River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-08-27
ACCURACY SAVES MONEY.
Government Bureau of Standard
at Washington Does an Inn
portant work.

At the bureau of standards they think
nothing of measuring the weight of the
CRIME from your thumb which you may
place on a clean sheet Of paper. They
weigh the sheet before the grimy thumb
is applied and then after Likewise they
will measure the width Of human hair,
of if you want them to they will tell
you how much the heat OF your body e1-
pands the delicate mechanism OF the
watch in your pocket, says the New
York Sun.
Their work is intensely practical,
though. Hundreds of surveyors chains
come to the bureau to be tested. Many
have been used for years under the i'm
preston that they are absolutely accu-
rate. At the bureau they are found to
vary from the standard from an inch to
half foot.
How important the accuracy OF the
surveyors chain is was demonstrated
recently in Philadelphia, where an en-
tire subdivision was thrown into court
on the very point of accuracy of sur
veying. The variations of the chain
used by the different surveyors was not
more than three inches, but this was sur
ficient in the large subdivision to bring
hundreds of square feet of valuable
property into question.
In Brooklyn there was long standing
dispute growing out Of the same condi-
ton. For years owners of adjoining
pieces of property battled in the courts
over the possession of II inches OF
ground which an inadequate survey had
left outside the boundaries.
The bureau credits itself with re-
cent saving of $4,000 to Uncle Sam
The gunmakers had heated one OF the
great steel gun castings to the degree
which was believed to be just right for
shrinking on the jacket. The bureau
of standards instrument was used and
it was found that the temperature was
off several degrees-suficient to nave
spoiled the gun when the jacket cooled.
The damage to the gun would nave cost
the government Just $4,000.
Recently, in Baltimore, a milk dealer
was charged with not giving full meas
ure to his customers. He contended
that his measures were correct and re-
sisted payment of fine. The chief of
the bureau of standards discovered that
the milk dealer and not the city had the
correct standard.
In the capital, not many months ago,
there was a controversy between the
vendors of milk and the authorities as
to the size of milk bottles. One dealer
was even ready to make a hero of him
self by going to Jail. An appeal to the
bureau of standards settled the whole
controversy.
Recent tests of the electric light fur
nished to one of the eastern cities
showed that the candle power was short
about one-fourth of that called for by
contract The annual expenditure of
the city is 100000 and the tests of the
bureau thus showed that the power fur
nished is short in valuation $500, 900 a
year.
The uses Of the bureau just given are
really the minor ones from the stand
point of the bureau officials. 1t is es-
pecially for the more complicated work
that new laboratories are about to be
provided for the bureau at cost of a
quarter of a million of dollars.
To make exact measurements the
buildings of the bureau must be of spe-
cial design, and perhaps the most elab-
crate system of heating, ventilating and
refrigeration ever known will be in
stalled. There is a balance in the pos
session of the bureau so delicate in it's
poise that the heat of the body alone
affects it, although it is tightly encased
in plate glass. No one is permitted to
come within Is feet of it.
When something is to be weighed,
It is placed on one of the pans of the
balance The case is closed and "a
hours are allowed to pass in which the
weights, balance and object, reach the
normal temperature inside the case and
the air which was disturbed resumes
its equilibrium.
The manipulation of the balance is
done by means of long bars, which ex-
tend Is feet from the balance Even
after these precautions are taken a
dozen different calculations are made
to correct known variations in the ap-
paratus.
The international bureau of stand
ards, which has headquarters at Paris,
has furnished to this government a
standard meter and standard kilogram
The standard meter has never been
touched by human hands since it
reached it's present degree of perfection
1t rests in a glass case in vault. The
comparisons with it are made through
the use of microscopes. The standard
kilogram is of platinum-iridium. The
metal in it cost about So, 900.