Talking Points

Chapter 13 of "66 Centuries of Measurement" One of metrology's most valuable instruments was developed primarily to help solve a scientific problem rather distantly related to metrology. This instrument is the interferometer; its inventor, the eminent scientist Albert Abraham Michelson. As with most human progress, the work of the individual begins where his predecessors left off and is continued by his successors. This story really starts with Galileo and it is yet unfinished.The genesis of t...

It is not often that we get to write an article on metrology and politics. Most of the time, we remain within the realm of helping manufacturers be more efficient in their assembly, manufacturing and quality control processes and leave the politics to Washington. However, in the case of the medical device excise tax scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2013, we will make an exception. The medical device excise tax is a component of the 2010 Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) that assesses a 2....

Chapter 12 of "66 Centuries of Measurement" The man who did more than any of his predecessors to bring precision measurement directly into the machine shop was Carl Edward Johansson. When he conceived his gage block idea, the tool room had not yet evolved. In 1887, at the age of 23, Johansson started his apprenticeship in Carl Gustaf's Rifle Factory at Eskilstuna. This organization supplied the Swedish army with rifles. The very purpose of such a product made its reliability imperative; this, i...

Chapter 11 of "66 Centuries of Measurement" The standardization of screw threads to achieve interchangeability has been as difficult a problem and perhaps more costly than the establishment of accepted length standards. As previously mentioned, Sir Joseph Whitworth was the first prominent crusader in the cause of standardization. Starting in 1841 he finally persuaded British industry to accept the Whitworth Thread. However, this thread system was based on the inch, which made it awkward fo...

Chapter 10 of "66 Centuries of Measurement" The fact that the Bureau of Standards has Meter Bar No. 27 and Bronze 11 does not necessarily assure a standard meter or foot in American shops. All national prototype length standards are carefully protected, assiduously guarded and relatively inaccessible. Except for a reliable means of transferring their lengths to available industrial standards these supreme standards would be practically useless. It has been stated in the STORY OF STANDARDS by J...