to permit examination for grading, is laid on its broadest side in 

 the center of concentric circles scribed on the base board, the maxi- 

 mum and minimum diameters are noted, and the center height is sighted 

 between the backboard scale and the front half -inch-marked post, A 

 single figure that gives the approximate volume of the sponge can be 

 obtained by dividing the product of the three diameters by two.V This 

 method of measurement is faster than is the determination of perimeters 

 •with a tape measure, gives one figure instead of two, comes close to 

 the true volume, and avoids inept placing of the tape or pulling it too 

 tightly or too loosely. A wet sponge is easily distorted, 



-'The volume of a sphere is equal to*tf 1)3. The coefficent -rf is 



to 3»1 which is approximately equal to 1/2 or 0.5. Since the sponge 



b 

 is not truly soherical, the figure 0.5 is close enough to the true value 



of 0.52. 



RECOMMENDATIONS FOR GRADING STANDARDS 



The following is a report of a meeting of the Sponge Exchange, 

 held on November 8, 1955 at Tarpon Springs, Florida: 



1. Each part of the present "Federal Specification for Sponges, 

 Natural" under the number C-S-631b, June 2h, 19^1 of the Federal Stan- 

 dard Stock Catalog, Section IV, Part 5, as well as Amendments 1 and 2, 

 was discussed and agreement reached as to recommendation for retain- 

 ment or modification thereof. 



2. On several occasions it was brought out that the members of 

 the Exchange felt' that the most important recommendation they wished 

 to make was: 



"Wherever foreign natural sponges are compared with domestic natu- 

 ral sponges both grouos should be treated in exactly the same manner. 

 For instance, in C-S-631b, Paragraph B-l labeled "Type", Type I and 

 Type XII and Type HII are considered by some purchasing agents to be 

 approximately equivalent and are so indicated on requests for bids. 

 Since Type HI and Type HII include both forms and cuts, mixed, while 

 Type I allows only forms to be considered and since cuts are usually 

 accepted as being lower priced than forms, Type I (the domestic) sponges 

 have been unjustly penalized. Obviously "mixed" must be defined as 

 50-50, etc., for similar reasons. 



It was recommended that Type I should, therefore, include cuts 

 and that "mixed" should be defined. In fact, this may have been the 

 original intention of the Specifications since Rock Island sheepswool 

 middle range cuts No. 1 are not listed under any type although both 

 cuts and forms are listed for No. 2 quality. This change should be 

 made as soon as possible. 



5U 



