiles,
wax polishes, plastics, adhesives and analysis of metals, In addition,
43 other staff members are chairmen of working sub-comittees or special
task groups.

Interchange of Information

Closely related to this exemple is the widely recognized fact that
progress in science and technology is greatly dependent on the free
interchange of information between specialists, Thus effective improvement



- 20-
1

Manufacturer's Claims for Untreated Batteries

He claimed that for the untreated batteries: "It will be noted that
the positive grids are largely, if not entirely peroxided out in the
positive plates and that the plates will disintegrate under pressure and
twisting, The active material in the negative plates will be found to be
pried loose from the grid which will cause it to be chunky and sandy,

(fhe plates may or may not be warped.) Shedding of the active material
from the plates will be considerably heavier than in the treated batteries,
The condition of these batteries, if they were truly sulphated at the be-
ginning, will show that they have little, if any, life expectancy, or they
may be inert,"

Nanufacturer Participation Rating

The attempt to verify these claims was made by a group of judges in-
cluding liv, Kitechie and an assistant of his, None of the judges kney which
plates came from treated and which from untreated batteries; they were asked
merely to compare the plates and to rate them, None of the judges, in-
cluding Mr, Ritchie and his assistant, was able to tell any consistent
difference between the treated and untreated batteries,

Analysis of Electrical Properties

Also in the group tested for electrical capacity there was no consistent
or significant superiority of the treated over the untreated batteries, It
is important to emphasize that in this series of tests the personnel conduct-
ing the tests did not know which batteries were treated and which untreated,
This procedure provided a very effective means of insuring complete objectiv-
ity in running the test because if, by any remote chance, bias happened to
be present on the part of an observer he would not know where to place his
bias, Criteria for the modern design of experiments strongly recommend
such a procedure whenever possible,

After all the observations were taken both on the group of batteries
for electrical tests and the group for visual inspection of the plates, the
information was turned over to the Bureau's Statistical Engineering group,
previously mentioned, These analysts were first directed, also without
Knowledge as to which batteries were treated, to look for evidence of two
groups of batteries with distinct performance characteristics, Had the
additive produced a real effect on battery performance, this would have
been possible, When no pattern of this sort developed, the anlysts were
next provided with the information as to which batteries were in each of
two groups, but not told which group was treated, After analysis showed
ho significatnt difference between the two groups they were told which
group had been treated and they proceeded with the preparation of the report, .

Report o Ss

A report on the results of these tests was submitted to the Small
Business Committees of the House and Senate, and to other members of the
Congress who had been interested in the matter, Mr, O'Connor of your Com-
mittee had requested that we make every effort to expedite the report and
as a result it was distributed before a sufficiently thorough check had
been made for transcription and typographical errors, These were checked



-~10-

Laboratory and Field Considerations

If one is able to discover in controlled laboratory experiments
of the sort just discussed, aw effect which offers improvenent in
battery performance, it would next be necessary to extend the tests
to be sure the effect or improvement still persists under the wore
rigorous conditions of actual use, This would probably involve what
have been comronly referred to as field tests, There has been some
criticism of the Bureau's work on battery additives because we have
not as of the present time resorted to field tests,

The Bureau has, however, had extensive experierce in field test-
ing procedures and in the development and evaluation of field testing
procedures for a variety of purposes. One of the most important of these
is in the ordnance wrk which the Bureau has done for many years for the
Department of Defense. In the development of a new ordnance device the
field test is the final stage of evaluation and approval,

The field test, however, is not resorted to until some improve~ eiaRaR
ment or effect is developed in the laboratory which would then make the
field tests worthwhile, The field test usually differs from the labora ——
tory test in that the environmental or exposure conditions are either more
severe thm can be provided in the latoratory or more realistic than cm
be duplicated,

The Bureau has not resorted to field tests with battery additives
because it has not been possible to find in the laboratory any effect
which is releted to the normal use of lead-acid batteries, If a pertinent
effect were found in the laboratory then a field test might be necessary
before a final evaluation could be obtained. Since, however, no worth-
while effect has been found in the laboratory it has been concluded that
the fidld tests would serve no useful purpose, Furthernore, in field
testing, large variations in environmental conditions are likely and it
requires much more extensive planing, larger samples, and more rigorois
analysis of the data to obtain results of reliability and significance,

NBS Battery Work

The Bureau's work on batteries goes back to the very beginning of
the orgmization at which time it dealt with work on the primary standard
of electro-motive force, the volt. This standard was derived from a cell
of very special. construction called the Weston Standard Cell and through-
out the years there has been appreciable wrk in improving the stability
and reliability of the standard cell and on methods for measuring the
voltage of the standard cell with greater accuracy,

Other work on batteries has involved investigations of the funda-
mental processes of comverting chemical energy into electrical energy
and in the development of a variety of types of batteries for specialized


Statement of Dr, Allen V, Astin
Director, National Bureau of Stendards

before the

Select Committee on Small Business, U. S, Senate
June 23, 1953

I appreciate this opportunity to appear before the committee
in order to attempt to clarify some phases of the controversy involv."
ing the wrk of the National. Bureau of Standards on battery additives,
First I should say I believe that on strictly technical phases of the :
battery additive problem disagreements should be resolved by a group i
of technical experts, I am pleased that a committee of the National
Academy of Sciences was recently set up for such a purpose and I have
no hesitancy in seeing the burem's work on this matter subjected to
their critical scrutiny, I have, in fact, urged such an investigation
ever since it was apparmt that responsible individuals had doubts as’
to the adequacy of the Bureau's work on battery additives, There arey
nevertheless, a number of aspécts of the battery additive matter that
can be readily discussed here,

In order to provide a suitable background for my statement
on battery additives, I would like first to give a brief review of the
Bureau's functions and operations and a description of its testing |
procedures,

National Bureau of Standards Functions (

The authorized functions and activities of the National Buresu
of Standards are given in the act of March 3, 1901, establishing the
Bureau, 31 Stat. 149, as amended by Public Law 619 of the 81st Congress.
These ares .

"(a) ‘The custody, maintenance, and development of the national
standards of measurement, and the provision of means and methods
for making measurements consistent with those standards, incl wling
the comparison of standards used in scientific investigations,
enginecring, manufacturing, commerce, and educational institutions
with the standanis adopted or recomized by the Government,

"(b) The determination of physical constants and properties
of materials when such data are of great importance to scientific
or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient
accuracy elsewhere,

"(c) The development of methods for testing materials, .
mechanisms, and structures, and the testing of materials » Supplies,
and equipment, including itews purchased for use of Government
departments and independent establishments,

"(d) Cooperation with other governmental agencies and with


~13-
Battery AD-x2

The first recorded contact at the Bureau with the Battery Additive
AD-X2 occurred in April 1948 when Dr. Merle Randall, consultant of
Pioneers, Inc., wrote to Dr. George W. Vinal, then chief of the Bureau!s
electrochemistry section, Dr, Randall described AD-x2 (it was then
called Protecto Charge) as a powder mixture of anhydrous sodium sulfate,
and slightly basic nearly anhydrous magnesium sulfate and he claimed
that this combination of the salts yielded results appreciably different
frou ordinary mixtures of the two salts, It might be of interest to
point out that in this letter Dr. Randall claimed that the additive was
en invention of one Donald Keefer, the patent rights to which had been
acquired by Mr. Jesse M. Ritchie, President of Pioneers, Inc., the
company which manufactures.: the additive. Dr. Vinal deferred replying
to Dr, Randallis letter and again in June of 1948 Dr. Randall wrote
Dr. Vinal, reemphasizing and expanding the claims made for this material
in his first letter. Included with his second letter was a special test
which we have subsequently called the Randall test and which was claimed
to be a very severe test for these additives and which yielded "striking
results,"

i
. There followed during the next month several letters between Dr. ena
Vinal and Dr, Randall in the last of which Dr. Randall stated, "I do not .
wish to unduly prclong our conversations" which Dr. Vinal apparently

interpreted as an opportunity to break off the correspondence since the

letter was unanswered. In these comments Dr. Vinal attempted to point

out to Dr. Randall where some of his claims were not in accordance with

accepted theory and in which Dr. Randall indicated that the statements

made in the Bureau's Letter Circular 302 were true for all other addi-

tives but not for AD-X2. Also, in one of Dr. Randall's letters of July

1948 was a statement that in one experiment with these additives, treated

batteries had remained in service without a single failure for as long

as 17 months. This is interesting in the light of more recent statements

that the additive was not invented until the fall of 1947.

1948 Inquiries

Late in 1948 the Bureau received inquiries about Mr. Ritchiets ;
product from two new sources, Senator Knowland sent to Dr. Edward U, v
Condon, then director of the Bureau, a file forwarded to him by Mr.

Ritchie with the request, "if in line with the policy of the Bureau of
Standards, it would be appreciated if such a test could be made so that
this product could stand on its own merits." Mr. Jack A. Harris, then
general manager of the Better Business Bureau of Oakland, California,
wrote to Dr. Vinal requesting that the Bureau make a test of AD-X2.
Also there had been correspondence with the National Better Business
Bureau requesting guidance in handling claims that AD-X2 should be
exempted from the general statements of battery additives in Letter
Circular 302.


-12-

Letter Circular 302

During this interval mmerous requests for information on
additives were received by the Bureau from the general public and
in 1931 a mimeographed leaflet was prepared in order to facilitate
the problem of replying to these inquiries, This leaflet was desig-
nated as Letter Circular 302 and entitled "Battery Compounds and
Solutions," The leaflet provided some general information about
battery additives and pointed out that the Bureau had found none"
of them to be effective in improving the performance of batteries,

From 1931 to the start of World War II nine other battery
additive materials were investigated either for the Federal Trade’
Commission, the Post Office Departmentor members of the Congress,
Most of these consisted primarily of combinations of sodium and
magnesium sulfates, commonly known, respectively, as Glauber's salt
and epsom salts, During World War Ii and since, fifteen new additives
were tested by the Bureau (some for a secoml time) for other govern-
ment agencies, Again most of these consisted of mixtures of sodium
and magnesium sulfates. The Bureau also investigated a large number
of materials considered as possible corrosion inhibitors to see if
any of them would curtail the sulfation of lead-acid storage batteries
that occurs on storage, This latter study was undertaken to determine
the best means to recondition or store lead-acid batteries that were
in surplus at the termination of World War II, Included in this latter
test were again sodium ard magnesium sulfate mixtures; they were found
not to be beneficial, In response to the continuing denand for
information from the public about battery additives, Letter Circular
302 was reissued in 199 with only minor variations from its original
form,



~9-4

Types of Measurements on Batteries

First, we have to consider what measurements are of importance in
evaluating battery performance. Battories are intended to supply elec-
trical energy, Hence, it is important to have some criteria by which a
battery's ability to supply electrical energy can be measured, This is
usually done in watt hours or ampere hours assuming a constant vol.tagee

The next most important characteristic in evaluating battery
performance is its probable life, For automobile storage batteries this
is usually expressed in terms of months or years, Another important
measurement on a storage battery is its efficiency; this involves the
ratio of the energy necessary to charge’a battery to the energy the
battery can return in doing useful work,

Many other types of measurements can be made on batteries such
as voltage at the terminals, hydrometer readings, temperature, etc.,
but usually those observations are related to attempts tO measure its
ability to supply electrical energy or to its efficiency,

The rigorous measurement of the life of a battery is somewhat
difficult and is usually related either to the condition when the
battery will no longer supply sufficient energy to be useful or when
its efficiency becomes so low that it is impractical to operate it
further, In general, the efficiency of a battery will decrease as it
ages and estimates of the expected life of a battery may be made by
measurements on the change in efficiency with time or with use,

Effect_of additions

If now we are concerned with the effect of a particular addition
to the electrolyte of a battery on its performance we must first of all
have a measure 6f the performance to be expected without the change in
the electrolyte, This mans that we mst have measurenents on two groups
of the batteries, one in the original or- unchanged state and one con~
taining the modification which is to be evaluated, It is further ‘iimpor-
tant that the subsequent exposure or handling conditions of the two
groups of batteries be as nearly alike as possible since changes in
environmental conditions might themselves affect the measurements on
performance, Also it is important that the two groups of batteries in their
initial state be as nearly alike as possible, If there are uncontrolled
variations in either the initial conditions of the two groups of batteries
or their subsequent exposure conditions, it will be necessary to take
observations on large numbers of batteries in the hope that the individual
differences either in initial condition or subsequent exposure will be
averaged out, In planning experiments to insure that such conditions are
met, it is possible to make appreciable use of mcdern developments in
the statistical design of experiments, as the Bureau has dame,



~ 23 -

determine, arrived at similar conclusions, I believe your Committee
is familiar with most of these other investigations since many of
them were criticized in your release last December. I do not believe
it appropriate for me to comment on the work in these other labor-
atories, Rather, I beliove that if the Committee is interested, it
might call individuals responsible for these other tests and have
them tell you about them here,

i SW

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that throughout the
period of its experience with battery additives, the Bureau has been
motivated by one major purpose: the determination of scientific
information, In other words,we. have been, primarily coftcerned with determining
the measurable effects produced by the addition of these agents to the
electrolyte of the battery, and relating these measured effects to
battery performance, We would welcome the discovery of any phenomena
which would clearly and unmistakably improve Storage battery performance,

- Our work with battery additives has, almost in its entirety, been
done as a service to other agencies of the Government, Most work of
this sort is considered a chore, We do not seek it but we do welcome
the opportunity to be of service. Furthermore, we recognize that the
Bureau is not infallible. “We have made mistakes in the past and expect
to make mistakes in the future, It is, however, important that when
mistakes are made that we correct them promptly and take measures to
insure that similar mistakes do not Ooour again, If we did not remain
open-minded to the correction of past errors and to the acceptance of
new ideas, we would immediately lose that objectivity which is nec-
essary to the vigorous and healthy operation of any scientific labor-
atory,

We at the National Bureau of Standards are hopeful that the inves-
tigations of this Committee and of the National Academy Committee will
settle this matter conclusively and finally, We have tried to the
best of our ability to be thorough and accurate in our studies, If,
however, these investigations develop any scientific or technical in-
formation that is pertinent to this matter and which we have over-
looked, we will have no hesitancy in considering the new data and j
amending our conclusions if these new data provide a sound scientific : |
basis for such action, ho


~5-

in this avea is confined to serving other government agencies in con-°‘
nection with their purchasing or regulatory responsibilities,
Occasionally a testing problem arises where the Bureau's facilities
are unique or where its services are desired for referee purposes,

and under such circumstances a commodity test might be performed for
the general public,

Testing Policies

The Bureau has no program of endorsing, approving or condemning
proprietary products, This fact is frequently not understood by the
public sincé we receive many requests for such service which have to be
turned down, There are also occasional claims of NBS approval in the
advertisements’ of some products, These can usually be corrected by
correspondence,

Test Reports

The reports the Bureau prepares on tests of materials and products
for other Government agencies are considered the property of the agency
for whom the test is made, Consequently the control of the dissemination
of the information in these reports is the responsibility of the agency
requesting the test, Also, the application and interpretation of these
reports to the operating requirements of these other agencies is the
responsibility of the agency for whom the test is made,

Frequently in the course of its testing work the Bureau accumu-
lates general information on classes of materials and products that
is of interest and importance to the public, In many of these cases
publications are prepared for general distribution in which reference
to specific proprietary products is avoided, Occasionally there are
publications, in which brand-name products are identified, but this’ is
done with the consent and cooperation of the manufacturers involved

A notable example is in the publication of data on the acoustical
properties of materials, These data are determined at the joint request
of building and manufacturing groups, and the results are of appreciable
value to architects and construction mgineers in their design problems,
But even in this case no attempt is made to provide an overall evaluation
or an approval of a particular item, Also in such cases the Bureau does
not permit the use’of its name by manufacturers for advertising or
promotion purposes,

Technical Information

Legal authorization for the publication of information obtained
by the Bureau in its operations is provided by the basic legislation
previously mentioned. The act provides fort "the compilation and publi-
cation of general scientific and technical data resulting from the per~
formance of the functions specified herein or from other sources when
such data ave of importance to scientific or manufacturing interests or



-16-

The initial tests made by the Bureau cane about largely as a result
of inquiries and suggestions from the Oakland Better Business Bureau and
from Senator Knowland, their inquiries in tun being instigated by
Pioneers, Inc, ‘he subsequent dissemination of information about battery
additives came about largely as a result of pressures applied to the
National Better Business Bureau to make unwarranted exceptions in the case
of Battery AD-X2,

1950 FIC Request

In March of 1950 the Federal Trade Commission requested the Bureau
to make tests on AD-X2, A report was sent them on May 11, 1950, incor.
porating the results of the tests which had been initiated in January
1949, Late in 1951 many members of. the Bureau staff gave testimony at
the Federal Trade Commission hearing on still another additive and, at
that time, members of the Commission stated that they wanted further
tests on AD-X2 since the Bureau had used in its earlier report results
of tests made from samples submitted by the Oakland Better Business
Bureau and not by FIC, The Conmission formally requested the additional
tests in February 1952 and’a report based on this new series of tests
was submitted in July 1952,

1951 Post Office Request

In September 1951 the Post Office Department requested tests on
AD-X2, The Bureau submitted a report in Decenber 1951 again based on
results of tests obtained on the sanple submitted by the Oakland Better
Business Bureau, Following receipt of this report, the Post Office
Department also requested additional tests on sanples submitted by them,
Accordingly, the National Bureau of Standards initiated still mother
series of tests of AD-X2,

Results of FIC and PO Tests

The results of the tests made for these two agencies disclosed no
beneficial effect of the additive on the operational characteristics of
lead-acid storage batteries, The major testing procedure used in the
investigations for the Post Office Department and the Federal Trade
Commission was the Randall test which has been referred to earlier,

Congressional Correspondence

Beginning in July 1951 the Bureau began receiving numerous letters
from members of the Congress requesting information about AD-X2, In
general, these letters were instigated by various distributors of
Pioneers, Inc., through writing to their Senators, During the last half
of 1951, 28 Senators and one Congressman transmitted queries about this
material, In ten cases, second letters were involved, and in one case,
a third letter was received during this period, To facilitate the
handling of these inquiries, the Bureau prepared in August 1951 a mimeo.
graphed leaflet touching on many of the common points in the letters,



- 18 -

House Small Business Committee t

3

In March 1952 the Executive Director of the Select Committee on
Small Business of the House of Representatives made the following re-
quest:

"This is in further reference to the complaint of Mr. Jess N,
Ritchie, President, Pioneers, Inc., Oakland 12, California, relative to
the refusal of the Bureau of Standards to approve his Battery AD-x2,

"Because of the claims of Mr. Ritchie and the evidence of wide
acceptance of this product, I am requesting that you make a new test
of his product and submit a report on specific results of your testing."

NBS Runs Manufacturerts Test

As a result of interest of the members of the Congress and also as
& result of communications I had been having with Mr. Ritchie since
December 1951, I agreed in May 1952 to run a new series of tests on
Battery AD-X2, using a test procedure which Mr. Ritchie guaranteed
would demonstrate the merits of his product. One of the major claims
‘made by the distributors of AD-X2 in their letter-writing campaign to
the Congress was that the testing procedure which had been used by the
Bureau was not suitable to disclose the merits of the battery additive.

Although I had no reason for questioning the adequacy of the test
procedures the Bureau had used previously, I had hoped that by using a
procedure described by him, the matter could be settled decisively for
all concerned. A report describing the testing procedure and the re-
sults obtained therefrom has been furnished to members of your committee.



-he-

Besic Service Activi ties

Growing out of the latter portion of the program TM~-- that com-
prising the 15 percent -- are the calibration, testing and related
services, which constitute h percent of the total activity, ‘The bulk
of this activity -~ approximately 3 percent ~- has to do with calibra-
tion services, These are services characterized by the comparison of
master standards in commerce and industry with the national standards
(e.8., gage blocks from industry are periodically submitted for cali-
bration, by optical means, in order to ensure that the gage blocks
provide uniform and accurate measurements).

Commodity Testing

The testing of comrodities done by the Bureau comprises approxi-
mately 1 percent of the activity, Most of this comnodity testing is
concerned with checking for compliance of materials purchased by the
Government with the specification in the purchase contract, The Federal
system of purchasing, in order to give all businesses a fair and equal.
opportunity to compete for Government contracts, involves the issuance
of bid documents specifying what the Government wishes to purchase.
These bid documents contain data describing the item to be supplied, and
the data mst be technically adequate wherever possible in order that the
proper type of item be purchased and that the competing firms be, in
fact, bidding to supply the same, desired item, Responsibility far
specifications and the general procedures rest with the General Services
Administration, The largest iten -- totalling more than half of this
1 percent af testing done by the Bureau -- is cement,

Testing for Regulatory Agencies

A small part of this relatively small testing program, wherein’
the Bureau acts as a service laboratory for other Government agencies :
is concerned with tests for agencies having regulatory authorities, ‘The
total of all regulatory-type testing done for these other agencies, at’
their initiation and request, is less than $25,000 per year, In short,
testing of this kind done by the Burea comprises less than a twentieth
of one percent of the total NBS program. It is within this category that
the Bureau's interest in the battery additive matter originateds

Altogether the Bureau makes about 300,000 individual calibrations
and tests per year and in addition issues over 30,000 stamlard samples,

Calibration Activity

In the calibration activity, which involves the comparison of
measuring instruments with the national standards for physical measurement,
the Bureau performs a unique service, Accordingly, this service is made °
available not only to other government agencies but to State institutions,
industrial and university laboratories, and to the general public, In
contrast, in the commodity testing activity, similar services are frequently
available in private testing laboratoriess therefore, the Bureau's work



-3-

upon the standard of length and associated instruments, measurement
methods and calibration services, For example, the mass production
of uniform pistons in the automobile industry depends initially upon
calipers and micrometers used in the shop, These instruments are
checked by a given company against its master gage blocks, The master
gage blocks are periodically sutmitted to the Bureau for calibration
against the Bureau's standards. The actual method of calibration is
optical in nature, linked back to the standard meter,

Diversity of Basic Standards

The diversity in our basic standards is directly related to
the diversity of our economy. Thus » Standards exist and are needed in
electricity, optics, mechanics, electronics, chemistry, atomic and
nuclear physics, etc. Their applications take a similar diversity of
fa@m, Standard radio frequencies, obtained from erystal clocks of high
precision and associated complex electronic instrumentation, are pro-
vided through continuous broadcasting over station WV (Maryland) and
WWVH (Hawaii), These frequencies are used in such ways as the following:
broadcast stations use the signals to keep their transmitters in
channels manufacturers of electronic equipment use them to cal ibrate
their oscillators and various electronic devices; musical instrument
companies use them to cakibrate the tone of their instruments; utilities
use them to control the 60-cycle frequency of their electrical genera-
tors, ensuring, first, that the power produced will be appropriate’ for
the various mathines that are desiged for such power, and, second,
that such frequency-dep endent devices as electrical clocks are kept
accurate,

Even medioine and biology depend upon fundamental standards
in the physical sciences, X-Ray standards provide proper dosage infor-
mation and protection provisions not only for industrial X-Ray installa-
tions but hospital ones, Radioactive isotope standards provide a method
whereby tracer research can be conducted and also’ provide the dosage and
protective infomation needed for medical therapy,

Magnitude of Operations

The magnitude of the Bureau's operations can be appraised
from a brief look at the operating budget, For Fiscal Year 1953 the
total obligations will approximate 50 million dollars, Of these, about
h2 million or about 85% represent work requested and paid for by other
agencies of the Federal. Government and justified before the Congress in
the budgets of these other agencies, Wiithin this 85% the primary effort
is on important defense projécts for the Army, Navy and Air Force and
the Atomic Energy Commission, The remaining 8 million or approximately
15% represents the budget providéd directly to the Bureau by the Congress
to carry out its basic functions,



-ih-

In Dr. Condon's reply to Senator Knowland, he pointed out that tests
on the material were currently being made by the Signal Corps Labora-'
tories at Fort Monmouth and by the New York and Mare Island Navy Yards,
and accordingly, tests by the National Bureau of Standards were probably
unnecessary. ,

First Test of AD-X2

About the first of Jamary, 199, the Bureau had started a series /
of tests on another battery additive for the Federal Trade Commission
and it was decided that it might be of interest to run along with these
tests an evaluation of AD-X2. Samples which had been transmitted by the
Oakland Better Business Bureau were used for this purpose. Part of these
tests included careful chemical and physical determination of the consti-
tution and structure of AD-X2 since Dr, Randall's letters had claimed
that the combination in AD-X2 had unique’properties and was not a simple
mixture of sodium and magnesium sulfates,

The Bureau's tests have shown that the material is primarily a
simple mixture of sodium and magnesium sulfates and that there is no evie
dence of a compound or alum structure, The analysis also showed a number
of trace elements but for the most part these are the same trace elements
usually found in varying amounts in commercial grades of sodium sulfate
and magnesium sulfate or in the normal battery electrolyte, It is also
pertinent to note in connection with the claim of the wiqueness of the
composition of AD-X2 that our analyses have shown variations between
samples as high as 19 per cent in the ratio of sodium sulfate in AD-X2
to the magnesium sulfate, The ratio of the quantities of trace elements
also varies appreciably,

The results of these tests showed that the effect of AD-X2 in a
battery electrolyte was no different from that of other mixtures of
sodium and magnesium sulfates and that none had any measurable effect
on the performance of a lead-acid storage battery, Two testing proce-
dures were used. One was the Randall test which was claimed by Mr,
Ritchie's consultant to yield striking results; the other was a modi-+
fied life cycle test, similar to the standard test which is widely uséd
to estimate the life of a storage battery under normal use conditions,
A life cycle test ig used by the government in its specifications for
the purchase of batteries for its own use,

Circular 50)

The results of these investigations which were begun in January 199
were ultimately incorporated in the Circular No, 50h, “Battery Additives,"
issued in January 1951; copies of which have been furnished to all mem
bers. of your committee,

Preparation of the material for Circular 50) was initially planned
as a revision of Letter Circular 302, The incentive for this revision
was provided partly by the National Better Business Bureau in order to

eae


-17~

Manufacturer's Campaign

An indication of the motivating force behind this letter-writing
campaign can be seen from the following excerpt from a nine page memo-
randum of August 21, 1951, sent from Battery AD-X2 Plant No. 236 to
"All Distributors, Prospective Distributors and Interested Parties" on
the subject "National Bureau of Standards versus Battery AD-X2"; "We
are now trying to bring to bear sufficient pressure to cause a Senate
investigation of the National Bureau of Standards. We certainly have
reason to believe that an investigation and perhaps a shake-up are in
order. A few days ago, about the time that all distributors of Battery
AD-X2 were writing their Senators (see attachments iFt, Gt, and tH),
Dr. Edward U, Condon, for many years the Director of the National Bureau
of Standards, suddenly resigned, We believe that this is significant
and we like to believe that we had something to do with the resignation,"

Congressional Interest in Further Tests

Most of the letters from the Congress were routine memoranda trans-
mitted with the letters they had received from distributors in their
areas. Others suggested the desirability, if possible, of the Bureau's Beatie
making additional tests in order to settle the controversy. For example, :
the following request was received from the then Senator Nixon in
February 1952:

"On January 24 you forwarded a copy of your reply to Mr. Jess.M.
Ritchie, President, Pioneers, Inc. with reference to the controversy
existing on the testing of battery additives.

"As you will recall, Mr. Ritchie is the manufacturer of AD~X2 ’
which he contends has been under condemnation by certain publications of
the Bureau of Standards,

"It is my understanding that essentially the arguments put forth by
Mr. Ritchie are; first, in the testing of selected battery additives, in-
cluding AD-X2, the tests are not conducted under conditions that exist
in actual practice; second, that in proclaiming the non-utility of
battery additives based on these tests, AD-X2, to say the least, is in-
directly condemned.

"The evidence, as I see it, is conflicting. On the one hand, there
is a history of a successful use of this product over a substantial period
of time and on the other, repeated tests that result in unfavorable
decisions.

"In view of the extensive correspondence and discussions which have
taken place as a result of these claims, it is my desire to resolve this
disagreement once and for all. Therefore, I would appreciate yout
advising me of the methods which might be pursued to conclude this con-
troversy in a manner which would convince any reasonable minded indivi-
dual."