Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-04
A World Monopoly
Broken
NJ vndsrss J. Has1,u

1 ~ SsSSv' - =. \
washington. ID. c.. Feb. 4.--An Amer
lean inventor and O scientific bureau
OF tho American Government. working
together, have broken world monop-
oily. raised the standard OF American
manufacturing. and saved tho Ameri-
can manufacturers sums which VIII
amount to millions In O few years.
The story Of how this was done Is
already well known TO most rnechanicsi
engineers. and others who closely foi-
low Developments In mechanical tecn-
noIogy. but IL has never been Adequately
told TO tho general public. Yet IL ~
surely of first-class interest 70 @veIy
American, as showing how scientiilc
bureau of his government woras 20
help both industry as a whole. and inn-
viduals who need help Ia deveiopins
their ideas. IL IL Of special interest
right now. when tho whole country
seems to be adopting q critical atotudo
toward Federal activities and Federsi
expansion. There seems TO be a gen
crai feeling that we got too much FED
eral Government during the war, ana
n desire 10 find out just what the gov
ernment ought TO DO and what IL
ought not to DO.
one Of the smallest parts Of the FED
eral Government is it's system OF scien-
tinc laboratories where scientific prob
ierns bearing on agriculture. industry
and health are worked out These
bureaus are not primarily aduliniHtra-
tive. They represent cooperative
effort on tho part OF the American
people to apply science 70 the problems
Of their daily lives. They are often
criticized Ia Congress and elsewhere
| for their extravagance and they Yp'
about one per cent of the money mp
propriated to run the Federal Govern
ment in 1920
The Bureau Of Standards is a typi'
| cal one Of these bureaus. 1t mhtntain'
/ standards Of weight, measure, ana tn'
/ like, and does work toward standardn
| ing materials, which iB perhaps IN
I greatest single step toward economy II
/ manufacture. It tests all OF the ma
terials purchased By the government
and also makes tests for private tndi
viduals and concerns. for some Of Unici
a fee is charged This story illustrate
how tins bureau operates 70 help n
dustry. and how il pays for itself I
| benefits to industry.
A Gauge Needed.
During the war the Bureau OF Ord
nance OF the War Department ha'
great need for same standard by whici
| very fine measurements could be rnads
For example. suppose they wanted Z
make a part Of a shell 1896 inches Il
thickness. The success in maxim
those shslls would depend on measur
ing that distance exactly and settin
! -
nude.
This problem arises IN ali sorts Q
| manufacture Of machinery, wher
things are made in quantity, and wher
| the parts are supposed TO 10 inter
cfaugeabIa. This business Of inter
changeabie manufacture IS one in whic
America leads the world. In EUroE
much OF the finest mechanical n1anS
facture Ia not on an interchangeao
, basla. That IA, some Of the anei
foreign automobiles, for example. Al
, made each By itself Each bearing
! fitted separately 20 IS crank shaft
you broke the crank shaft. you coui
J not send 20 the factory and get a ne
one that would 1T You have 20 hat
one made 70 the measurements Of otht
parts of your cara long and expensis
/
finest cars are made on an Interchange
able basis. Economy. both in rnant
facture and repair. naturally depend
: upon this interchangeable system. An
Interchangeable manufacture. in tur
depends above all. upon microscop
exactitude Of measurement II mea.
: urements can be made 10 the ten-thoI
sandth Of an inch. and the usachin'
set with that exactitude. and frequent
corrected. then the machine can tuI
out parts which are. 70 all inten
and purpose. exactly alike. No mea
urement can be absolutely exact.
course. That Is why your new c
works stiff"
What the manufacturer needs abo'
all then, is some sort Of measure whiS
| he can set at any distance. and |
, which he can correct his micromete
Z and other Instruments. Before the W
entirely--and TO a great extent un
!. just recentIy-there was only one flr
: IN the world which made such mea
: uring apparatus. That was the fir
J OF .. E. Jchannson OF Sweden. tt
I firm made little sets OF 81 steel bloch
, looking like children's building bloch
The popularity OF these blocks was IN
each surface OF each block was abs
F! lutely fiat, absolutely parallel 70 q
: other surface, and the distance betwe
e the two surfaces known with exact
= tude 70 the ten-thousandth OF an inc
The smallest Of these blocks was Ia
= an inch thick and the largest fO'
: inches thick, but the 81 interveniI
u blocks showed a great variety Of siz
in -thousandths Of an inch. Th'
I. are so graded that by piling few
: these blocks together you can get al
measurement that need not be An
than this ten thousandth Of an inc
: BY this little pile OF blocks you can 5
q q micrometer or machine, and
=, sure OF your accuracy.
5. The Swedish Secret.
= The only trouble was that \
/. Johannson Of Sweden would not {
any one how he made those surfac
perfactly fat. Mind you. in any go
+ machine shop you might make a
: of precision gauge blocks. as they q
: called, just like Mr.. Johannson's. O
: by one. doing all the work by haI
J It would be a very long. slow Job. J
: Johannson's great advantage was N
7 no had discovered some way OF maxi
! these things BY machinery. rapidly 8