Evening star., 1923-06-24

four feet onto a concrete floor are
indorsed as satisfactory for heavy
use.
THE United States Army has al
i ready revamped its tumbler spec
ihcations as a result of the national
glass smashing experiments, and Un-
Gle Sam now saves large amounts
of money, annually, in his purchase
of these supplies, which are used at
his training camps and Army posts.
The United States scientists have
also exposed dishware and glasses
to extremes of heat and cold, simu-
lating the conditions to which the
culinary articles are subjected in the
large commercial restaurants or
hotels where mechanical dish-wash
ing machines are used. Glassware of
tests to find out the respective powers
of withstanding regular and routine
sterilization.
Study is being made, for the first
time in the history of crockery pro-
duction, of the cobwebs of cracks
which occasionally appear in inferior
dishes, in order to find out the cause
and, IL possible, to remedy the defects.
Detailed tests are being made with
porcelain and enamelware, to deter
mine the durability and serviceability
of these articles of household i'm
portance.
Altogether more than 5000 samples
of plate glass and window glass have
Id =
finally reduced to scraps in these as
tonishing studies of glass durability.
The Investigations are still being
continued, and by the time they are
completed every deep secret of hotel
tumblers and tea-room china will
have been disclosed. 1t is anticipated
that shortly the glass manufacturers,
architects and dealers In glazing
glass will agree on specifications for
plate glass and window glass which
will result from these Investigations
In the manufacture Of milk bottles
needless expense Is incurred under
present conditions because of lack
of uniformity in the sizes and mark
ings required by the different states
To eliminate this source of waste Is
the purpose of the bureau Of standards
activities. Uncle Sam is seeking to
standardize sizes and markings by
mutual agreement among manufac-
turers and dairymen, and by legisla-
tion permitting the adoption of these
standards all over the country. Such
proposed laws would give the bureau
of standards the authority to pre-
scribe a standard for milk bottles
exactly as it does for weights and
measures.
AS matters now stand, the manu-
facturers' marks in different states
have to be different, while the sizes
of milk bottles are not uniform. One
state requires a bottle to be filled
to within a quarter of an inch of
the cap, while an adjoining state may
require the bottle to be entirely full.
There are twenty-three sizes of milk
bottle caps in use today and the va
riety of bottles is equally great.
THESE variant requirements are a
i great source of unnecessary ex-
pense. Bottles are made by ma
chinery at the rate of one every two
or three seconds.
Each bottle ds blown into a mold
This mold Is made Of steel, with the
necessary letters and markings
carved into it by hand. The lack of
uniformity in sizes and markings
means that the manufacturer has to
keep on hand set Of these expensive
molds adapted to the laws of each
state in which he does business. Lack
of uniformity results in a duplica-
ton of equipment and a higher cost
of manufacturing for which the pub
lie has to pay in the form Of an in
creased milk bill.
One of the leading Washington
hotels, in cooperation with leading
hostelries in New York, Philadelphia,
Montreal and four other prominent
cities, is now testing out the sery-
iceability of made America china
aware against that of French and
German dishes. The laboratory tests
conducted by. Uncle Samuel have
proved that our. homespun plates,
cups and saucers are more durable
than the best of the foreign dishes.
American hotels have been greatly
interested in these scientific results
and IL the efficiency tests now being
conducted in the eight hotels men-
toned corroborate the laboratory
Investigations our home-producsd
china will, therefore, be used almost
exclusively In public eating places.
Our hotel industry will save mil
lions of dollafs annually IL more du-
rable dishes can be produced and
popalarized. All the scientific evil
dence is to the effect that the best
American produced china and glass
ware will now I'LL the bill