ENGINEERING STANDARDISATION. 
best modern practice, with the result that those manufacturers who, 
prior to the adoption of standards, were producing an inferior article, 
have to increase the quality or design if they desire to conform to the 
generally accepted standards. Standards are revised periodically, so 
as to keep pace with technological progress. This is all to the advantage 
of the consumers, who obtain a high-grade standard article, and can 
do so merely by reference to the accepted standard specification. This 
tends to eliminate disputes, and to simplify the preparation and enforce- 
ment of contracts. 
The supreme value of standardisation from the point of view of 
mass production and economy in cost was strongly emphasized during 
the war. The maintenance of an adequate supply of munitions of war 
was possible only as the result of standardisation and specialization, 
while in regard to civilian clothes and various other materials the 
exigencies of economical production necessitated the adoption of 
standardised methods. It is obvious that if in normal times the 
standardisation of any considerable number of articles and products 
could be effected, while at the same time making sufficient allowance 
for individual variations in style and taste, there would be an enormous 
increase in the efficiency of production, accompanied by a corresponding 
decrease in cost. 
Though screw-threads were standardised in 1841 very little further 
progress in engineering standardisation was made until the beginning 
of the present century. The International Association for Testing 
Materials had its origin in a conference of a small group of engineers 
held at Munich in 1882. Meetings on a larger scale were subsequently 
held, and the International Association was formally established at a 
congress held at Zurich in 1895. The seventh congress which was to 
have been held at Petrograd in 1915 was suspended on account of the 
war. The objects of the Association, as set forth in its by-laws, are :— 
“The development and unification of standard methods of testing; the 
examination of the technically important properties of materials of 
construction and other materials of practical value, and also the per- 
fecting of apparatus used for the purpose.” The subject of standard 
specifications has also been included with the scope of the Association’s - 
activity. Its total membership, representing 31 countries, before the 
war was 2,769. The work of the Association is carried out partly by 
International Committees and partly by individual members. 
The American Society for Testing Materials was established in 
1898 for the purpose of promoting knowledge of the materials of 
engineering and the standardisation of specifications and methods of 
testing. It is now an organization of the highest importance with a 
membership of 2,200, comprising practically all the leading engineers . 
of the United. States. It is strongly supported by engineering associa- 
tions and societies, by large corporations and by manufacturers and 
users throughout the country, while the technical and scientific Depart- 
ments of the Federal Government, such as the Bureau of Chemistry, 
the Bureau of Mines, the Forest Products Laboratory, the Bureau of 
Standards, and the Federal Arsenal all closely co-operate in its work. 
The Society is controlled: by an Executive Committee consisting of 
C.11156.—5 241 
