Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-01-30

nitely and accurately determined
beforehand in two little air tunnels
at the bureau. One of these tunnels
gives a wind speed of ninety miles
per hour. while the other gets up
red-hot cyclonic speed of 100 miles
per hour. This is done through the
use of an airplane propeller at the
end of the tunnel DIR. Stratton fur
nishes the tunnels and the breezes
and the government or the manufac-
turers furnish small models OF their
planes. Between them practically all
problems of the air are solved before
the initial flight is taken. Airplane
instruments are tested in this
manner.
To definitely find out what effect
various degrees of cold would have
the bureau scientists erected an ar
tight little building with netting In
1T but an airplane engine. rms
building was connected with pipe
Heading to refrigerating plant, thus
enabling them to study the atmospheric
the earth. This interesting plan has
been of tremendous value in the safe
Standardization of engines and deli
cate Instruments, also in the pre-
vention of the loss of valuable time.
! "A trip through the structural, mis-
section of the bureau is a rare treat
This division is pre-eminently the IN
dustrial part of the plant. it's vast
! work is carried on in close co-opera-
ton with the various industries from
one end of the country to the other
and includes the testing of the ordi-
NARY materials used for CONSTITUTIONAL
work and in the making of rubber
and leather goods, textiles and paper.
-: One section is devoted to the testing
] of metals and wood and is equipped
with machines capable of determining
| the properties OF any size specimen.
i from piece of wood weighing few
| ounces to full size steel column used
the construction of a massive sky
| scrapcr. One Of the testing machines
| used in this work is the largest pre-
c;sion testing machine in the world
| having capacity of 100000 pounds
| compression and about one-half
| nat in tension. 1t is so designed that
9th tensile and compressive strength
/ tests can be carried out with the
highest degree of accuracy and with
comparatively little effort. Besides
this machine. the bureau owns a still
having total capacity of 100000
pounds. This machine is located in
the branch laboratory of the bureau
at Pittsburgh. Pa, but it is the in
| the earliest opportunity. The me-
chanical equipment of this section in
| cludes, besides the above tensile
ana compressive machines, a full as
| 'ortment of torsional. cross-bend
! impact and hardness testing machines.
| THE fnvestiga ton of airplane woods
f, conducted before and during the
| far is the most complete ever at
| cn?pted. The bureaus service to the
government consists in large
amount of routine testing of steel and
i other substances and in certain in
i vestigations requiring the accurate
determination of the physical proper
ties of materials.
| When one considers the millions of
pounds OF cement and concrete used
| in this country every year in the con-
/, struction of buildings and all sorts of
public works the Importance of hav-
! mes sur. ment can be fully appreci-
ated; Tests are conducted in the
| washington laboratory and in the
| neld. All cement used in govern
mental construction work is care
! the war this testing assumed such
| large proportions that it became
necessary to establish number of
oranch labora tories about the coun-
Try. one OF the unique phases Of this
work during the war was largely de-
voted to the perfecting of a particu-
larly light and strong concrete for
use in ship construction. 1t was
snrougn these practical efforts of the
bureau OF standards that the Shipping
Board was ena bled to build concrete
vessels OF maximum carving ca
pacity with minimum weight. There
is possibility of such ships eventu-
ally revoIuti onizing water traffic.
The general ShnrtaOo of p.no, e..
the past year has caused a lookout
for other materials than wood pulp
from winch to make paper. Having a
complete paper mill in the bureau
| makes it possible thoroughly to test
all sorts of materials sent in by rep
resentatives from their constituents
and many others. who are confident
they have found something that will
solve the problem. Cotton stalks,
banana stalks and rice straw are
| among the many articles thus far
tried out. Paper has been made from
! these articles. but for various reasons
they have not thus far been a COM
| mercial success.
The amount of paper used by the
government each year is something
colossal. 1t is hard to believe that
10000. 900 pounds of paper are used
annually by the various departments,
but such is the case. One of the tasks
OF the bureau is to test this paper to
see that 1t conforms to the specifica-
lions under which it was bought.
Standard tests of paper have been de-
Veloped and the government officials
no longer stand for receptions This
class of work is called routine testing
and consists of chemical and physical
tests and microanalysis.
Discovering the effects of freezing
and thawing on building stones, con-
crete and bricks of different kinds is
accomplished by an automatic freez-
ing apparatus. Forty-eight freezings
and thawings can be accomplished in
one day. Obviously. this safeguards
builders who are DESTROYS of knowing
what will happen before it happens.
Every woman in the United States
will be interested in the outcome of
an experiment that is now being con-
Quoted with fax. If the result is sat
isfactory, 1T is more than likely that
all linen goods will be greatly re-
duced in price and the growing of flax
in America will rapidly develop. 1t
is believed that by a chemical process
the degumming and retting of flax
can be greatly simplified. and expe-
dited, which would result in greatly
increased activity in the industry, and
it might be possible for every woman
to have nothing but linen table,
cloths, napkins and sheets in her
home, thus doing away with the more
or less cotton articles in use at pres
ent. The new treatment is to dis