Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-23

error of one-tenth of one per cent costs the
government $Sb,0 The same is true also
of the instruments used by our internal
revenue officials In testing the percentage
Of alcohol IN fiauoEsi About Sill. Geo o00 In
revenue annually depends upon their read
tngs But In the new bureau there will be
standards of all such instruments. together
ton. 31ca, q
What Prof. stratton intends to do for the
perfection Of fcGur4cy in our measuring
rods and tapesLaIs0 our weights and ca
pacfty measures-wiii come home more
Iorcipiy to the popular mind Today II
you buy lot Eop Employ surveyor who
measures certAfn dimension and certain
angles defining your property Another
man buys the adjacent lot and his sur
correct. There Is No supreme authority to
settle the dispute; therefore you average
the two surveys and build on the resulting
measurement Ire steel tapes and other
instruments or these surveyors usually Diff
fer and it is always a question whether
you are getting a lot of the proper size
But after the new bureau Of standards has
been opened you will, if shrewd see to It
stamped with the government stamp The
same will be done by Uncle Sam with re-
spect to the instruments used upon his
public works and employed in testing the
materials which he buys. If the surveyors
and contractors also provide themselves
with tested instruments they will avoid
much Inconvenience.
TO Settle Disputes.
Take, for example, a man who contracts
to make projectiles for the big guns used
in our army and navy. Suppose the meas
uring instruments of the workmen who
make the cannon and determine it's precise
caliber are corrected to a different standard
from that used In testing the instruments
measuring the diameter Of the projectiles.
ha ar,i1r
grounds and do not fit, as sometimes han
pens. Then there is a dispute as to which
standard is right, and the controversy is
likely to be carried into the courts to be
hagg1ed over by lawyers looking for big
fees. This is but an example Of what may
happen in many industries
For a long time Uncle Sam has had an
Office of weights and measures for giving
out, mostly to its scientists standards of
weights, measures and capacities which
have been adopted for convenience but not
by law. 1t has always been a part of the
coast and geodetic survey, but is now
merged into the new bureau of standards.
Mr.. Louis A. Fischer, who has had prac-
tical charge of this old Office took me
thu ough 1T the other day. He showed me
what Is practically our standard for meas
urfng length at the present time. This is
known as the STANDARD meter" Some
twenty-five or thirty years ago representa-
tiveS of various countries ours included.
met in Paris and agreed upon this as well
countries represented. Mr.. Fischer, while
explaining this, took from shelf duplicate
of the standard meter installed at Paris.
He opened long wooden case in which
was a japanned cylinder of tin. Unlocking
the end of the latter, he drew out a hollow
cylinder. of wood in which lay incased in
plush what appeared to be a long bar of
solid silver whose cross section was x
shaped. This bar cost s. 800 it's metal
alone being worth $3.50. Upon a polish
oval at either end were several gradua-
tons upon which the hairlines of two micro
scopes, attached to a long I-beam, are To-
cused when it is desired to compare an
other meter rod with this standard. The
two rods being laid side by side in a clamp
and the focusing on the standard rod being
complete, the clamp is turned until the
other rests directly under the same mi
croscope. The microscopes then reveal how
far the limits of the unofficial rod fall
within or without those of the standard.
In the new bureau 1t will be possible to
compare many kinds of measures in this
way; also to verify their minutest gradua-
lions, which cannot now be done
Hair-Splfttfng Exactness.
l was also shown what has served for
some years as Uncle Sans standard of
weight. This, similarly obtained from
Paris, is duplicate of the worlds stand
ard kilogram, installed in that city. II is a
small cylinder of the same metal used in
This metal. by the way, is an alloy of plati-
mum and iridium! selected because it can
not be destroyed by heat 1t cost 81 GEO.
Two bell jars one itting over the other,
protect it from the dust 1t is handled
only by a pair Of forceps with channels
skin ends l. should add that Uncle ST m
has two of these standard Kilograms, as
well as two of the standard meters de-
scribed. One of each is always stored
away; the other is used for comparing !
was taken to coal vault beneath the
building and shown the delicate scale with
which Mr.. Fischer compares other kilo-
grams with the standard. When such a
weight is received for comparison it is
placed in one pan of this delicate scale the
standard occupying the other. The two are
always allowed to rest thus over night, that
their temperatures may become equal II
one Is even trifie warmer than the other
heat waves in the surrounding atmosphere
| tend to buoy it up So delicate Is this hal
ance that all manipulations of the weights
must be done at a distance of fourteen feet
lest the heat of the human body penetrate
the glass case inclOsing this instrument
and Interfere with the equilibrium. With
four brass rods turning about on their ends
| saw Mr. Fischer at this distance make
the two weights in the balance exchange
pans. A fixed telescope was focused from
one end of the, room upon the Indicator OF
the balance, and through this he compa led
them down to the finest possible gradua-
ton. This paraphernalia will be remoy ed
the new bureau, where more accurate COM
parsons can be made. 1t is certainly diff
cult to imagine anything more microScOp-
1cally-Or perhaps 1 should here say tel
acknowledgements L was also shown a
set of gold-plated weights, carefully com
pared with this kilogram, which Uncle Sam
| uses in making other comparisons.
The official weights and measures of the
state and city weighers throughout the
country will be, compared with the rev
standards In this way accurate weights
and measures will be as widely distrib-
uted among the storekeepers and the public
at large as is our standard time. The me-
tiers Of state and city gas and electric Light
| inspectors will be similarly standardized.
All of this work will be done for the fed
eral, state and municipal governments free
OF charge. But private concerns will be
charged nominal fees, which are expected
to make the new bureau self-supporting
JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS, Jr.
Bishop Who Keeps Bars.
From the Chicago Chronicle.