The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-11 00:00:00

THE STANDARD OF MEASURE,

A remarkable and highly interesting inquiry has been
conducted for the last few days before a select committee
of the House of Lords, that has been sitting to consider
the provisions of a bill which has already passed the
Lower House, and is. entitled "An Act for Legalising
and Preserving the restored Standards of Weights and
Measures." The inquiry related specifically to the stan-
dard of measure ; but before explaining the exact ques-

tion at issue it may be as well to recall the circumstances
under which it has arisen. It will be remembered that
the old standards were lost in the fire which destroyed
the former Houses of Parliament, and that in consequence,
so far back as the 11th of May, 1838, a Royal Commission
was appointed to consider the steps to be taken for their
restoration. This commission consisted of a number of
scientific men, including among others the Astronomer
Royal and Mr. Sheepshanks. By them it was decided to
adopt as a standard of measure a standard yard, the dimen-
sions of which are determined by measuring with the aid
of microscopes the distance between two points, indi-
cated by lines traced on a bar of gun metal. Accord-
ingly, the bill now before the House of Lords contains a
minute description of this standard yard, which, in com-
pliance with the recommendation of the Royal Commis-
sion, the Government proposes to legalise. It turns out,
however, that while our philosophers and men of science
engaged in determining in their way the most perfect
means for securing accuracy of measurement, Mr. Whit-
worth, of Manchester, has, for practical objects of great
importance to the nation at large, as well as to Em-
self individually, been directing his attention to the
same subject. He wanted a measuring machine as per-
fect as he could make it, in order to secure increased
accuracy in his system of gauges and generally in the
workmanship of those tools for the manufacture of which
he enjoys so deserved a celebrity. In order that the
importance of such a measuring machine may be
fully appreciated it may be well to refer to the
illustration afforded by the Baltic fleet. The Admiralty,
in the conbtruction of their marine engines, have always
wisely insisted upon the use of Whitworth's registered
gauges ; so that if a screw or plug or fastening of any
kind gives way, a substitute of the same register, and
therefore certain to fit, can at once be produced. Hence
it follows that one not very large floating mechanic's shop
is quite sufficient to meet all the emergencies of the ser-
vice in the way of damaged machinery for the whole of
that mighty steam armada now facing the batteries of
Cronstadt. Such a result would be utterly unattainable
but for that extraordinary nicety in determining sizes to
which Mr. Whitworth has attained. It may be recol-
lected that at the Exhibition of 1851 Mr. Whitworth

showed a machine which measured to the millionth part
of an inch, and which Tabled any one to calculate the ex-
pansion caused in a bar of iron a yard long by touching
it lightly with the finger tip. The same arrangement is now
adopted by him for the production of standards of mea-
sure, the principle being that the standard is obtained
by measuring the distance between the perfectly flat
ends of a solid bar having true surfaces on its sides and
ends. His test is that of the touch, and by it he can
correct errors in dimensions up to the millionth of an
inch, whereas the plan of the Royal Commissioners, de-
pending on the eight, aided by the microscope, can only
correct errors t U the 60,000 th of an inch, Tho most
powerful microscope that has yet been made cannot
enable the eye to distiuguish more than 60,000 lineal
divisions in an inch, an 1, in order to reach this degree
of accuracy, the object glass must be so near as greatly
to interfere with the practical utility of the standard, But
with end measurement an accuracy carried to a point 20
times as great can be combined with <5 perfect facility of
application t ) all the purposes for which such a standard is
desirable. again, alter devoting so much time and ex-
pending so much labour on constructing their standard of
line measure, the commissioners have 144 t, succeeded in
producing two alike when measnred at alike temperature,
aad this will be understood when it is remembered that
a line once traced on the bar cannot be altered, and that
the only means of correcting it if wrong is to change the
temperature, so that the metal may expand or contract,
until an approximation to accuracy is attained. Hence
in the bill a separate temperature is provided for each
copy, On the other hand, the .standards of end rneaure
ean be copied to any requisite extent, and any difference
not smaller than the millionth of an inch will be readily
detected. By taking care to make the copy slightly too
long its errors in excess riay be gradually removed by
repeated corrections, each of which may be measured
until a complete fao simile is obtained. But further, in
mechanics especially, where extreme delicacy of fitting,
and the production of accurate duplicates are of
the greatest importance, standards for the foot
and inch are even more necessary than those for the
yard. For the supply of these the plan of the
Royal Commission made no provision ; whereas
Mr. Whitworth is ablo to produce them in the
same perfection as the yard standard. Finally, it affords
a simple method of contrasting, tho merits of the two
systems to state that in line measurement the eye has
only to pass over the distance actually measured, and
when that is very small the limited power of the sight,
aided even by the microscope, in distinguishing differ-
ence operates as a great clkock ; whereas, in the appa-
ratus employed in end ineauuring the eye has to travel
over a distance of alma; 40 niche; to trace the variation
of a thousandth of an inch. From all these considera-
tions it is obvious—and the result is a highly instruc-
tive one— that a private manufacturer, pursuing steadily
that course of experiment on which he well knows the
success of his business to &Tend, has been enabled
completely to distance the efforts of a body of highly
scientific men, conetitrted expressly for the purpose,
and working at it with no smell expenditure of the
public money during a period of sixteen years.
Yet so oddly are suca matters managed in this coun-
try that the bill for leaalising the standards of weights
and measures had pissed the House of Commons
and was halfway through the House of Lords before Mr.
Whitworth's inventio), publicly exhibited in 1851, re-
cognised by the Admiralty and the Board of Ordnance,
and generally accepted by all the leading machinists of
the kingdom, was broight before the notice of the Le-
gislature. Thanks, however, to the select committee
of the House of Loris, and to the personal interest
taken in the subject ty Lord Harding°, Earl Granville,
and other peers, the plunder which was well-nigh being
committed will now, we trust, for all practical purposes,
be avoided. Mr. Whitworth was examined before the
committee on Friday and on Wednesday. He produced
and explained his measuring machine, and so satisfac-
tory has his evidence been that we understand the
committee have come to the decision of recommending
that his standard yard measure, constructed of the
same length as that of the Royal Commission,
be legalised as the " secondary standard," for
comparison with local standards of measure through-
out the country, and that his standard foot and
inch have the same sanction attached to them. No
doubt this will now be effected by an amendment in the
present bill, for if left to a new measure or to an order
in Council there is no telling when it may be carried out.
To those who have paid any attention to the state of
industry in England it is unnecessary to point out the
immense advantage which we possess in the extraordinary
finish which, in mechanics especially, we impart to our
workmanship. This arises from the attention which has
been paid to two objects—one the formation of a true
plane, the other the power of measurement, carried to a
point as near as possible to perfection. There was a
time when in the machine shops throughout the country
"the big inch," "the middling inch," and "the little inch"
were all recognised, and even still there are important
branches of manufacture—such as, for example, the gun
trade—in which the gauges used hardly deserve the
name. To legalise, therefore, the best standards of mea-
sure that can be obtained is a matter of national import-
ance, and we rejoice that even at the eleventh hour steps
are being taken to avoid in this respect a serious legis-
lative blunder.

PROTEST AGAINST THE THIRD READ-
ING OF THE NEWSPAPER STAMP
DUTIES BILL.

CANALS.
•
NNames of m Dividend
Names of E Dividend •
•
Companies. Is per Price
Companies. 61 per
.(s Annum.
ca Annum. cr.,
X X j
A sbtn &Oldh 98 7i. p. ct.! 139 kfacelesileld. 100 21. 103. 51%
Barnsley.... 160, - '_Death • •'•• • • 100 161. 150
Brknk&Abrg 1501 41. - Oxford.. -• • • 100, 13'. -
Birmingham 48 •4/. 92 Peak Forest. 781 51. Os. 86
Coventry..•. 100, 25?. 209 Regent's •• • • 30 14
Derby ••• 100 61. 15s. 84 Rochdale.... 85 11. 10s. 60
Ellsmre&Chs 69.2% p. a. - Somrset Coal 1401 -
GrandJunetn 100 a:. pr. ct. 50 Do. Lk FdSt 12 -
Do., 6 pr.Ct.l 10 61. pr. ct. 12% Stflrd &Wore 140 281. 425
(grand Surreylloo 41. - Shrewsbury.. 125 -
Grand Union; 100, 1/. Cs. - Stourbridge„. 45 12/. 285
Kennt & Avnl 391 6s. -od. 6)6 Severn and '1
Lancaster ..11001 - - Wye Rail. 26 2/. 28
Leeds &Lvi p, 100 25/. - Warwick &
Leicester ....1100 5. 4914 Birming.7 100 27. 20
Leicstr 86. Nth 83 - 28% Warwick &'
21. 10
Loughborogh 142 701. 575 Napton.. 3 100
Monmouthsh 100 - Worestr &I 78 21. 24
Mntgmerysh 100, - - 131rming.
MeltnMwbry 1001 - - Wilts & Brks -10 s. Od. -