TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION G. 767 



have not been able to do so, is that very rarely in America does a consulting 

 engineer come between the manufacturer and the user, whereas here it is the 

 fashion for the majority of purchasers of machinery to engage a consulting 

 engineer to specify and inspect any machinery of importance. By this I do not 

 impute any blame to our consulting engineer ; he considers the requirements of 

 his client, and insists that they are to be adhered to as closely as possible ; to him 

 the facility of the production of articles in large quantities is of no moment. In 

 America it seems to be understood by the purchaser that it is a distinct advantage 

 to everyone concerned, both manufacturer and purchaser, that the purchaser 

 should to some extent give way and modify his requirements so as to conform 

 with the standard patterns turned out by the manufacturer. Although manu- 

 facturers all hope for this simplification of patterns, yet, for the reasons I have 

 given, it will be some time before their hope is realised. But on other matters it 

 is quite possible for manufacturers to combine, so as to obtain some standardisa- 

 tion of parts which they manufacture which wiU reduce costs and be of advantage 

 to everyone concerned. Many years ago Sir Joseph Whitworth impressed on the 

 ■world the importance in mechanical engineering of extreme accuracy, and of secur- 

 ing the accurate tit and interchangeability of parts by standard gauges. But in spite 

 of his idea being so widely known and taught, how seldom it has been acted upon 

 to the extent that it should be. We pride ourselves on having all our screws made 

 of Whitworth standard, and yet how many of the standard bolts and nuts 

 made by different makers fit one another ? I myself have sat on a committee 

 of this Association which was called together twenty years ago, with Sir Joseph 

 Whitworth as a member of it, to fix on a screw gauge which would be a satisfactory 

 continuation of the Whitworth screw gauge down to the smallest size of screw 

 used by watchmakers.* It has taken all these years to carry out the logical outcome 

 of Sir Joseph Whitworth's original idea, viz., the providing of standards to be 

 deposited in care of a public authority to act as standard gauges of references. 

 The complete interchangeability of parts which I have above referred to, and 

 which is so desirable in modern machinery, can, of course, be obtained within the 

 limits of one works by that works providing and maintaining its own standards to 

 a sufficient degree of accuracy. But if the articles be such as watches or bicycles, 

 motor-cars, &c., it is very desirable that all parts liable to require replace- 

 ment should be made by all manufacturers to one standard of size, and in 

 order that the gauges required for this purpose should all be exact copies 

 of one another it is necessary that they should be referable to gauges 

 deposited either with the Board of Trade or -with some body specially fitted to 

 verify them and maintain their accuracy. 



Up to the present the Board of Trade has dealt with the simple standards 

 of weight, capacity, and length, but in other countries National Standardising 

 Laboratories have been provided, viz., by the Germans at their Reichsanstalt 

 at Charlottenburg, and with the happiest results; here at last, through the 

 exertion of the Council of the Royal Society, our Government has been moved to 

 give a grant in aid and to co-operate with the Royal Society to establish a National 

 Physical Laboratory for this country. About ten years ago Dr. Oliver Lodge gave 

 the outlines of a scheme of work for such an institution. Later Sir Douglas 

 Galton, in his Presidential Address to this Association, called attention to the 

 good work done by the Germans and the crying need that existed for such an 

 institution in this country. The matter has since progressed. A laboratory is 

 already in existence, and will soon be at work, at Bushy House, Teddington : it 

 is a large i-esidence, which was once occupied by the late Duke of Clarence and 

 afterwards by the Due de Nemours. It will make an admirable laboratorv, as it 

 has large and lofty rooms and a vaulted basement in which work can be carried on 

 where it is important to secure the observer against changes of temperature. 



The aims of a National Physical Laboratory have been well put forward by 

 Dr. Glazebrook in a recent lecture at the Royal Institution, in which he points out 

 how little science has up to the present come to be regarded as a commercial factor 



' A report of this Committee will come before you during this meeting. 



