The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1903-09-12
lccuRAe9 - NoNEH
government nuEeam Qs
aHwaahfnrton does en- E
portant WORT

wnEtnmt WoE4
AL the bureau Of Standards they think
nothing OF measuring the weightot the
rrime nom your thumb which you may
place on a clean sheet Of paper Ahey
weigh the sheet before the grimy 4hump
Is applied and then after LaxeWlsshhey
viii measure the width Of a human mar.
Of IL you want them to they wiz tel
Won how much the heat of your body eA-
hands h 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 lm-
pression that they are absolutely acc0-
rate At the bureau they are found 70
varv from the standard from an inch to
half a foot.
How important the accuracy OF ths
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 chaia
used by the different surveyors was not
more than three inches, but this was sui
fcient in the large subdivision to pring
hundreds Of square feet Of valuable
property into question.
In Brooklyn there was a long standing
dispute growing out of the same condl-
ton. For years owners Of adjoining
pieces of property battled in the courts
over the possession Of II inches q
ground which an inadequate survey mad
left outside the boundaries.
The bureau credits itself with q 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 have
spoiled the gun when the jacket cooled
The damage to the gun would have cost
the government Just $4,000.
Recently, in Baltimore, a milk dealer
wac charged with not giving full meas
ul8 to his customers. He commended
that his measures were correct and re-
sisted payment of a 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
Cnere was a controversy between the
vendors of milk and the authorities as
to the size of milk bottles. One dealer
was v 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,
d'Rhed 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 o.
the city is 81, o. 900 and the tests Of thu
bureau thus showed that the power fur
nlshed is short in valuation $500, 600
year.
The uses Of the bureau just given ar
really the minor ones from the stand
point Of the bureau officials. It is es
peCially for the more complicated woTI
that new laboratories are about to b
provided for the bureau at a cost Of
quarter of a million of dollars.
To make exact measurements tn
buildings of the bureau must be Of spe
Cial design, and perhaps the most elat
crate system Of heating, ventilating an
refrigeration ever known will be il
stalled. There is a balance in the pos
session Of the bureau so delicate in il
poise that the heat of the body aloI
affects it, although it is tightly encase
in plate glass. No one is permitted
come within Is feet of 1t,
When something is to be weighe
It is placed on one Of the pans Of Il
balance. The case is closed and
hours are allowed to pass in which IL
weights, balance and object, reach Il
normal temperature inside the case al
the air which was disturbed resum
its equilibrium.
The manipulation Of the balance
done by of long bars, which e
tend Is feet from the balance. Evt
after these precautions are taken
dozen different calculations are ma
to correct known variations in the a
paratus.
The international bureau Of stan
ards, which has headquarters at Par.
: has furnished to this government
standard meter and standard kilogra,
p The standard meter has never be
touched by human hands since
reached its present degree Of perfectiC
1t rests in a glass case in a vault. T
= comparisons with it are made throu
y the use of microscopes. The standa
kilogram is of platinum-iridium. I
y metal in it cost about So, 900.