The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-04-28
BUREAUS TASK IS TO FIX STANDARD
FOR ALL SORTS OF THINGS
Not Only Weights and Measures but About Every Detail Of Eyerv
Public Utility Passed Upon by Federal Bureau of Standards
Idea Is to Present WeI-Test Methods Which Will
Commend Themselves to All States

Commend Thems
Washington.-Ever since the advent
of the new year the bureau Of stand
ards of the department of commerce
has been deluged with inquiries from
all corners Of the country concerning
standards OF everything from electric
and gaslight brilliance to the strength
of water pipe. And most Of these re-
quests are, pouring in from public serv
ice corporations and their old enemies
the public utilities commissions.
Primarily the bureau of standards
was charged with the duty of testing
and determining standards Of exact
measurements of every kind and ma
ture. A steel yardstick which may be
a yard long in June will be something
less than yard in cold December, and
It is the bureaus task to find out what
constitutes real yard under all con.
ditions. Naturally. in pursuing this
chase for elusive constants the bureau
branched of, more or less, into meas
urtng things other than yardsticks, and
among other details it became inter
ested in learning what amount Of cleo
tricity should 30 into an electric light.
As this was only step from learning
what constitutes q real gaslight candle
power, the bureau learned that also.
Several years ago, 1t appears. those
who planned for the future of the bu-
reau anticipated that eventually they
would be called upon to referee the
constant clashes between public serv'
ice corporations and those state and
municipal commissions appointed to
regulate the corporations. They felt
that the day would come when the
word of the bureau of standards must
settle such controversies, and they set
to work to rig up their administrative
plant to provide for it.
And Just as they planned the need
arose. and they were prepared. For
a while the public utility experiments
and decisions of the bureau were car
ried along as a rather unclassified por-
ton of its administrative burden, but
as the demand for Information in
creased along public utility lines 1t
was finally decided to set aside GER
tain part of the bureaus force into
separate quarters and put them to the
task of working out the destiny OF
those corporations which serve tho
public.
Some Knotty Problems.
Electric light and gas companies and
street railways furnish most Of the
knotty problems the bureau is called
upon to solve in the public utilities
field, and perhaps NO problem has CIV
en- the bureau more study and trouble
than the process of electrolysis Of un-
derground pipes in cities where the
streets are honeycombed by pipes of
all sorts.
Most of the street railways are op-
Grated ON the single. overhead trolley
plan, with the electric current passing
through the car into the track. via the
wheels. after 1t has passed through the
car motors. Most of the current rs
properly conducted back to the gene
rating stations, but some Of 1t escapes
and menaces gas and water pipes in
the vicinity. These stray currents
produce what Is known as electrolysis.
which eats away the pipes. This leads
to constant wrangling between the
street railway companies and the cor
porations whose pipes have been in
jured. While it has so far been almost
impossible to completely prevent the
corroding Of pipes thus exposed, the
bureau has been able to advise public
utilities commissions how to compel
the various corporations involved to
mitigate this current waa.age and the
consequent evil effects.
As q result of tests made during the
past year at st. Louis. Springfield,
Mass, and Springfield, o., the bureau
has been enabled to lay down some
definite rules which will prevent a
great deal OF damage from this agency.
Bonding of the joints of rails to give
greater, conductivity to the rails, was
one plan. Another was embodied in
radical roadbed changes, to lessen the
connections between the earth and the
rails. At present the bureau is con-
Quoting tests to show the extent of
electrolytic action on pipes of all kinds
and this is expected to throw addi-
k(ooo1 Ni~I>k ~, TIN ruockion
The bureau gets every assistance
from the gas and electric companies
and from municipalities. while the
street railway companies usually give
but scant attention to the matter. The
reason is obvious, as the results Of the
work tend to increase the cost to the
railway companies through the neces-
sary installation of safeguards, where
as railways themselves are not con-
cerned in the matter Of damaged pipes
owned by other parties, unless law
suit results, and the courts have been
able to get very little action here.
Gas Service Standards.
Determining service standards Of
gas. both for heating and Illuminating,
Is another factor in the work OF the
bureau. Most city and state utility
commissions rule rather uniformly on
the matter Of meters, meter testing,
heating value and candle power Of the
gas product, degree Of chemical purity
and amount Of pressure required, but
the bureau experts have been able to
formulate a set of uniform regulations.
It is the aim of the bureau to make