Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-18
A SUPREME TRIBUNAL
Uncle SANS Wonderful In
stitution of Precision.
WEIGHT AND MEASURE
BUILDING AND EQUIPMENT COST
A HALF MILLION DOLLARS.
Curious Mechanical Devices for Test
ing All Standard In
struments.

Copyright, 1904. by John Elfreth Watkins)
10 better insure that his people will get
| what they pay for. Uncle Sam has Just
built on the outskirts of Washington a SCI
entihc institution costing half million
| dollars 1t will be formally opened early
IN the autumn but its good work has al
ready commenced, and its benefits are al
| ready being felt. 1t is known as the ma
t1onal bureau Of standards and it is part
or the new Department of Commerce and
Labor. organized by Secretary Cortelyou.
The director of this bureau is Prof. Sam
uel w. Stratton. a well-known educator
and physicist, who was lieutenant in the
navy during the Spanish-American war,
and who held the chair of physics in the
University Of Chicago just prior to his or
gan1zation of the new institution over
which he presides.
Work in Artificial Climate
1 was the guest of Prof. Stratton yester-
day, and-was taken On a personally con-
Quoted tour through the new bureau. 1t is
located In the midst of a grove Of trees a
few miles northwe-t of the capital, and
was purposely thus isolated that the jar
ring of heavy traffic and the powerful cleo
trlc currents Of the city might not inter-
fere with Its delicate and precise measur-
ing Instruments. 1t Is an institution de-
the basis of all industry. 1t comprises two
handsome buildings Of stone and hand
made brick, whose rooms will be artif-
claliy cooled in summer and heated in win
ter. The windows will be down the year
round, and yet the pure atmosphere within
Will be maintained always at a comfortable
and constant temperature, between 20 and
Is degrees. This precaution will be taken
to further insure the accuracy of the in
struments. sensitive to fickleness Of wealth.
er In the artificial climate Of these apart
ments will work seventy-fve men, fifty Of
them experts who have been graduated
| from technical and scientific institutions.
This new bureau will be supreme
court of weights and measures. If you
Will consider for moment you will realize
that there is no subject in which people are
more directly interested than in that of
weighing or measuring. The prosperity of
all who buy sell depends upon the accu-
racy OF these processes.
Standards of All Measures.
representative OF each measure and
each weight commonly used in the country
| will be installed In the bureau, and these
will stand the standards with which
all good weights and measures must favor
ably compare. Such standards will not be
arbitrarily selected. They will be chosen
only after the most careful research. which
will comprise a large part Of the work OF
the half hundIe ed OF scientists employed.
Ms ny of these standards have already been
S6loCleu. i Will t'tlt you dpOut lIoSc uSeu
to correct the weights and measures most
Important to our everyday life.
First I will describe the standard of
LEI 9Th measure. by which all true foot
rules, yard-stcks, meter sticks. etc, are to
be corrected. This Is one of the older
pieces of the laboratory's equipment. and
it's history should be known by every one
in the country. In 1873 the principal coun-
tries of the world, including our own, sent
to Paris representatives charged with
agreeing upon an international meter and
kiogram, which are, respectively, units of
/ length and weight adopted originally by
France but since used by scientists all
| over the world. Two of these meters and
kilograms were made for each country, and
they were drawn by lot. In 1893 the Sec
rotary of the Treasury adopted those drawn
by our representa- iveS as our fundamental
standards of length and weight and our
| yards and pounds are compared with them
| One set of these standards has always been
stored away, while another has been used
| for comparisons They were formerly kept
| in the coast survey bureau, but have now
| been removed to the bureau of standards.
Compared Through Telescopes.
| The length standard is bar of platinum
| alloy whose cross-section is X-shaped. 1t
and its duplicate cost $3.50 apiece. 1t Is
kept inclosed in plush in japanned cylin-
der Of tin, which, in turn, is incased in
| long wooden box When a measuring rod
| Is to be compared with this standard the
two are placed SIDE by SIDE IN clamp
| over each end of which is a telescope.
| Through these magnifiers the graduatons
| on the two are compared with an exacu-
| tude more than hair-splitting. A correct
| yard must measure 36O0-393T of the stand
| ard meter.
The weight standard is a small cylinder
| Of the same metal used in the meter rod:
| 1t and Its duplicate cost $1,000 apiece and
| each is kept under two glass bell-tars, one
| fitting over the other. which protect the
| precious weight from dust. The kiiogram
| used for actual comprehensive companion
| always being stored away-is handled only
| with forceps having chamois-skn ends
! The naked hand is never allowed to touch
It, When a weight is to be standardized 1t
| is taken into an equal temperature room
| and placed in one pan of delicate weigh
| ing scale. the standard kilogram resting in
| the other The scale is under glass and the
| two weights allowed to rest In their
pans over night that their temperature may
| be kept equal All manipulations of this
| balance are made at distance of fourteen
feet, by means of long brass rods Should
| a person approach rearer to this delicate
equilibrium The delicately graduated in
| dicator dial of the scale is read through a
| telescope.
| You have probably seen the long steel
| tame measures used by surveyors and en-
| eineers. Manufacturers of these are
already sending them to the new bureau for
yertfcation. long bench supporting
| trough with a wooden lid, the whole built
| out in the open air, contains a fiat strip of
| steel of the same quality as that of The
| tapes and 100 feet long. Alongside of this
| the tapes are clamped and compared with
| much of the exactness applied to the test
above mentioned
You often go to the druggists to buy so
| many ounces of medicine, and he takes
| down his glass graduate to measure it.
| But how do you know that what his meas
ure shows to be ounce is really
ounce? In one room I a young man
| standing before long, vertical glass tube
| infinitely graduated and filled with dis
| titled water. Glass vessels were measured
! by delivering the water into them from the
bottom of the tube, and noting how much
| left the latter. The glass vessels were care
| fully cleaned and dried before the test
| The weight of the water was taken into
account also its rate of evaporation, and
! allowance was made for errors of filing
| worked out very scientifically and infinitely
Even the delicate pipettes used for meas
urng a single cubic centimeter of liquid
| hair