El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-07
FALSE WEIGHTS
COSTLY To
SHIPPERS
Must Depend Wholly Upon
Railroad Scales, Which
Often Are Wrong.
GOVERNMENT PLANS
REMEDY FOR EVIL
W AsHNGTON, D. C., June T.


public has been drawn in
/ countless ways to the possibilities OF
incorrect weights upon the scales OF
J every grocery store, comparatively lit
{ tie has been said regarding inaccura-
+ cies of the great railroad scales upor
whose registers depend the rates OF
every sort of freight handled in the
country. Freight shippers have made
many complaints regarding this mat
ter and the railroads themselves admit
their justice. These complaints have
drawn attention to the need of some
supervision by the government over
the large track scales which are used
IOr weighing the freight cars them
selves, as well as the smaller scales
used by shippers doing an interstate
business.
Millions Annually Involved.
me railroads OF the country collect
az least SZ,zuU,OOQ,OOU annually from
the shippers. This enormous cOIlec-
ton IS based upon the registers Of
scales which belong to and are Oper-
aJed entirely by the railroads Neither
the shipper, the government, nor any
other agent has any authority over
them or any definite Information upon
which TO guage their accuracy. In or
der 10 secure Information which viii
enable the government to reach re-
liable conclusions as to what should
be done to guarantee the accuracy Of
the railroad weight, as well as TO aid
-
the government last year appropriated
$4,000 TO the bureau of standards
for the purchase Of test weight car
equipment
II IS expected this equipment viii be
ready for use in July and as soon as
possible after that the inspection Of
some Of the scales upon the eastern
railroads viii begin.
The ordinary railroad scales are so
arranged that the wheels, brakes and
other movable parts of the car are in
cluuec IN Its standard weight The in
accuracy Of this is apparent since
wheel may need to be replaced and
the new wheel may differ materially
IN weight from the former, or some
other part Of the car may need re-
pairs in some way that would increase
or lessen its weight The new equip
menU provided by the bureau of stan
uards includes a series Of 10000 pound
weights and a truck for moving them
on the scales is carried in a specially
designed car provided with q power
crane and other accessories for hand
ling the weights The advantage of
this is that the weights may be stan
QardiZed and transported from one end
sOnable assurance that they viii re-
main constant " hen the running gear
is included in the weight of the test
car Il IS SUBJECT 10 numerous Farla-
lions which make IL necessary to fire.
Quently verify this weight.
Recognize Justice Of Complaint.
nlZlng the justice OF the provision for
protecting the public from inaccurate
freight weights. Several Weighmas-
tiers Of railroads were in attendance at
the conference Of weights and meas
ures and gave close attention to the
diagrams demonstrating the working
of the gigantic new equipment for
testing railroad scales. Few companies
have a thorough system for the main
tenance Of correct standards in weight
or for making the changes and cor
rectiOnS required, so that until recent
" comparatively few railway track
Gales ever were tested and they were
regarded as correct until they were
decayed and Uncafe for use
One Railroad Tries New Scales
One Of the great railroads lately has
as its standard a four section,
81 foot track scale having a capacity
of 100000 pounds and embOdying the
most modern ideas Of scale cOnstrUc-
ton. In this type all of the wooden
have been eliminated
which used to decay and render the
scale unsafe No wood whatever IS
used in the scale proper, excepting
in the ties supporting the rail columns,
These ties are placed on the platform
to absorb the shock caused by the
wheels Of the car when they first
strike the platform and also to pro-
tect the scale in case of derailment.
With the old type Of scale the over
hanging portion Of the platform has
an opportunity to tip In the new
type the Overhang has been eliminated,
thus materially adding to the accuracy
as wen as the durability of the scale.
In order 10 insure accuracy, rail-
road company may provide itself with
q set Of master weights from the bu-
reau OF standards. which may be re-
turned to Washington from time to
time for notification. The last time
these weights belonging to one rail-
road were returned for notification II
was found that the so pound master
weight was out less than one part in
$4,000, or less than a grain in so
pounds With the possibility of Sc
curing such close accuracy viii come
a recognition Of the necessity of legls-
latiOn to enforce it upon all railroads
With the master weights as stan
dards, the value of the other weights
comparison A specially constructed
balance has been designed for this
purpose with the high sensibility vary
ing less than two grains in 1000 ounces
After the shop weights are made to
conform with the master weights the
so pound test weights can be checked
and resealed, as they VIII be used TO
try out the master scale upon which
ter scale specially designed for this
recently has been built by
one large railroad 1t is Of all steel
construction with a capacity of 100, 900
pounds. Under load of $4,000 pounds
the weight of the heaviest test car
II shows sensibility or variance Of
less than pound
The Test Weight Cars.
After the test weight cars are proved
upon the master scale they are placed
in the care of a competent scale in
spectOr and started out along the vari-
Gus routes covered by the railroad.
Special Instructions are issued that no
work of any nature shall be done on
the cars in transit unless the scale in
spectOr is present, and that only such
repairs can be made as may be ac-
-ualy required for safety. These pre-
cautions are necessary to insure the
actual weight of the test cars at ali
times and by this system the actual
,uracy which may have developed can
soon be checked up and a compromise
made If necessary The test cars US
laly are sent upon routes requiring
SIX or eight weeks TO cover and after
each trip they are returned to the mas
ter scale and tested so that any mac
,uracy which may have developed can
be corrected The possibilities of in
lccuracies in freight weights under
these conditions are exceedingly low.
A test car under this system has been
known to make as many as seven
rips, aggregating as much as 10000
niles, without varying ten pounds in
weight, Notwithstanding that much of
his travel was during the winter
months.