Evening star., 1923-06-24
f all the amateur jugglers in the
country could be turned loose in
our leading crockery stores and

country could be turned loose in
our leading crockery stores and
- permitted to practice their stunts
without interruption, irrespective of
what damage they did, the smash and
rattle of plates and saucers, the crash
and crackle of chinaware destroyed,
would be quite similar to the din and
clamor you can hear out Cleveland
Park way. where Uncle Sam is test
ing out the durability and efficiency
of all kinds of crockery and glass,
in order to formulate satisfactory
specifications that will eliminate the
leaks and losses from potential pro-
duction.
To step into the laboratories of the
ceramics division of the United States
bureau of standards. where the ex-
traordinary dish-smashing stunts are
in progress, the average layman
might we'll believe himself in a. dish
ware bazaar of the Far East which
had but recently been exposed to the
attacks of a wild elephant. Dishes
hreak in great quantities and the
accumulation of debris ever grows.
Great stacks of plates, saucers and
tumblers piled almost ceiling high
confront you on every side. awaiting
their turns to serve as victims to the
Investigations of standardizing
science.
Right here in Washington the most
htupendous dish breaking campaign
ever staged is we'll under headway
Science is seeking the answer to
number of perplexing dishware puz-
zles. The only practical method of
solving the riddles is to break the
dishes, keep accurate tab on the con-
ditions and results, and repeat the
tests often enough to demonstrate
their average correctness.
X X x
nISH destruction is one of the most
H. costly items on the expense ac-
counts of our palatial American hotels.
One eastern hostelry of international
repute spends $50, 900 annually for new
dishes and glassware to replace those
broken during the exigencies of serv-
ice. A leading Chicago hotel reports
that it spends $4,000 annually for
imported chinaware alone. which has
TO be purchased to substitute for
broken plates, cups and saucers.
Many hotels experience 20 per cent
dish breakage every year. If one
could tabulate the dish breakage
losses of the thousands of public
dining rooms scattered everywhere
throughout the United States. the
total would run into the millions of
dollars annually.
Naturally, any advisable systems
which will curtail these heavy losses
are courted by the hotel fraternity
That is why the American Hotel AS
ISOLATION is cooperating in every way
possible with your Uncle Samuel to
standardize chinaware and glass
manufacture and to take the extrava-
CANT break out OF chinaware and
glass tumblers.
When organized science undertakes
the task of smashing dishes. her rep
resentatives do not merly arm them
selves with hatchets. hammers and
sledges preparatory to destroying in
Vulnerable crates and barrels of
crockery. They do not enlist the as
sistance of explosives or minor artil-
lery. They do harness the knowledge
OF theory and practice and the many
mechanical devices they have avail
able to the curious task of chinaware
destruction.
AS a consequence, machine that is
capable of exerting a pressure equiv
alent to 100000 pounds is used in
some of the glass-testing expert
ments. 1t Is so arranged as to CEN
tralize tremendous force at one
point in the glass test sample. This
force Is so great that the huge con-
trivance can smash pieces Of the
most resistant wire glass into smith
Greens. A special pressure measuring
gauge keeps track of the power nee
essary in each case to break the
sample of glass.
Other technical apparatus, express
1y contrived for determining the
wind pressure on window glass, is Of
special interest. These novel investi-
cations embrace studies of all kinds
of glass which in any way are similar
TO table glassware. They are aiding
architects in getting to the bottom of
complicated enigmas which previous
ly have been entirely elusive. Under
the laboratory conditions, wind pres
sure is simulated by water pressure,