Talking Points

Chapter 17 of "66 Centuries of Measurement" During the second decade of the 20th century, industrial leaders, especially those in the young automotive industry, were beginning to appreciate the value of tolerances closer than those for which fixed size gages were suitable.  William Bagley, chief inspector for Studebaker, was among the first to advocate replacing these fixed size gages with instrument gages for mass production operations. Without precision indicating comparators, the full ...

Chapter 16 of "66 Centuries of Measurement" The familiar dial indicator is a legacy from the 19th century watchmakers of New England, developed primarily as a watchmaker's gage. Its broad usefulness to industry in general was not recognized until later. It is possible at this time, only to speculate on the motivation behind its development. It is readily understandable that the watchmakers, by the nature of their product, were concerned with precision measurement. But the micrometer had been a...

Chapter 14 of "66 Centuries of Measurement" By the end of the nineteenth century the American machine tool industry had been firmly established and was growing vigorously with Cincinnati as its capital. Machine tool progress and the concurrent railroad expansion had provided the strongest stimuli to metrological development during the last hald of the nineteenth century. Its basic theory had been established, and the rewards for further refinement were becoming increasingly attractive. The twe...

How often have you taken a class, seemingly understand everything while you’re there, only to realize that after you’re back on the job you have a million questions and no instructor to answer them? The PC-DMIS Level 1 Booster class addresses this need. More informal than the week-long PC-DMIS CAD Level 1 class, the booster class is ideal for those students who head back to the shop to gain some real-world experience on their own CMM and recognize they still have questions. Jot down the questio...

Since today is election day in the US, I decided to publish this chapter out of sequence since it documents the US government's contribution to measurement via the "National Bureau of Standards" (today called NIST). Enjoy, and don't forget to vote! Chapter 14 will be published tomorrow. Chapter 15 of "66 Centuries of Measurement" "The basic and primary standards (length, mass, and time) are the principal responsibility of the National Bureau of Standards.” These were the words, except those in...