Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-03
AMERICA MILLIONS
Bureau Standards M Pointing the Nay Efficiency E0ythi
From Paper Work Is
Resulting Huge Sa7ings That affect the Pkbo Of the Whole Nation

termlnlnR now muCn q I0mIiy can AHOrQ 10 pay
for home, methods Of financing, factors to
consider in selecting location, checking prop
erty values and legal details. All these things
and many more discussed in q bulletin
How to Own Your Home It discusses too,
such matters as house plans, the quality Of
construction, the relative advantages of buying
or building how 10 examine q house that is
being considered for purchase, the selecting of
a contractor and estimating the maintenance
costs and other expenses of ownership. This
pamphlet and the new one, Present Home
Financing Methods give the prospective home
builder a pretty fair idea of how to make
home which will at least be based on sound
preliminary plans, and he will know, TOO,
whether or not he is getting a fair return
his expenditures.
M. Hoover, also in 1921, appointed an Adj
visory Committee Building Codes. Eminent
professional architects and engineers worked
with the Bureau to determine the types and
quality of construction that safe, sound,
durable and economical. We undertook les
OF experiments to determine the best principles
OF design for plumbing system in small houses.
AS a result, savings of from 500 to 5000 a
house are oflen effected, and q much more
satisfactory job is assured than was possible
under the standards previously in
ITO discover the underlying principles of all
these matters a vast amount of laboratory work
was necessary Full sized masonry walls mode
OF different kinds of brick and mortar ho' wv
tile or concrete and constructed of sew IL
thicknesses and DIES gns, tested to mea u
the load they will stand, to what degree tn9y
VIII resist the inroads of fire, how they will
stop the passage Of sound and retain the heat
Of the ho'Tso = n,ld weather"
THUS far burgess had talked about the
hons itself and the manner in which CO.
operation is established with the house builder
He went on to tell of one curious commentary
On savings effected, as compared with expenses
Of the bureau:
"Ou- research work in the matter of auto
mobiles is constant and it seems to me- of
extreme value This work includes improye-
naent in the ease of riding; headlight systems
their regulation and adjustment; problems in
fabrication, crank case dilution, cold starting
piston friction; more effective fuels and the re-
latlon of gas to the car, fuel dopes and knock
Mgs With several national organizations we
are cooperating in the endeavor to make drive
ing safer unifying highway signs standardiz-
ing rules of the road. control lights and car
ngnts standardizing bumpers and developing
tests and specifications for tires The results
OF our brake lining research alone have en-
Abed manufacturers to save over $40 O00 oo0
year to the car owners"
And the cost of the Bureau OF Standards Il,
the taxpayers for the year 1929 was less than
$S,OO0,oo0-or 10 per cent Of what the bureau
saved the motor-car driver In brake Innings
during the same period! @5-.-
some manner virtually every home In the coun-
try. just how the radio affects them is n mat
Ter OF argument. Some folks like the radi -
some don't However that may be- the prob
lenns OF radio are such that the bureau has the
duty OF setting up maintaining and making
available the fundamental standards and
measurements upon which the great broad
casting structure rests And this funcf -,
with its ever-increasing demand for exa. ss
and more extended service, IL no small IL
And speaking Of ezactness this rep r.
while digging around in the laboratories wee
they md out things about heat and cold dis
covered that they had constructed an inst. u-
Ment for measuring . temperature of 45S oe-
gTees below normal zero, and that by
hqnefying heliuna, hydrogen and q few o.her
things and putting them under pressure this
temperature has been obtained and recorded.
This Is only an example of the more highly
technical Enstters coming within the activities
Of the bureau, yet it serves to illustrate how
widely diversified its work s-from the faucet
in the kitchen sink to q temperature below
which there isn't any.
Again DR. Burgess talked Of affairs more
nearly connected with the family and its well
fare.
Matters relating to health are not within
the bureaus domain. but your family physician
uses several appliances which may be tested by
us. The fever thermometer is one of them; his
60Od-counting and blood pressure apparatus
are others. If the thermometer the doctor uses
has not been tested by the bureau you may be
reasonably sure that it has been checked by the
manufacturer against q standard certified by
us. There is Legislation pending in Congress to
compel the testing of all doctors thermometers
under the auspices of the bureau Such q
practice is followed in Germany, France and
Japan, and it would seem to be wise to have
similar safeguards for our population.
Then, too, We have furnished basic informa-
ton the important question of the char
Acteristics of glass which allows the passage