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N ational Conference of Standards Laboratorie s

NCSL NEWSLETTER 67-4 DECEMBER 15 1967

SEASONS GREETINGS

THE

OFFICERS

AND MEMBERS

OF THE BOARD OF

DIRECTORS OF THE NATIONAL

CONFERENCE OF STANDARDS LABORATORIES

EXTEND TO THE READERS OF OUR NEWSLETTERS

BEST WISHES FOR THE HOLIDAY SEASON AND A HOPE

FOR A YEAR TO COME FILLED WITH PEACE AND HAPPINESS

FOR

ALL

OF

US

NEWS OF NCSL

The newly elected officers and board members of NCSL met in Boston on November 3 for their first business meeting It also was the occasion of the first workshop activity for NCSL in the New England area Credit goes to LEW WALLACE and HERB lliGRAHAM and SHEL RICHARDSON for their efforts in putting on the workshops with comparatively little lead time

LewIs workshop devoted to the theme of the relationship of standards laboratory personnel to the community the state and the country was an interesting animated and exciting experience for the attendees It was slanted toward the increasingly important role that the technical pe r s on should take in affairs outside the laboratory in order to provide to a questioning world some of the experience labor and knowhow so much needed in the solution of the pressing problems which beset all of us t hese days

Shel and Herb with the experience of three year s f ami l iarity with the NCSL Measurement Agreement programs were able to present to an interested audience the r esult s of previous comparisons and to bring out into the open some of the needs felt by laboratory personnel in the New England area Some photoshygraphs were made of the activities but your Editor must apologi ze f or spoiled shots of Shel and Herb In the photos on the next page Don Hervig is conductshyi ng a part of the discussion period in Fig 1 Lea Mason is doing t he same in Fig 3- and Frank Hermach has his attendees in another corner in Fi g 4 In Fig 2 Lew Wallace and a group are going at a discussion point to determine a consensus of opinion At the conclusion of both sessions attendees exshypressed their sincere feelings when they stated that New England should have more such activities

NCSL BOARD NEWS

Several itemE of gene r al interest were acted upon at the November 3 meeting As a first order of business E ARSENAULT was elected First Vice President and Chairman C WHITE announced the appointment of R EHNST to replace resigned Board Member D DeLAUER Also noted was the appointment of C KOOP as Chairshyman of the NCSL Calibration Procedures Library Committee and assignment of H LANCE to have responsibility for the oper a t i ons of NCSL Committees A7 Bl B2 B3456 and C5 Chairman White noted that the procedures library would have financial support from the US Army for government fiscal yea r 1968 but that definite steps would have to be taken to relocate and to redefine the operation of the library after June 30 1968 Investigations are underway to locate a permanent home for the library and to place it on a business-like basis to permit easier access by qualified activities Several changes to the Bylaws were discussed and favorable comment received Subsequent to the Board meeting the changes were approved by letter ballot In gener al the changes consist in a) redesignating the two Secretaries as simply 1) SecretaryshyNCSL and 2) Treasurer-NCSL b) permitting acceptance of non-US activities as Member Delegates with the restriction that dis semination of technical informashytion to such members will be in accordance with present US Government restricshytions on dissemination of such information No other privilege restrictions will exist other than non-US delegates may not hold office on the NCSL Board

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1967 NEREM

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NCSL WORKSHOPS COMING

As announced previously NCSL is conducting a series of workshops at the Disneyland Hotel Anaheim California on January 25 and 26 1968 The program is scheduled as follows

Wednesday Jan 24 200 - 6 00 PM REGISTRATION 600 - 800 H~ SOCIAL HOURS

Thursday Jan 25 9 00 - 12 00 Noon SESSION A 1 Information for Standards Laboratories- - - P HUNTER 2 NCSL Directory---------- - -- - - ---- ------- W BOSTWICK 3 Recommended Practices--- - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - - W HOLMES

1200 Noon LUNCHEON 230 - 530 PM SESSION B

1 Workload Control------- - - - ----- - - - ---- - - - D HERVIG 2 Measurements Standards Laboratories---- - - M ANGELO

730 PM NCSL BOARD MEElING

Friday Jan 26 900 AM 1200 Noon SESSI ON C 1 Calibration Procedures------------------- C KOOP

12 00 Noon LUNCHEON 2 00 - 5 30 PM SESSION D

1 Procurement Regulations------------------ F RUSSELL 2 Measurement Agreement Comparison--------- H INGRAHAM

Registration fee will be $1500 which includes two luncheons Checks should be made out to National Conference of Standards Laboratories and mailed to NCSL at PO Box 884 Orange California 92666

1968 STANDARDS LABORATORY CONFERENCE PLANNING

JERRY HAYES Program Chairman has been actively soliciting papers for the biennial meeting at Boulder in August 1968 ORVAL LINEBRINK has been in conshytact with the principal speakers for the keynote address on Aug 26 and for the luncheon on Aug 28 NCSL Chairman WHITE has been contacting people overseas who are well known in the field of measurements standards in order to prepare another internationally-flavored session which is scheduled for Aug 27 at 200 PM The tentative title of the session has been established as THE VALUE OF INTERNAshyTIONAL MEASUREMENTS and is part of the Conference theme which is MAKING VALUABLE MEASUREMENTS IT bull

NCSL INTERNATIONAL

We have recently learned that J G Cameron of the Canadian Ministry of De~ense

and presently a Liaison Delegate to NCSL will be speaking to the Montreal Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers on Jan 31 1968 His topic is National Conference of Standards Laboratories Canadian friends in the vicinity might reserve this evening Best wishes for an attentive audience Graham

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WIB--WORIUNG-PARTY ON INSTRUMENT BEHAVIOR

An interesting exchange of correspondence took place between your Editor and a Dutch organization whose title translated is Working-party on Instrwnent Behavior (WIB) A note from Dr L Mason NIlSIBS in August placed us in contact with F A G Timmermans Secretary of the organization In answer to a re~uest Mr Timmermans was good enough to send details and reports of his organization

WIB is much like our American organizations for consumers--Consumers Research and Consumers Union with a major exception Its principal work is in the evaluation of industrial instrwnentation upon request from a sponsor-member of WIB The organizationformed in March 1963 presently is composed of 18 sponsor-members ranging from national and international industrial firms to an association of Finnish utilities and industries Each sponsor pays a fixed annual subscription fee for which he is entitled to a copy of all WIB evaluation reports and which permits him to sponsor instrwnent evaluashytions to the limit of his subscription fee (after which a direct charge is levied by WIB)

The actual investigative efforts are carried out by the Dutch TNO (Applied Scienti~ic Research) organization for which WIB acts as entrepreneur or coordinator TNO is an independent non-profit organization although originally formed by the government Its budget is defrayed in great part by the government and the organization is headquartered in The Hague TNO in general supplies independent and contract research analysis and testing of materialsand disseminates technical information to activities within and outside The Netherlands as required It consists of approximately 4000 persons of whom 1800 are available to WIB for collaboration and who form the Organization for Industrial Research TNO

Instrumentation is tested under standardized environments to manufacturers specifications opinions are given concerning construction human engineershying and packaging Finished reports are prepared in English to facilitate review of evaluations by similar groups located abroad WIB works in close coordination With the British Scientific Instrument Research Association (SIRA) to the extent of exchanging evaluation reports

It is interesting to note that some general conclusions reached concerning the results of evaluations already performed indicate that 1) non-adherence to specifications when environmental temperature is changed is common-place 2) pneumatic equipment is supersensitive to vibrations 3) electronic equipshyment performance suffers from exposure to damp heat and supply voltage variations

By continuance of correspondence it is hoped to encourage attendancemiddot by a representative of WIB at the Boulder conference of NCSL in August 1968

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YOUR DIRECTORY COMMITTEE NEEDS HELP

Some readers of this newsletter will be taking part LY1 (or will have t aken part in) the workshop discussion a t Anaheim California in January 1968 For those unable to be at the workshop the list of questions for discussion there f ol l ow below Comments will be welcomed by Paul D Long whose address is

Western Electric Co Inc P O Box 24l Reading Fa 19603

What you have t o say need not be conf i ned to the se que sc rons the Committee wants the Directory to be as useful as possible

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSI ON

NCSL Directory Workshop Anaheim Californ i ~ Januar y 24 1968

l How often should a new directory be issued

2 How often shoul d s uppl ement s be issued ( The 1967 Di r ect ory ha s blank spaces to be filled in by holders from suppleme t data Que st i cnnaire s will be sent t o new members as they join)

3 How to obtain data and keep directory current (The Di r ect ory Commi t t ee has no way of knowing about changes unless they are L~~or med delegates and ot her contacts should inform the Commi t t ee via the NCSL Secretariat concerning all changes)

4 Should the alphabetical de legates l i st be re-instated ( ~ e 1966 preliminary questionnaire showed a majority in favor of not publi shi ng thi s information Delegates change relatively r apidly )

5 How abo ut additions or ch anges in capabilities column headings (Keep i ng these compl et e and definitive and within space considerations must be considered )

6 What changes or additions should be made in the directory format

7 Sho uld non-NCSL-member laboratories pa y f or copies of the Di r ect ory

TRAlITSFER OF VOLTAGE UNIT STUDIED

The Air Force (Newark Air Force St at ion) and the National Bureau of Standards have established a one year joint pro j ec t to evaluate methods for impr oving t he unit of voltage from one laboratory to another The objective s of the program a r e t o (l ) improve the a ssignment of the volt at the Newark Air Force St at i on ( 2) find the most effective means for the interlaboratory transfer of the unit of voltage (3) establish efficient procedures f or the intra- and inter-laborashyt ory surveillance of the v ol t and (4) st udy the probl ems ass ociated with shipshyping standard cell enclosures under power Among the transport st anda rd s being studied are shippable saturated cells in a ir baths unsaturated cells and zener diodes

- from OVERLAP a US Depar t ment of Commer ce National Bureau of Standards publication issue

=========No=l=O=ctober 1967

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NEW CONCEPT rn LOW-TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT

In the temperature range below looK and especially below 10K thermometry becomes very difficult The need for temperature measurements at these low temperatures however has been steadily increasing This need is especially felt in studies of rocket fuels superconductivity nuclear magnetism and many other areas of science and technology

Since traditional methods of temperature measurement become difficult to use in the millidegree range more exotic concepts have begun to appear more practical One such possibility was recently advanced by R A Kamper of the NBS Institute for Materials Research at the Cryogenics Laboratories Boulder Colo This concept offers the promise of a thermometer which can measure directly the absolute temperature of a metallic conductor in the temperature range from 0001 to lOOK An important advantage of the thermoshymeter in principle at least is that no calibration is required

The phenomenon on which the prediction of temperature measurement is based is electrical noise--a fluctuating voltage which is present in all metallic conductors due to the Brownian motion of the el ect r ons The magnitude of this voltage varies as a function of both temperature and resistance of the conductor and becomes very small at low temperatures However it should be detectable at very low temperatures with the aid of the Josephson effect which occurs when two superconductors are connected by a weak junction When a steady bias voltage is maintained between the two superconductors the junction oscillates at a freCiuency proportional to the voltage The reCiuired bias voltage may be conveniently supplied by passing direct current through a resistor connected in parallel with the junction The electrical noise in this resistor then causes a random freCiuency modulation of the signal from the junction spreading it over a band of freCiuencies

A preliminary calculation shows that the width of this band of fr-equenc Les is proportional to the value of the resistance and its absolute temperature Thus in theory measuring this bandwidth forms the basis of a new type thermometer

Preliminary experimentation by A H Silver and J E Zimmerman of the Ford Scientific Laboratory and R A Kamper of the Bureau staff has confirmed the predictions of the calculation over a wide range of resistances and a modest range of temperatures Although the thermometer has not yet been tested at millidegree temperatures realistic values for the bias resistance and system stability indicate the possibility of measuring temperatures in this range To do this however it will be necessary to eliminate all spurious noise associated with the junction It is apparent therefore that some development remains on the thermometer This further development is currently in progress

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HERTZ GETS ANQIHER CUSTCMER

On July 24 1967 t he Military Communicat i on-Electronics Board (MCEB) of t he U S Dep artment of Defense issued a policy statement r elated to the use of he rtz in place of cycles per s econd ~le statement is as follows

1 Reason for a policy statement For t he last few yea r s t here has been an i ncreasing use within t he United St at e s of the term hertz (Hz) as the unit of frequency However the term cycl es per second also cont i nues t o be used as a unit of frequency Such dual terminology has gene r ated questions as t o the DOD policy on the use of the te rm hertz Thus a need exists f or a policy i n this r egard

2 Definition of Hertz Hert z A unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second

3 St anda r d t erminology f or hertz and cycl e s per second The terms hertz (Hz) and cy cl es per second (cIs) are fully aynonymous and are usable interchangeably f r om a te c rLic~ standshypoint Paragraph 112 of the English ver s i on of the Inte r national Radio Regulations Geneva (1959) shows a secondary substitution of KHz f or kCS MHz for MC s and GRz for Gels wher e K M and G stand for Kilo Mega and Giga respectively The CC IR 1n a resolution at the XIt h Plenary Assembly at Os lo in 1966 (publ i s hed in DOC XIVI OOI - E of 18 July 1966) r ec ommends the excl us ive use of t he he rt z t ermi nolog~ and extend s the spectrum nomenclature t o Terahert z (TRz) f or 10- cis or TC s Wherever these terms are r equired the f or egoing abbrevi at i ons are correct usage There i s no ob j ection however to spelling out hertz and cycl es per second where desired and deemed appr opriat e When doi ng s o t he appropriate prefix Kilo Mega Oiga and Ter a should also be spelled out

4 Policy on the use of he rtz and cycles per se cond The term he r tz shall be the appropr i ate term for the un i t of frequen cy t o be used in referencing radio f r equencies freque ncy bands or operating f requencies of commun i cat i ons - electroni cs equipment i n all corre sponden ce records standa rds pr ocedures documents and where applicable on equipment This policy does not r equi re immediate subst i t ut i on of hertz f or cycl es per s ec ond now appearing i n documents or on equipment No document or record of any des cription or nameplate or similar stamping should be r e issued r eprinted or restamped solely f or t he purshypose of substituting the new t erm he rtz (Hz) for the term cycl es per second (c s) Such substitution should t ake place only when eXisting documents r equi re revision fo r othe r reasons and when how equipment i s pr ocured The policy should be included in the next chan ge to or revision of existing do cuments such as ACP 167 During a period of t ransition it is inevitable that both terms will be used but this situation should not cr eat e serious pr oblems

5 Conflicting policy now supers eded Previous policy statements on this s ubj ect ar e hereby res cinded

6 Appl i cabi l i t y This policy i s appl icabl e to the DOD and all of its c omponents

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QUOTEABLE QUOTES

Age of Goof-off or of Pl ent y

Sometime during 1958 your editor noted two excellent editorials which appeared in Life magazine They were clipped and pres erved f or reference and stimulation in times to come Perhaps now is as good a time as any to br i ng one to light and to ponder its message Perhaps our youn ger ge ner at i on sees some of this goof i ng- of f which sparked t he or igi nal edi t or i al and f or that r eason is confused as to what is meaningful in life Perhaps the of tenshyexpr e s sed attitude t hat the goveI11IIlent owes us a living has its or igi n in the sarr~ trend toward irresponsibility and goof - of f In any event Lifers editor entitled his article Age of goof-off or plenty and had this to say

bullbull bullThe wonderful U S economy app ears to have seen t he worst of another slump its t hird since World War II its 15th in this cent ur y its 37th since the nation began No two of the 37 were exactly alike but all had a point in common The point of s l umps including this one i s to correct some widespread misuse of t he resources and talents at our disposalbull

bull bullQues t ion Have we yet earned another boom Have ve corrected the misuse of our res ources and talents in whi ch the recession caught us An advertising man Charles Brower rece nt l y described these errors i n graphic terms Opining that consumers were getting just bor ed with us and the things we sell Mr Brower called this the great era of the goof-off the ag e of t he halfshydone job The land from coast t o coast has been enj oying a s-cempede away from responsibility It is populated with laundry men rho won t iron shirts with waiters who von t t servewith carpenters who will come around someday maybe with execut i ves whose mind is on the gol f course with t eachers who demand a single salary s chedule so that achievement cannot be r ewarded nor poor work punishedjwith students who t ake cinch courses because the hard ones make them think with spiritual delin~uents of all kinds who have been triumphantly determined to enjoy what was known until the present crises as the new leisure And the salesman who wont sell is only a part of this overall mess

bullbull In his little book called Work and Its Discontents Daniel Bell of Fortune notes tendencies t oward the evasion of work which are so char act e r i s t i c of the Ameri can factory worker and which today obsess all workers Unlike traditional f eatherbedding this new evasion is motivated not by fear of unempl oyment but r ather by a l ost instinct of workmanship II I or the near impossibility of taking personal pride in the products of automation Si nce it also appears in the nonautomated service trades--notoriously among appl i an ce repairmen headwaiter s taxi drivers etc-- it may eve n reflect some feeling that in a society as affluent as ours the direct conne ct i on between ef f ort and reward has somehow be en br oken Is goofing-off a new and permanent American characteristic I s the Age of Plenty to be an age of gold-bricking

bullbullbull That would certainly be a s olemn thought for this or any Fourth of July For i f there is one thing that has always distinguished Americans and as sur ed their prosperity it i s their capacity for hard work They worked like coolies when they had to which was from 1620 to about 1900 they made heroes of John Henry and Paul Bunyan and set world records of sheer physical

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outputfor example miles of railroad track laid in a day or a decade--which still stand And when tasks got easier they still worked more efficiently than anybody else because of the chronic scarcity of labor in relation to the amount of work to be done This national emphasis on the efficiency of labor has put $16000 worth of tools behind the average American worker and made him the most productive in the world

bullbullSuch abundance as we have is the direct result of this emphasis on productivity It certainly does not bring the need for it to an end If the Puritan or Calvinist motives for hard work have dwindled common sense can supply reasons just as strong The shorter the workday the more important the efficiency within it to keep it short and to keep us capable of coping with the undiminished hugeness of the unfinished work of the world Life recently sponsored an Arden House conference on the consume r The experts concluded that whatever the quality of American production--and a lot of it has been pretty shoddy-shythere is no visible shortage of aut hent i c consumer amplt s The age of abundance is far from an age of satiety Even i f Ame r i can s we r-e satiated the fact that two billion non-~ericans are still _~ ivi~~ in an age of extreme scarcity will make it essential for us to go on r oducing as abundantly and ef f i ci ent l y as we know howbull

bullbullbull The leisure we have won has far better uses than gol d- br icki n Tn s lump we are leaving will be back all too soon if we do not continue t h cor r ect i ves it indicated--harder and more intelligent work by labor manage) ent and seller Hard work is a habit we dare not cease to cultivate Only if we do cultivate it will it earn us the power to cultivate other virtues as well

The Importance of Being Excellent

The second of the two Life editorials follows and is a sad indictment of the tendency to equalize toward mediocrity prevalent in the modern society of today Entitled The importance of being excellent it stated

bull ThePursuit of Happiness was named a basic right of all men in a day when all Americans were born to a life of hard work The Rockefeller Report on Bducation published last week sets forth a complementary goal the Pursuit of Excellence ie a feeling for intellectual virtues in an era dominated by communal happines s -hunts bull

bullbullbull Excellence says the report or the pursuit of achievement for its own sake is IIa blend of talent and motive of ability fused with zeal It is at once the virtue and the satisfaction of doing something superbly It came down to us from the Greek concept of arete and the Roman of virtus infused with a later Christian morality Excellence is a lonely virtue and that is one reason for its increasing rarity in our culture todaybull

bull ~Present-day US society the report points out has intensified democracys old tug-of-war between excellence and equality has posed the problem of how to cultivate the ideal of the one While recognizing the moral values of the other In the US school system most of the heavyweight pulling has been done on the side of equality The moral compulsion to give equal

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opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

- llshy

AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

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ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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------- - - --

Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

-15shy

CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

-16shy

be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

-middot9shy

37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

- 20 shy

NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

-21shy

In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

-22shy

1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

-24shy

RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

NEWS OF NCSL

The newly elected officers and board members of NCSL met in Boston on November 3 for their first business meeting It also was the occasion of the first workshop activity for NCSL in the New England area Credit goes to LEW WALLACE and HERB lliGRAHAM and SHEL RICHARDSON for their efforts in putting on the workshops with comparatively little lead time

LewIs workshop devoted to the theme of the relationship of standards laboratory personnel to the community the state and the country was an interesting animated and exciting experience for the attendees It was slanted toward the increasingly important role that the technical pe r s on should take in affairs outside the laboratory in order to provide to a questioning world some of the experience labor and knowhow so much needed in the solution of the pressing problems which beset all of us t hese days

Shel and Herb with the experience of three year s f ami l iarity with the NCSL Measurement Agreement programs were able to present to an interested audience the r esult s of previous comparisons and to bring out into the open some of the needs felt by laboratory personnel in the New England area Some photoshygraphs were made of the activities but your Editor must apologi ze f or spoiled shots of Shel and Herb In the photos on the next page Don Hervig is conductshyi ng a part of the discussion period in Fig 1 Lea Mason is doing t he same in Fig 3- and Frank Hermach has his attendees in another corner in Fi g 4 In Fig 2 Lew Wallace and a group are going at a discussion point to determine a consensus of opinion At the conclusion of both sessions attendees exshypressed their sincere feelings when they stated that New England should have more such activities

NCSL BOARD NEWS

Several itemE of gene r al interest were acted upon at the November 3 meeting As a first order of business E ARSENAULT was elected First Vice President and Chairman C WHITE announced the appointment of R EHNST to replace resigned Board Member D DeLAUER Also noted was the appointment of C KOOP as Chairshyman of the NCSL Calibration Procedures Library Committee and assignment of H LANCE to have responsibility for the oper a t i ons of NCSL Committees A7 Bl B2 B3456 and C5 Chairman White noted that the procedures library would have financial support from the US Army for government fiscal yea r 1968 but that definite steps would have to be taken to relocate and to redefine the operation of the library after June 30 1968 Investigations are underway to locate a permanent home for the library and to place it on a business-like basis to permit easier access by qualified activities Several changes to the Bylaws were discussed and favorable comment received Subsequent to the Board meeting the changes were approved by letter ballot In gener al the changes consist in a) redesignating the two Secretaries as simply 1) SecretaryshyNCSL and 2) Treasurer-NCSL b) permitting acceptance of non-US activities as Member Delegates with the restriction that dis semination of technical informashytion to such members will be in accordance with present US Government restricshytions on dissemination of such information No other privilege restrictions will exist other than non-US delegates may not hold office on the NCSL Board

-2shy

1967 NEREM

- 3shy

NCSL WORKSHOPS COMING

As announced previously NCSL is conducting a series of workshops at the Disneyland Hotel Anaheim California on January 25 and 26 1968 The program is scheduled as follows

Wednesday Jan 24 200 - 6 00 PM REGISTRATION 600 - 800 H~ SOCIAL HOURS

Thursday Jan 25 9 00 - 12 00 Noon SESSION A 1 Information for Standards Laboratories- - - P HUNTER 2 NCSL Directory---------- - -- - - ---- ------- W BOSTWICK 3 Recommended Practices--- - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - - W HOLMES

1200 Noon LUNCHEON 230 - 530 PM SESSION B

1 Workload Control------- - - - ----- - - - ---- - - - D HERVIG 2 Measurements Standards Laboratories---- - - M ANGELO

730 PM NCSL BOARD MEElING

Friday Jan 26 900 AM 1200 Noon SESSI ON C 1 Calibration Procedures------------------- C KOOP

12 00 Noon LUNCHEON 2 00 - 5 30 PM SESSION D

1 Procurement Regulations------------------ F RUSSELL 2 Measurement Agreement Comparison--------- H INGRAHAM

Registration fee will be $1500 which includes two luncheons Checks should be made out to National Conference of Standards Laboratories and mailed to NCSL at PO Box 884 Orange California 92666

1968 STANDARDS LABORATORY CONFERENCE PLANNING

JERRY HAYES Program Chairman has been actively soliciting papers for the biennial meeting at Boulder in August 1968 ORVAL LINEBRINK has been in conshytact with the principal speakers for the keynote address on Aug 26 and for the luncheon on Aug 28 NCSL Chairman WHITE has been contacting people overseas who are well known in the field of measurements standards in order to prepare another internationally-flavored session which is scheduled for Aug 27 at 200 PM The tentative title of the session has been established as THE VALUE OF INTERNAshyTIONAL MEASUREMENTS and is part of the Conference theme which is MAKING VALUABLE MEASUREMENTS IT bull

NCSL INTERNATIONAL

We have recently learned that J G Cameron of the Canadian Ministry of De~ense

and presently a Liaison Delegate to NCSL will be speaking to the Montreal Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers on Jan 31 1968 His topic is National Conference of Standards Laboratories Canadian friends in the vicinity might reserve this evening Best wishes for an attentive audience Graham

-4shy

WIB--WORIUNG-PARTY ON INSTRUMENT BEHAVIOR

An interesting exchange of correspondence took place between your Editor and a Dutch organization whose title translated is Working-party on Instrwnent Behavior (WIB) A note from Dr L Mason NIlSIBS in August placed us in contact with F A G Timmermans Secretary of the organization In answer to a re~uest Mr Timmermans was good enough to send details and reports of his organization

WIB is much like our American organizations for consumers--Consumers Research and Consumers Union with a major exception Its principal work is in the evaluation of industrial instrwnentation upon request from a sponsor-member of WIB The organizationformed in March 1963 presently is composed of 18 sponsor-members ranging from national and international industrial firms to an association of Finnish utilities and industries Each sponsor pays a fixed annual subscription fee for which he is entitled to a copy of all WIB evaluation reports and which permits him to sponsor instrwnent evaluashytions to the limit of his subscription fee (after which a direct charge is levied by WIB)

The actual investigative efforts are carried out by the Dutch TNO (Applied Scienti~ic Research) organization for which WIB acts as entrepreneur or coordinator TNO is an independent non-profit organization although originally formed by the government Its budget is defrayed in great part by the government and the organization is headquartered in The Hague TNO in general supplies independent and contract research analysis and testing of materialsand disseminates technical information to activities within and outside The Netherlands as required It consists of approximately 4000 persons of whom 1800 are available to WIB for collaboration and who form the Organization for Industrial Research TNO

Instrumentation is tested under standardized environments to manufacturers specifications opinions are given concerning construction human engineershying and packaging Finished reports are prepared in English to facilitate review of evaluations by similar groups located abroad WIB works in close coordination With the British Scientific Instrument Research Association (SIRA) to the extent of exchanging evaluation reports

It is interesting to note that some general conclusions reached concerning the results of evaluations already performed indicate that 1) non-adherence to specifications when environmental temperature is changed is common-place 2) pneumatic equipment is supersensitive to vibrations 3) electronic equipshyment performance suffers from exposure to damp heat and supply voltage variations

By continuance of correspondence it is hoped to encourage attendancemiddot by a representative of WIB at the Boulder conference of NCSL in August 1968

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YOUR DIRECTORY COMMITTEE NEEDS HELP

Some readers of this newsletter will be taking part LY1 (or will have t aken part in) the workshop discussion a t Anaheim California in January 1968 For those unable to be at the workshop the list of questions for discussion there f ol l ow below Comments will be welcomed by Paul D Long whose address is

Western Electric Co Inc P O Box 24l Reading Fa 19603

What you have t o say need not be conf i ned to the se que sc rons the Committee wants the Directory to be as useful as possible

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSI ON

NCSL Directory Workshop Anaheim Californ i ~ Januar y 24 1968

l How often should a new directory be issued

2 How often shoul d s uppl ement s be issued ( The 1967 Di r ect ory ha s blank spaces to be filled in by holders from suppleme t data Que st i cnnaire s will be sent t o new members as they join)

3 How to obtain data and keep directory current (The Di r ect ory Commi t t ee has no way of knowing about changes unless they are L~~or med delegates and ot her contacts should inform the Commi t t ee via the NCSL Secretariat concerning all changes)

4 Should the alphabetical de legates l i st be re-instated ( ~ e 1966 preliminary questionnaire showed a majority in favor of not publi shi ng thi s information Delegates change relatively r apidly )

5 How abo ut additions or ch anges in capabilities column headings (Keep i ng these compl et e and definitive and within space considerations must be considered )

6 What changes or additions should be made in the directory format

7 Sho uld non-NCSL-member laboratories pa y f or copies of the Di r ect ory

TRAlITSFER OF VOLTAGE UNIT STUDIED

The Air Force (Newark Air Force St at ion) and the National Bureau of Standards have established a one year joint pro j ec t to evaluate methods for impr oving t he unit of voltage from one laboratory to another The objective s of the program a r e t o (l ) improve the a ssignment of the volt at the Newark Air Force St at i on ( 2) find the most effective means for the interlaboratory transfer of the unit of voltage (3) establish efficient procedures f or the intra- and inter-laborashyt ory surveillance of the v ol t and (4) st udy the probl ems ass ociated with shipshyping standard cell enclosures under power Among the transport st anda rd s being studied are shippable saturated cells in a ir baths unsaturated cells and zener diodes

- from OVERLAP a US Depar t ment of Commer ce National Bureau of Standards publication issue

=========No=l=O=ctober 1967

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NEW CONCEPT rn LOW-TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT

In the temperature range below looK and especially below 10K thermometry becomes very difficult The need for temperature measurements at these low temperatures however has been steadily increasing This need is especially felt in studies of rocket fuels superconductivity nuclear magnetism and many other areas of science and technology

Since traditional methods of temperature measurement become difficult to use in the millidegree range more exotic concepts have begun to appear more practical One such possibility was recently advanced by R A Kamper of the NBS Institute for Materials Research at the Cryogenics Laboratories Boulder Colo This concept offers the promise of a thermometer which can measure directly the absolute temperature of a metallic conductor in the temperature range from 0001 to lOOK An important advantage of the thermoshymeter in principle at least is that no calibration is required

The phenomenon on which the prediction of temperature measurement is based is electrical noise--a fluctuating voltage which is present in all metallic conductors due to the Brownian motion of the el ect r ons The magnitude of this voltage varies as a function of both temperature and resistance of the conductor and becomes very small at low temperatures However it should be detectable at very low temperatures with the aid of the Josephson effect which occurs when two superconductors are connected by a weak junction When a steady bias voltage is maintained between the two superconductors the junction oscillates at a freCiuency proportional to the voltage The reCiuired bias voltage may be conveniently supplied by passing direct current through a resistor connected in parallel with the junction The electrical noise in this resistor then causes a random freCiuency modulation of the signal from the junction spreading it over a band of freCiuencies

A preliminary calculation shows that the width of this band of fr-equenc Les is proportional to the value of the resistance and its absolute temperature Thus in theory measuring this bandwidth forms the basis of a new type thermometer

Preliminary experimentation by A H Silver and J E Zimmerman of the Ford Scientific Laboratory and R A Kamper of the Bureau staff has confirmed the predictions of the calculation over a wide range of resistances and a modest range of temperatures Although the thermometer has not yet been tested at millidegree temperatures realistic values for the bias resistance and system stability indicate the possibility of measuring temperatures in this range To do this however it will be necessary to eliminate all spurious noise associated with the junction It is apparent therefore that some development remains on the thermometer This further development is currently in progress

-7shy

HERTZ GETS ANQIHER CUSTCMER

On July 24 1967 t he Military Communicat i on-Electronics Board (MCEB) of t he U S Dep artment of Defense issued a policy statement r elated to the use of he rtz in place of cycles per s econd ~le statement is as follows

1 Reason for a policy statement For t he last few yea r s t here has been an i ncreasing use within t he United St at e s of the term hertz (Hz) as the unit of frequency However the term cycl es per second also cont i nues t o be used as a unit of frequency Such dual terminology has gene r ated questions as t o the DOD policy on the use of the te rm hertz Thus a need exists f or a policy i n this r egard

2 Definition of Hertz Hert z A unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second

3 St anda r d t erminology f or hertz and cycl e s per second The terms hertz (Hz) and cy cl es per second (cIs) are fully aynonymous and are usable interchangeably f r om a te c rLic~ standshypoint Paragraph 112 of the English ver s i on of the Inte r national Radio Regulations Geneva (1959) shows a secondary substitution of KHz f or kCS MHz for MC s and GRz for Gels wher e K M and G stand for Kilo Mega and Giga respectively The CC IR 1n a resolution at the XIt h Plenary Assembly at Os lo in 1966 (publ i s hed in DOC XIVI OOI - E of 18 July 1966) r ec ommends the excl us ive use of t he he rt z t ermi nolog~ and extend s the spectrum nomenclature t o Terahert z (TRz) f or 10- cis or TC s Wherever these terms are r equired the f or egoing abbrevi at i ons are correct usage There i s no ob j ection however to spelling out hertz and cycl es per second where desired and deemed appr opriat e When doi ng s o t he appropriate prefix Kilo Mega Oiga and Ter a should also be spelled out

4 Policy on the use of he rtz and cycles per se cond The term he r tz shall be the appropr i ate term for the un i t of frequen cy t o be used in referencing radio f r equencies freque ncy bands or operating f requencies of commun i cat i ons - electroni cs equipment i n all corre sponden ce records standa rds pr ocedures documents and where applicable on equipment This policy does not r equi re immediate subst i t ut i on of hertz f or cycl es per s ec ond now appearing i n documents or on equipment No document or record of any des cription or nameplate or similar stamping should be r e issued r eprinted or restamped solely f or t he purshypose of substituting the new t erm he rtz (Hz) for the term cycl es per second (c s) Such substitution should t ake place only when eXisting documents r equi re revision fo r othe r reasons and when how equipment i s pr ocured The policy should be included in the next chan ge to or revision of existing do cuments such as ACP 167 During a period of t ransition it is inevitable that both terms will be used but this situation should not cr eat e serious pr oblems

5 Conflicting policy now supers eded Previous policy statements on this s ubj ect ar e hereby res cinded

6 Appl i cabi l i t y This policy i s appl icabl e to the DOD and all of its c omponents

-8shy

QUOTEABLE QUOTES

Age of Goof-off or of Pl ent y

Sometime during 1958 your editor noted two excellent editorials which appeared in Life magazine They were clipped and pres erved f or reference and stimulation in times to come Perhaps now is as good a time as any to br i ng one to light and to ponder its message Perhaps our youn ger ge ner at i on sees some of this goof i ng- of f which sparked t he or igi nal edi t or i al and f or that r eason is confused as to what is meaningful in life Perhaps the of tenshyexpr e s sed attitude t hat the goveI11IIlent owes us a living has its or igi n in the sarr~ trend toward irresponsibility and goof - of f In any event Lifers editor entitled his article Age of goof-off or plenty and had this to say

bullbull bullThe wonderful U S economy app ears to have seen t he worst of another slump its t hird since World War II its 15th in this cent ur y its 37th since the nation began No two of the 37 were exactly alike but all had a point in common The point of s l umps including this one i s to correct some widespread misuse of t he resources and talents at our disposalbull

bull bullQues t ion Have we yet earned another boom Have ve corrected the misuse of our res ources and talents in whi ch the recession caught us An advertising man Charles Brower rece nt l y described these errors i n graphic terms Opining that consumers were getting just bor ed with us and the things we sell Mr Brower called this the great era of the goof-off the ag e of t he halfshydone job The land from coast t o coast has been enj oying a s-cempede away from responsibility It is populated with laundry men rho won t iron shirts with waiters who von t t servewith carpenters who will come around someday maybe with execut i ves whose mind is on the gol f course with t eachers who demand a single salary s chedule so that achievement cannot be r ewarded nor poor work punishedjwith students who t ake cinch courses because the hard ones make them think with spiritual delin~uents of all kinds who have been triumphantly determined to enjoy what was known until the present crises as the new leisure And the salesman who wont sell is only a part of this overall mess

bullbull In his little book called Work and Its Discontents Daniel Bell of Fortune notes tendencies t oward the evasion of work which are so char act e r i s t i c of the Ameri can factory worker and which today obsess all workers Unlike traditional f eatherbedding this new evasion is motivated not by fear of unempl oyment but r ather by a l ost instinct of workmanship II I or the near impossibility of taking personal pride in the products of automation Si nce it also appears in the nonautomated service trades--notoriously among appl i an ce repairmen headwaiter s taxi drivers etc-- it may eve n reflect some feeling that in a society as affluent as ours the direct conne ct i on between ef f ort and reward has somehow be en br oken Is goofing-off a new and permanent American characteristic I s the Age of Plenty to be an age of gold-bricking

bullbullbull That would certainly be a s olemn thought for this or any Fourth of July For i f there is one thing that has always distinguished Americans and as sur ed their prosperity it i s their capacity for hard work They worked like coolies when they had to which was from 1620 to about 1900 they made heroes of John Henry and Paul Bunyan and set world records of sheer physical

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outputfor example miles of railroad track laid in a day or a decade--which still stand And when tasks got easier they still worked more efficiently than anybody else because of the chronic scarcity of labor in relation to the amount of work to be done This national emphasis on the efficiency of labor has put $16000 worth of tools behind the average American worker and made him the most productive in the world

bullbullSuch abundance as we have is the direct result of this emphasis on productivity It certainly does not bring the need for it to an end If the Puritan or Calvinist motives for hard work have dwindled common sense can supply reasons just as strong The shorter the workday the more important the efficiency within it to keep it short and to keep us capable of coping with the undiminished hugeness of the unfinished work of the world Life recently sponsored an Arden House conference on the consume r The experts concluded that whatever the quality of American production--and a lot of it has been pretty shoddy-shythere is no visible shortage of aut hent i c consumer amplt s The age of abundance is far from an age of satiety Even i f Ame r i can s we r-e satiated the fact that two billion non-~ericans are still _~ ivi~~ in an age of extreme scarcity will make it essential for us to go on r oducing as abundantly and ef f i ci ent l y as we know howbull

bullbullbull The leisure we have won has far better uses than gol d- br icki n Tn s lump we are leaving will be back all too soon if we do not continue t h cor r ect i ves it indicated--harder and more intelligent work by labor manage) ent and seller Hard work is a habit we dare not cease to cultivate Only if we do cultivate it will it earn us the power to cultivate other virtues as well

The Importance of Being Excellent

The second of the two Life editorials follows and is a sad indictment of the tendency to equalize toward mediocrity prevalent in the modern society of today Entitled The importance of being excellent it stated

bull ThePursuit of Happiness was named a basic right of all men in a day when all Americans were born to a life of hard work The Rockefeller Report on Bducation published last week sets forth a complementary goal the Pursuit of Excellence ie a feeling for intellectual virtues in an era dominated by communal happines s -hunts bull

bullbullbull Excellence says the report or the pursuit of achievement for its own sake is IIa blend of talent and motive of ability fused with zeal It is at once the virtue and the satisfaction of doing something superbly It came down to us from the Greek concept of arete and the Roman of virtus infused with a later Christian morality Excellence is a lonely virtue and that is one reason for its increasing rarity in our culture todaybull

bull ~Present-day US society the report points out has intensified democracys old tug-of-war between excellence and equality has posed the problem of how to cultivate the ideal of the one While recognizing the moral values of the other In the US school system most of the heavyweight pulling has been done on the side of equality The moral compulsion to give equal

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opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

- llshy

AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

-l2shy

ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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------- - - --

Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

-16shy

be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

-21shy

In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

bull

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

1967 NEREM

- 3shy

NCSL WORKSHOPS COMING

As announced previously NCSL is conducting a series of workshops at the Disneyland Hotel Anaheim California on January 25 and 26 1968 The program is scheduled as follows

Wednesday Jan 24 200 - 6 00 PM REGISTRATION 600 - 800 H~ SOCIAL HOURS

Thursday Jan 25 9 00 - 12 00 Noon SESSION A 1 Information for Standards Laboratories- - - P HUNTER 2 NCSL Directory---------- - -- - - ---- ------- W BOSTWICK 3 Recommended Practices--- - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - - W HOLMES

1200 Noon LUNCHEON 230 - 530 PM SESSION B

1 Workload Control------- - - - ----- - - - ---- - - - D HERVIG 2 Measurements Standards Laboratories---- - - M ANGELO

730 PM NCSL BOARD MEElING

Friday Jan 26 900 AM 1200 Noon SESSI ON C 1 Calibration Procedures------------------- C KOOP

12 00 Noon LUNCHEON 2 00 - 5 30 PM SESSION D

1 Procurement Regulations------------------ F RUSSELL 2 Measurement Agreement Comparison--------- H INGRAHAM

Registration fee will be $1500 which includes two luncheons Checks should be made out to National Conference of Standards Laboratories and mailed to NCSL at PO Box 884 Orange California 92666

1968 STANDARDS LABORATORY CONFERENCE PLANNING

JERRY HAYES Program Chairman has been actively soliciting papers for the biennial meeting at Boulder in August 1968 ORVAL LINEBRINK has been in conshytact with the principal speakers for the keynote address on Aug 26 and for the luncheon on Aug 28 NCSL Chairman WHITE has been contacting people overseas who are well known in the field of measurements standards in order to prepare another internationally-flavored session which is scheduled for Aug 27 at 200 PM The tentative title of the session has been established as THE VALUE OF INTERNAshyTIONAL MEASUREMENTS and is part of the Conference theme which is MAKING VALUABLE MEASUREMENTS IT bull

NCSL INTERNATIONAL

We have recently learned that J G Cameron of the Canadian Ministry of De~ense

and presently a Liaison Delegate to NCSL will be speaking to the Montreal Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers on Jan 31 1968 His topic is National Conference of Standards Laboratories Canadian friends in the vicinity might reserve this evening Best wishes for an attentive audience Graham

-4shy

WIB--WORIUNG-PARTY ON INSTRUMENT BEHAVIOR

An interesting exchange of correspondence took place between your Editor and a Dutch organization whose title translated is Working-party on Instrwnent Behavior (WIB) A note from Dr L Mason NIlSIBS in August placed us in contact with F A G Timmermans Secretary of the organization In answer to a re~uest Mr Timmermans was good enough to send details and reports of his organization

WIB is much like our American organizations for consumers--Consumers Research and Consumers Union with a major exception Its principal work is in the evaluation of industrial instrwnentation upon request from a sponsor-member of WIB The organizationformed in March 1963 presently is composed of 18 sponsor-members ranging from national and international industrial firms to an association of Finnish utilities and industries Each sponsor pays a fixed annual subscription fee for which he is entitled to a copy of all WIB evaluation reports and which permits him to sponsor instrwnent evaluashytions to the limit of his subscription fee (after which a direct charge is levied by WIB)

The actual investigative efforts are carried out by the Dutch TNO (Applied Scienti~ic Research) organization for which WIB acts as entrepreneur or coordinator TNO is an independent non-profit organization although originally formed by the government Its budget is defrayed in great part by the government and the organization is headquartered in The Hague TNO in general supplies independent and contract research analysis and testing of materialsand disseminates technical information to activities within and outside The Netherlands as required It consists of approximately 4000 persons of whom 1800 are available to WIB for collaboration and who form the Organization for Industrial Research TNO

Instrumentation is tested under standardized environments to manufacturers specifications opinions are given concerning construction human engineershying and packaging Finished reports are prepared in English to facilitate review of evaluations by similar groups located abroad WIB works in close coordination With the British Scientific Instrument Research Association (SIRA) to the extent of exchanging evaluation reports

It is interesting to note that some general conclusions reached concerning the results of evaluations already performed indicate that 1) non-adherence to specifications when environmental temperature is changed is common-place 2) pneumatic equipment is supersensitive to vibrations 3) electronic equipshyment performance suffers from exposure to damp heat and supply voltage variations

By continuance of correspondence it is hoped to encourage attendancemiddot by a representative of WIB at the Boulder conference of NCSL in August 1968

-5shy

YOUR DIRECTORY COMMITTEE NEEDS HELP

Some readers of this newsletter will be taking part LY1 (or will have t aken part in) the workshop discussion a t Anaheim California in January 1968 For those unable to be at the workshop the list of questions for discussion there f ol l ow below Comments will be welcomed by Paul D Long whose address is

Western Electric Co Inc P O Box 24l Reading Fa 19603

What you have t o say need not be conf i ned to the se que sc rons the Committee wants the Directory to be as useful as possible

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSI ON

NCSL Directory Workshop Anaheim Californ i ~ Januar y 24 1968

l How often should a new directory be issued

2 How often shoul d s uppl ement s be issued ( The 1967 Di r ect ory ha s blank spaces to be filled in by holders from suppleme t data Que st i cnnaire s will be sent t o new members as they join)

3 How to obtain data and keep directory current (The Di r ect ory Commi t t ee has no way of knowing about changes unless they are L~~or med delegates and ot her contacts should inform the Commi t t ee via the NCSL Secretariat concerning all changes)

4 Should the alphabetical de legates l i st be re-instated ( ~ e 1966 preliminary questionnaire showed a majority in favor of not publi shi ng thi s information Delegates change relatively r apidly )

5 How abo ut additions or ch anges in capabilities column headings (Keep i ng these compl et e and definitive and within space considerations must be considered )

6 What changes or additions should be made in the directory format

7 Sho uld non-NCSL-member laboratories pa y f or copies of the Di r ect ory

TRAlITSFER OF VOLTAGE UNIT STUDIED

The Air Force (Newark Air Force St at ion) and the National Bureau of Standards have established a one year joint pro j ec t to evaluate methods for impr oving t he unit of voltage from one laboratory to another The objective s of the program a r e t o (l ) improve the a ssignment of the volt at the Newark Air Force St at i on ( 2) find the most effective means for the interlaboratory transfer of the unit of voltage (3) establish efficient procedures f or the intra- and inter-laborashyt ory surveillance of the v ol t and (4) st udy the probl ems ass ociated with shipshyping standard cell enclosures under power Among the transport st anda rd s being studied are shippable saturated cells in a ir baths unsaturated cells and zener diodes

- from OVERLAP a US Depar t ment of Commer ce National Bureau of Standards publication issue

=========No=l=O=ctober 1967

-6shy

NEW CONCEPT rn LOW-TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT

In the temperature range below looK and especially below 10K thermometry becomes very difficult The need for temperature measurements at these low temperatures however has been steadily increasing This need is especially felt in studies of rocket fuels superconductivity nuclear magnetism and many other areas of science and technology

Since traditional methods of temperature measurement become difficult to use in the millidegree range more exotic concepts have begun to appear more practical One such possibility was recently advanced by R A Kamper of the NBS Institute for Materials Research at the Cryogenics Laboratories Boulder Colo This concept offers the promise of a thermometer which can measure directly the absolute temperature of a metallic conductor in the temperature range from 0001 to lOOK An important advantage of the thermoshymeter in principle at least is that no calibration is required

The phenomenon on which the prediction of temperature measurement is based is electrical noise--a fluctuating voltage which is present in all metallic conductors due to the Brownian motion of the el ect r ons The magnitude of this voltage varies as a function of both temperature and resistance of the conductor and becomes very small at low temperatures However it should be detectable at very low temperatures with the aid of the Josephson effect which occurs when two superconductors are connected by a weak junction When a steady bias voltage is maintained between the two superconductors the junction oscillates at a freCiuency proportional to the voltage The reCiuired bias voltage may be conveniently supplied by passing direct current through a resistor connected in parallel with the junction The electrical noise in this resistor then causes a random freCiuency modulation of the signal from the junction spreading it over a band of freCiuencies

A preliminary calculation shows that the width of this band of fr-equenc Les is proportional to the value of the resistance and its absolute temperature Thus in theory measuring this bandwidth forms the basis of a new type thermometer

Preliminary experimentation by A H Silver and J E Zimmerman of the Ford Scientific Laboratory and R A Kamper of the Bureau staff has confirmed the predictions of the calculation over a wide range of resistances and a modest range of temperatures Although the thermometer has not yet been tested at millidegree temperatures realistic values for the bias resistance and system stability indicate the possibility of measuring temperatures in this range To do this however it will be necessary to eliminate all spurious noise associated with the junction It is apparent therefore that some development remains on the thermometer This further development is currently in progress

-7shy

HERTZ GETS ANQIHER CUSTCMER

On July 24 1967 t he Military Communicat i on-Electronics Board (MCEB) of t he U S Dep artment of Defense issued a policy statement r elated to the use of he rtz in place of cycles per s econd ~le statement is as follows

1 Reason for a policy statement For t he last few yea r s t here has been an i ncreasing use within t he United St at e s of the term hertz (Hz) as the unit of frequency However the term cycl es per second also cont i nues t o be used as a unit of frequency Such dual terminology has gene r ated questions as t o the DOD policy on the use of the te rm hertz Thus a need exists f or a policy i n this r egard

2 Definition of Hertz Hert z A unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second

3 St anda r d t erminology f or hertz and cycl e s per second The terms hertz (Hz) and cy cl es per second (cIs) are fully aynonymous and are usable interchangeably f r om a te c rLic~ standshypoint Paragraph 112 of the English ver s i on of the Inte r national Radio Regulations Geneva (1959) shows a secondary substitution of KHz f or kCS MHz for MC s and GRz for Gels wher e K M and G stand for Kilo Mega and Giga respectively The CC IR 1n a resolution at the XIt h Plenary Assembly at Os lo in 1966 (publ i s hed in DOC XIVI OOI - E of 18 July 1966) r ec ommends the excl us ive use of t he he rt z t ermi nolog~ and extend s the spectrum nomenclature t o Terahert z (TRz) f or 10- cis or TC s Wherever these terms are r equired the f or egoing abbrevi at i ons are correct usage There i s no ob j ection however to spelling out hertz and cycl es per second where desired and deemed appr opriat e When doi ng s o t he appropriate prefix Kilo Mega Oiga and Ter a should also be spelled out

4 Policy on the use of he rtz and cycles per se cond The term he r tz shall be the appropr i ate term for the un i t of frequen cy t o be used in referencing radio f r equencies freque ncy bands or operating f requencies of commun i cat i ons - electroni cs equipment i n all corre sponden ce records standa rds pr ocedures documents and where applicable on equipment This policy does not r equi re immediate subst i t ut i on of hertz f or cycl es per s ec ond now appearing i n documents or on equipment No document or record of any des cription or nameplate or similar stamping should be r e issued r eprinted or restamped solely f or t he purshypose of substituting the new t erm he rtz (Hz) for the term cycl es per second (c s) Such substitution should t ake place only when eXisting documents r equi re revision fo r othe r reasons and when how equipment i s pr ocured The policy should be included in the next chan ge to or revision of existing do cuments such as ACP 167 During a period of t ransition it is inevitable that both terms will be used but this situation should not cr eat e serious pr oblems

5 Conflicting policy now supers eded Previous policy statements on this s ubj ect ar e hereby res cinded

6 Appl i cabi l i t y This policy i s appl icabl e to the DOD and all of its c omponents

-8shy

QUOTEABLE QUOTES

Age of Goof-off or of Pl ent y

Sometime during 1958 your editor noted two excellent editorials which appeared in Life magazine They were clipped and pres erved f or reference and stimulation in times to come Perhaps now is as good a time as any to br i ng one to light and to ponder its message Perhaps our youn ger ge ner at i on sees some of this goof i ng- of f which sparked t he or igi nal edi t or i al and f or that r eason is confused as to what is meaningful in life Perhaps the of tenshyexpr e s sed attitude t hat the goveI11IIlent owes us a living has its or igi n in the sarr~ trend toward irresponsibility and goof - of f In any event Lifers editor entitled his article Age of goof-off or plenty and had this to say

bullbull bullThe wonderful U S economy app ears to have seen t he worst of another slump its t hird since World War II its 15th in this cent ur y its 37th since the nation began No two of the 37 were exactly alike but all had a point in common The point of s l umps including this one i s to correct some widespread misuse of t he resources and talents at our disposalbull

bull bullQues t ion Have we yet earned another boom Have ve corrected the misuse of our res ources and talents in whi ch the recession caught us An advertising man Charles Brower rece nt l y described these errors i n graphic terms Opining that consumers were getting just bor ed with us and the things we sell Mr Brower called this the great era of the goof-off the ag e of t he halfshydone job The land from coast t o coast has been enj oying a s-cempede away from responsibility It is populated with laundry men rho won t iron shirts with waiters who von t t servewith carpenters who will come around someday maybe with execut i ves whose mind is on the gol f course with t eachers who demand a single salary s chedule so that achievement cannot be r ewarded nor poor work punishedjwith students who t ake cinch courses because the hard ones make them think with spiritual delin~uents of all kinds who have been triumphantly determined to enjoy what was known until the present crises as the new leisure And the salesman who wont sell is only a part of this overall mess

bullbull In his little book called Work and Its Discontents Daniel Bell of Fortune notes tendencies t oward the evasion of work which are so char act e r i s t i c of the Ameri can factory worker and which today obsess all workers Unlike traditional f eatherbedding this new evasion is motivated not by fear of unempl oyment but r ather by a l ost instinct of workmanship II I or the near impossibility of taking personal pride in the products of automation Si nce it also appears in the nonautomated service trades--notoriously among appl i an ce repairmen headwaiter s taxi drivers etc-- it may eve n reflect some feeling that in a society as affluent as ours the direct conne ct i on between ef f ort and reward has somehow be en br oken Is goofing-off a new and permanent American characteristic I s the Age of Plenty to be an age of gold-bricking

bullbullbull That would certainly be a s olemn thought for this or any Fourth of July For i f there is one thing that has always distinguished Americans and as sur ed their prosperity it i s their capacity for hard work They worked like coolies when they had to which was from 1620 to about 1900 they made heroes of John Henry and Paul Bunyan and set world records of sheer physical

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outputfor example miles of railroad track laid in a day or a decade--which still stand And when tasks got easier they still worked more efficiently than anybody else because of the chronic scarcity of labor in relation to the amount of work to be done This national emphasis on the efficiency of labor has put $16000 worth of tools behind the average American worker and made him the most productive in the world

bullbullSuch abundance as we have is the direct result of this emphasis on productivity It certainly does not bring the need for it to an end If the Puritan or Calvinist motives for hard work have dwindled common sense can supply reasons just as strong The shorter the workday the more important the efficiency within it to keep it short and to keep us capable of coping with the undiminished hugeness of the unfinished work of the world Life recently sponsored an Arden House conference on the consume r The experts concluded that whatever the quality of American production--and a lot of it has been pretty shoddy-shythere is no visible shortage of aut hent i c consumer amplt s The age of abundance is far from an age of satiety Even i f Ame r i can s we r-e satiated the fact that two billion non-~ericans are still _~ ivi~~ in an age of extreme scarcity will make it essential for us to go on r oducing as abundantly and ef f i ci ent l y as we know howbull

bullbullbull The leisure we have won has far better uses than gol d- br icki n Tn s lump we are leaving will be back all too soon if we do not continue t h cor r ect i ves it indicated--harder and more intelligent work by labor manage) ent and seller Hard work is a habit we dare not cease to cultivate Only if we do cultivate it will it earn us the power to cultivate other virtues as well

The Importance of Being Excellent

The second of the two Life editorials follows and is a sad indictment of the tendency to equalize toward mediocrity prevalent in the modern society of today Entitled The importance of being excellent it stated

bull ThePursuit of Happiness was named a basic right of all men in a day when all Americans were born to a life of hard work The Rockefeller Report on Bducation published last week sets forth a complementary goal the Pursuit of Excellence ie a feeling for intellectual virtues in an era dominated by communal happines s -hunts bull

bullbullbull Excellence says the report or the pursuit of achievement for its own sake is IIa blend of talent and motive of ability fused with zeal It is at once the virtue and the satisfaction of doing something superbly It came down to us from the Greek concept of arete and the Roman of virtus infused with a later Christian morality Excellence is a lonely virtue and that is one reason for its increasing rarity in our culture todaybull

bull ~Present-day US society the report points out has intensified democracys old tug-of-war between excellence and equality has posed the problem of how to cultivate the ideal of the one While recognizing the moral values of the other In the US school system most of the heavyweight pulling has been done on the side of equality The moral compulsion to give equal

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opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

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AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

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ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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------- - - --

Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

-24shy

RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

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Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

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NCSL WORKSHOPS COMING

As announced previously NCSL is conducting a series of workshops at the Disneyland Hotel Anaheim California on January 25 and 26 1968 The program is scheduled as follows

Wednesday Jan 24 200 - 6 00 PM REGISTRATION 600 - 800 H~ SOCIAL HOURS

Thursday Jan 25 9 00 - 12 00 Noon SESSION A 1 Information for Standards Laboratories- - - P HUNTER 2 NCSL Directory---------- - -- - - ---- ------- W BOSTWICK 3 Recommended Practices--- - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - - W HOLMES

1200 Noon LUNCHEON 230 - 530 PM SESSION B

1 Workload Control------- - - - ----- - - - ---- - - - D HERVIG 2 Measurements Standards Laboratories---- - - M ANGELO

730 PM NCSL BOARD MEElING

Friday Jan 26 900 AM 1200 Noon SESSI ON C 1 Calibration Procedures------------------- C KOOP

12 00 Noon LUNCHEON 2 00 - 5 30 PM SESSION D

1 Procurement Regulations------------------ F RUSSELL 2 Measurement Agreement Comparison--------- H INGRAHAM

Registration fee will be $1500 which includes two luncheons Checks should be made out to National Conference of Standards Laboratories and mailed to NCSL at PO Box 884 Orange California 92666

1968 STANDARDS LABORATORY CONFERENCE PLANNING

JERRY HAYES Program Chairman has been actively soliciting papers for the biennial meeting at Boulder in August 1968 ORVAL LINEBRINK has been in conshytact with the principal speakers for the keynote address on Aug 26 and for the luncheon on Aug 28 NCSL Chairman WHITE has been contacting people overseas who are well known in the field of measurements standards in order to prepare another internationally-flavored session which is scheduled for Aug 27 at 200 PM The tentative title of the session has been established as THE VALUE OF INTERNAshyTIONAL MEASUREMENTS and is part of the Conference theme which is MAKING VALUABLE MEASUREMENTS IT bull

NCSL INTERNATIONAL

We have recently learned that J G Cameron of the Canadian Ministry of De~ense

and presently a Liaison Delegate to NCSL will be speaking to the Montreal Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers on Jan 31 1968 His topic is National Conference of Standards Laboratories Canadian friends in the vicinity might reserve this evening Best wishes for an attentive audience Graham

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WIB--WORIUNG-PARTY ON INSTRUMENT BEHAVIOR

An interesting exchange of correspondence took place between your Editor and a Dutch organization whose title translated is Working-party on Instrwnent Behavior (WIB) A note from Dr L Mason NIlSIBS in August placed us in contact with F A G Timmermans Secretary of the organization In answer to a re~uest Mr Timmermans was good enough to send details and reports of his organization

WIB is much like our American organizations for consumers--Consumers Research and Consumers Union with a major exception Its principal work is in the evaluation of industrial instrwnentation upon request from a sponsor-member of WIB The organizationformed in March 1963 presently is composed of 18 sponsor-members ranging from national and international industrial firms to an association of Finnish utilities and industries Each sponsor pays a fixed annual subscription fee for which he is entitled to a copy of all WIB evaluation reports and which permits him to sponsor instrwnent evaluashytions to the limit of his subscription fee (after which a direct charge is levied by WIB)

The actual investigative efforts are carried out by the Dutch TNO (Applied Scienti~ic Research) organization for which WIB acts as entrepreneur or coordinator TNO is an independent non-profit organization although originally formed by the government Its budget is defrayed in great part by the government and the organization is headquartered in The Hague TNO in general supplies independent and contract research analysis and testing of materialsand disseminates technical information to activities within and outside The Netherlands as required It consists of approximately 4000 persons of whom 1800 are available to WIB for collaboration and who form the Organization for Industrial Research TNO

Instrumentation is tested under standardized environments to manufacturers specifications opinions are given concerning construction human engineershying and packaging Finished reports are prepared in English to facilitate review of evaluations by similar groups located abroad WIB works in close coordination With the British Scientific Instrument Research Association (SIRA) to the extent of exchanging evaluation reports

It is interesting to note that some general conclusions reached concerning the results of evaluations already performed indicate that 1) non-adherence to specifications when environmental temperature is changed is common-place 2) pneumatic equipment is supersensitive to vibrations 3) electronic equipshyment performance suffers from exposure to damp heat and supply voltage variations

By continuance of correspondence it is hoped to encourage attendancemiddot by a representative of WIB at the Boulder conference of NCSL in August 1968

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YOUR DIRECTORY COMMITTEE NEEDS HELP

Some readers of this newsletter will be taking part LY1 (or will have t aken part in) the workshop discussion a t Anaheim California in January 1968 For those unable to be at the workshop the list of questions for discussion there f ol l ow below Comments will be welcomed by Paul D Long whose address is

Western Electric Co Inc P O Box 24l Reading Fa 19603

What you have t o say need not be conf i ned to the se que sc rons the Committee wants the Directory to be as useful as possible

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSI ON

NCSL Directory Workshop Anaheim Californ i ~ Januar y 24 1968

l How often should a new directory be issued

2 How often shoul d s uppl ement s be issued ( The 1967 Di r ect ory ha s blank spaces to be filled in by holders from suppleme t data Que st i cnnaire s will be sent t o new members as they join)

3 How to obtain data and keep directory current (The Di r ect ory Commi t t ee has no way of knowing about changes unless they are L~~or med delegates and ot her contacts should inform the Commi t t ee via the NCSL Secretariat concerning all changes)

4 Should the alphabetical de legates l i st be re-instated ( ~ e 1966 preliminary questionnaire showed a majority in favor of not publi shi ng thi s information Delegates change relatively r apidly )

5 How abo ut additions or ch anges in capabilities column headings (Keep i ng these compl et e and definitive and within space considerations must be considered )

6 What changes or additions should be made in the directory format

7 Sho uld non-NCSL-member laboratories pa y f or copies of the Di r ect ory

TRAlITSFER OF VOLTAGE UNIT STUDIED

The Air Force (Newark Air Force St at ion) and the National Bureau of Standards have established a one year joint pro j ec t to evaluate methods for impr oving t he unit of voltage from one laboratory to another The objective s of the program a r e t o (l ) improve the a ssignment of the volt at the Newark Air Force St at i on ( 2) find the most effective means for the interlaboratory transfer of the unit of voltage (3) establish efficient procedures f or the intra- and inter-laborashyt ory surveillance of the v ol t and (4) st udy the probl ems ass ociated with shipshyping standard cell enclosures under power Among the transport st anda rd s being studied are shippable saturated cells in a ir baths unsaturated cells and zener diodes

- from OVERLAP a US Depar t ment of Commer ce National Bureau of Standards publication issue

=========No=l=O=ctober 1967

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NEW CONCEPT rn LOW-TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT

In the temperature range below looK and especially below 10K thermometry becomes very difficult The need for temperature measurements at these low temperatures however has been steadily increasing This need is especially felt in studies of rocket fuels superconductivity nuclear magnetism and many other areas of science and technology

Since traditional methods of temperature measurement become difficult to use in the millidegree range more exotic concepts have begun to appear more practical One such possibility was recently advanced by R A Kamper of the NBS Institute for Materials Research at the Cryogenics Laboratories Boulder Colo This concept offers the promise of a thermometer which can measure directly the absolute temperature of a metallic conductor in the temperature range from 0001 to lOOK An important advantage of the thermoshymeter in principle at least is that no calibration is required

The phenomenon on which the prediction of temperature measurement is based is electrical noise--a fluctuating voltage which is present in all metallic conductors due to the Brownian motion of the el ect r ons The magnitude of this voltage varies as a function of both temperature and resistance of the conductor and becomes very small at low temperatures However it should be detectable at very low temperatures with the aid of the Josephson effect which occurs when two superconductors are connected by a weak junction When a steady bias voltage is maintained between the two superconductors the junction oscillates at a freCiuency proportional to the voltage The reCiuired bias voltage may be conveniently supplied by passing direct current through a resistor connected in parallel with the junction The electrical noise in this resistor then causes a random freCiuency modulation of the signal from the junction spreading it over a band of freCiuencies

A preliminary calculation shows that the width of this band of fr-equenc Les is proportional to the value of the resistance and its absolute temperature Thus in theory measuring this bandwidth forms the basis of a new type thermometer

Preliminary experimentation by A H Silver and J E Zimmerman of the Ford Scientific Laboratory and R A Kamper of the Bureau staff has confirmed the predictions of the calculation over a wide range of resistances and a modest range of temperatures Although the thermometer has not yet been tested at millidegree temperatures realistic values for the bias resistance and system stability indicate the possibility of measuring temperatures in this range To do this however it will be necessary to eliminate all spurious noise associated with the junction It is apparent therefore that some development remains on the thermometer This further development is currently in progress

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HERTZ GETS ANQIHER CUSTCMER

On July 24 1967 t he Military Communicat i on-Electronics Board (MCEB) of t he U S Dep artment of Defense issued a policy statement r elated to the use of he rtz in place of cycles per s econd ~le statement is as follows

1 Reason for a policy statement For t he last few yea r s t here has been an i ncreasing use within t he United St at e s of the term hertz (Hz) as the unit of frequency However the term cycl es per second also cont i nues t o be used as a unit of frequency Such dual terminology has gene r ated questions as t o the DOD policy on the use of the te rm hertz Thus a need exists f or a policy i n this r egard

2 Definition of Hertz Hert z A unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second

3 St anda r d t erminology f or hertz and cycl e s per second The terms hertz (Hz) and cy cl es per second (cIs) are fully aynonymous and are usable interchangeably f r om a te c rLic~ standshypoint Paragraph 112 of the English ver s i on of the Inte r national Radio Regulations Geneva (1959) shows a secondary substitution of KHz f or kCS MHz for MC s and GRz for Gels wher e K M and G stand for Kilo Mega and Giga respectively The CC IR 1n a resolution at the XIt h Plenary Assembly at Os lo in 1966 (publ i s hed in DOC XIVI OOI - E of 18 July 1966) r ec ommends the excl us ive use of t he he rt z t ermi nolog~ and extend s the spectrum nomenclature t o Terahert z (TRz) f or 10- cis or TC s Wherever these terms are r equired the f or egoing abbrevi at i ons are correct usage There i s no ob j ection however to spelling out hertz and cycl es per second where desired and deemed appr opriat e When doi ng s o t he appropriate prefix Kilo Mega Oiga and Ter a should also be spelled out

4 Policy on the use of he rtz and cycles per se cond The term he r tz shall be the appropr i ate term for the un i t of frequen cy t o be used in referencing radio f r equencies freque ncy bands or operating f requencies of commun i cat i ons - electroni cs equipment i n all corre sponden ce records standa rds pr ocedures documents and where applicable on equipment This policy does not r equi re immediate subst i t ut i on of hertz f or cycl es per s ec ond now appearing i n documents or on equipment No document or record of any des cription or nameplate or similar stamping should be r e issued r eprinted or restamped solely f or t he purshypose of substituting the new t erm he rtz (Hz) for the term cycl es per second (c s) Such substitution should t ake place only when eXisting documents r equi re revision fo r othe r reasons and when how equipment i s pr ocured The policy should be included in the next chan ge to or revision of existing do cuments such as ACP 167 During a period of t ransition it is inevitable that both terms will be used but this situation should not cr eat e serious pr oblems

5 Conflicting policy now supers eded Previous policy statements on this s ubj ect ar e hereby res cinded

6 Appl i cabi l i t y This policy i s appl icabl e to the DOD and all of its c omponents

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QUOTEABLE QUOTES

Age of Goof-off or of Pl ent y

Sometime during 1958 your editor noted two excellent editorials which appeared in Life magazine They were clipped and pres erved f or reference and stimulation in times to come Perhaps now is as good a time as any to br i ng one to light and to ponder its message Perhaps our youn ger ge ner at i on sees some of this goof i ng- of f which sparked t he or igi nal edi t or i al and f or that r eason is confused as to what is meaningful in life Perhaps the of tenshyexpr e s sed attitude t hat the goveI11IIlent owes us a living has its or igi n in the sarr~ trend toward irresponsibility and goof - of f In any event Lifers editor entitled his article Age of goof-off or plenty and had this to say

bullbull bullThe wonderful U S economy app ears to have seen t he worst of another slump its t hird since World War II its 15th in this cent ur y its 37th since the nation began No two of the 37 were exactly alike but all had a point in common The point of s l umps including this one i s to correct some widespread misuse of t he resources and talents at our disposalbull

bull bullQues t ion Have we yet earned another boom Have ve corrected the misuse of our res ources and talents in whi ch the recession caught us An advertising man Charles Brower rece nt l y described these errors i n graphic terms Opining that consumers were getting just bor ed with us and the things we sell Mr Brower called this the great era of the goof-off the ag e of t he halfshydone job The land from coast t o coast has been enj oying a s-cempede away from responsibility It is populated with laundry men rho won t iron shirts with waiters who von t t servewith carpenters who will come around someday maybe with execut i ves whose mind is on the gol f course with t eachers who demand a single salary s chedule so that achievement cannot be r ewarded nor poor work punishedjwith students who t ake cinch courses because the hard ones make them think with spiritual delin~uents of all kinds who have been triumphantly determined to enjoy what was known until the present crises as the new leisure And the salesman who wont sell is only a part of this overall mess

bullbull In his little book called Work and Its Discontents Daniel Bell of Fortune notes tendencies t oward the evasion of work which are so char act e r i s t i c of the Ameri can factory worker and which today obsess all workers Unlike traditional f eatherbedding this new evasion is motivated not by fear of unempl oyment but r ather by a l ost instinct of workmanship II I or the near impossibility of taking personal pride in the products of automation Si nce it also appears in the nonautomated service trades--notoriously among appl i an ce repairmen headwaiter s taxi drivers etc-- it may eve n reflect some feeling that in a society as affluent as ours the direct conne ct i on between ef f ort and reward has somehow be en br oken Is goofing-off a new and permanent American characteristic I s the Age of Plenty to be an age of gold-bricking

bullbullbull That would certainly be a s olemn thought for this or any Fourth of July For i f there is one thing that has always distinguished Americans and as sur ed their prosperity it i s their capacity for hard work They worked like coolies when they had to which was from 1620 to about 1900 they made heroes of John Henry and Paul Bunyan and set world records of sheer physical

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outputfor example miles of railroad track laid in a day or a decade--which still stand And when tasks got easier they still worked more efficiently than anybody else because of the chronic scarcity of labor in relation to the amount of work to be done This national emphasis on the efficiency of labor has put $16000 worth of tools behind the average American worker and made him the most productive in the world

bullbullSuch abundance as we have is the direct result of this emphasis on productivity It certainly does not bring the need for it to an end If the Puritan or Calvinist motives for hard work have dwindled common sense can supply reasons just as strong The shorter the workday the more important the efficiency within it to keep it short and to keep us capable of coping with the undiminished hugeness of the unfinished work of the world Life recently sponsored an Arden House conference on the consume r The experts concluded that whatever the quality of American production--and a lot of it has been pretty shoddy-shythere is no visible shortage of aut hent i c consumer amplt s The age of abundance is far from an age of satiety Even i f Ame r i can s we r-e satiated the fact that two billion non-~ericans are still _~ ivi~~ in an age of extreme scarcity will make it essential for us to go on r oducing as abundantly and ef f i ci ent l y as we know howbull

bullbullbull The leisure we have won has far better uses than gol d- br icki n Tn s lump we are leaving will be back all too soon if we do not continue t h cor r ect i ves it indicated--harder and more intelligent work by labor manage) ent and seller Hard work is a habit we dare not cease to cultivate Only if we do cultivate it will it earn us the power to cultivate other virtues as well

The Importance of Being Excellent

The second of the two Life editorials follows and is a sad indictment of the tendency to equalize toward mediocrity prevalent in the modern society of today Entitled The importance of being excellent it stated

bull ThePursuit of Happiness was named a basic right of all men in a day when all Americans were born to a life of hard work The Rockefeller Report on Bducation published last week sets forth a complementary goal the Pursuit of Excellence ie a feeling for intellectual virtues in an era dominated by communal happines s -hunts bull

bullbullbull Excellence says the report or the pursuit of achievement for its own sake is IIa blend of talent and motive of ability fused with zeal It is at once the virtue and the satisfaction of doing something superbly It came down to us from the Greek concept of arete and the Roman of virtus infused with a later Christian morality Excellence is a lonely virtue and that is one reason for its increasing rarity in our culture todaybull

bull ~Present-day US society the report points out has intensified democracys old tug-of-war between excellence and equality has posed the problem of how to cultivate the ideal of the one While recognizing the moral values of the other In the US school system most of the heavyweight pulling has been done on the side of equality The moral compulsion to give equal

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opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

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AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

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ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

-27shy

NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

WIB--WORIUNG-PARTY ON INSTRUMENT BEHAVIOR

An interesting exchange of correspondence took place between your Editor and a Dutch organization whose title translated is Working-party on Instrwnent Behavior (WIB) A note from Dr L Mason NIlSIBS in August placed us in contact with F A G Timmermans Secretary of the organization In answer to a re~uest Mr Timmermans was good enough to send details and reports of his organization

WIB is much like our American organizations for consumers--Consumers Research and Consumers Union with a major exception Its principal work is in the evaluation of industrial instrwnentation upon request from a sponsor-member of WIB The organizationformed in March 1963 presently is composed of 18 sponsor-members ranging from national and international industrial firms to an association of Finnish utilities and industries Each sponsor pays a fixed annual subscription fee for which he is entitled to a copy of all WIB evaluation reports and which permits him to sponsor instrwnent evaluashytions to the limit of his subscription fee (after which a direct charge is levied by WIB)

The actual investigative efforts are carried out by the Dutch TNO (Applied Scienti~ic Research) organization for which WIB acts as entrepreneur or coordinator TNO is an independent non-profit organization although originally formed by the government Its budget is defrayed in great part by the government and the organization is headquartered in The Hague TNO in general supplies independent and contract research analysis and testing of materialsand disseminates technical information to activities within and outside The Netherlands as required It consists of approximately 4000 persons of whom 1800 are available to WIB for collaboration and who form the Organization for Industrial Research TNO

Instrumentation is tested under standardized environments to manufacturers specifications opinions are given concerning construction human engineershying and packaging Finished reports are prepared in English to facilitate review of evaluations by similar groups located abroad WIB works in close coordination With the British Scientific Instrument Research Association (SIRA) to the extent of exchanging evaluation reports

It is interesting to note that some general conclusions reached concerning the results of evaluations already performed indicate that 1) non-adherence to specifications when environmental temperature is changed is common-place 2) pneumatic equipment is supersensitive to vibrations 3) electronic equipshyment performance suffers from exposure to damp heat and supply voltage variations

By continuance of correspondence it is hoped to encourage attendancemiddot by a representative of WIB at the Boulder conference of NCSL in August 1968

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YOUR DIRECTORY COMMITTEE NEEDS HELP

Some readers of this newsletter will be taking part LY1 (or will have t aken part in) the workshop discussion a t Anaheim California in January 1968 For those unable to be at the workshop the list of questions for discussion there f ol l ow below Comments will be welcomed by Paul D Long whose address is

Western Electric Co Inc P O Box 24l Reading Fa 19603

What you have t o say need not be conf i ned to the se que sc rons the Committee wants the Directory to be as useful as possible

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSI ON

NCSL Directory Workshop Anaheim Californ i ~ Januar y 24 1968

l How often should a new directory be issued

2 How often shoul d s uppl ement s be issued ( The 1967 Di r ect ory ha s blank spaces to be filled in by holders from suppleme t data Que st i cnnaire s will be sent t o new members as they join)

3 How to obtain data and keep directory current (The Di r ect ory Commi t t ee has no way of knowing about changes unless they are L~~or med delegates and ot her contacts should inform the Commi t t ee via the NCSL Secretariat concerning all changes)

4 Should the alphabetical de legates l i st be re-instated ( ~ e 1966 preliminary questionnaire showed a majority in favor of not publi shi ng thi s information Delegates change relatively r apidly )

5 How abo ut additions or ch anges in capabilities column headings (Keep i ng these compl et e and definitive and within space considerations must be considered )

6 What changes or additions should be made in the directory format

7 Sho uld non-NCSL-member laboratories pa y f or copies of the Di r ect ory

TRAlITSFER OF VOLTAGE UNIT STUDIED

The Air Force (Newark Air Force St at ion) and the National Bureau of Standards have established a one year joint pro j ec t to evaluate methods for impr oving t he unit of voltage from one laboratory to another The objective s of the program a r e t o (l ) improve the a ssignment of the volt at the Newark Air Force St at i on ( 2) find the most effective means for the interlaboratory transfer of the unit of voltage (3) establish efficient procedures f or the intra- and inter-laborashyt ory surveillance of the v ol t and (4) st udy the probl ems ass ociated with shipshyping standard cell enclosures under power Among the transport st anda rd s being studied are shippable saturated cells in a ir baths unsaturated cells and zener diodes

- from OVERLAP a US Depar t ment of Commer ce National Bureau of Standards publication issue

=========No=l=O=ctober 1967

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NEW CONCEPT rn LOW-TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT

In the temperature range below looK and especially below 10K thermometry becomes very difficult The need for temperature measurements at these low temperatures however has been steadily increasing This need is especially felt in studies of rocket fuels superconductivity nuclear magnetism and many other areas of science and technology

Since traditional methods of temperature measurement become difficult to use in the millidegree range more exotic concepts have begun to appear more practical One such possibility was recently advanced by R A Kamper of the NBS Institute for Materials Research at the Cryogenics Laboratories Boulder Colo This concept offers the promise of a thermometer which can measure directly the absolute temperature of a metallic conductor in the temperature range from 0001 to lOOK An important advantage of the thermoshymeter in principle at least is that no calibration is required

The phenomenon on which the prediction of temperature measurement is based is electrical noise--a fluctuating voltage which is present in all metallic conductors due to the Brownian motion of the el ect r ons The magnitude of this voltage varies as a function of both temperature and resistance of the conductor and becomes very small at low temperatures However it should be detectable at very low temperatures with the aid of the Josephson effect which occurs when two superconductors are connected by a weak junction When a steady bias voltage is maintained between the two superconductors the junction oscillates at a freCiuency proportional to the voltage The reCiuired bias voltage may be conveniently supplied by passing direct current through a resistor connected in parallel with the junction The electrical noise in this resistor then causes a random freCiuency modulation of the signal from the junction spreading it over a band of freCiuencies

A preliminary calculation shows that the width of this band of fr-equenc Les is proportional to the value of the resistance and its absolute temperature Thus in theory measuring this bandwidth forms the basis of a new type thermometer

Preliminary experimentation by A H Silver and J E Zimmerman of the Ford Scientific Laboratory and R A Kamper of the Bureau staff has confirmed the predictions of the calculation over a wide range of resistances and a modest range of temperatures Although the thermometer has not yet been tested at millidegree temperatures realistic values for the bias resistance and system stability indicate the possibility of measuring temperatures in this range To do this however it will be necessary to eliminate all spurious noise associated with the junction It is apparent therefore that some development remains on the thermometer This further development is currently in progress

-7shy

HERTZ GETS ANQIHER CUSTCMER

On July 24 1967 t he Military Communicat i on-Electronics Board (MCEB) of t he U S Dep artment of Defense issued a policy statement r elated to the use of he rtz in place of cycles per s econd ~le statement is as follows

1 Reason for a policy statement For t he last few yea r s t here has been an i ncreasing use within t he United St at e s of the term hertz (Hz) as the unit of frequency However the term cycl es per second also cont i nues t o be used as a unit of frequency Such dual terminology has gene r ated questions as t o the DOD policy on the use of the te rm hertz Thus a need exists f or a policy i n this r egard

2 Definition of Hertz Hert z A unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second

3 St anda r d t erminology f or hertz and cycl e s per second The terms hertz (Hz) and cy cl es per second (cIs) are fully aynonymous and are usable interchangeably f r om a te c rLic~ standshypoint Paragraph 112 of the English ver s i on of the Inte r national Radio Regulations Geneva (1959) shows a secondary substitution of KHz f or kCS MHz for MC s and GRz for Gels wher e K M and G stand for Kilo Mega and Giga respectively The CC IR 1n a resolution at the XIt h Plenary Assembly at Os lo in 1966 (publ i s hed in DOC XIVI OOI - E of 18 July 1966) r ec ommends the excl us ive use of t he he rt z t ermi nolog~ and extend s the spectrum nomenclature t o Terahert z (TRz) f or 10- cis or TC s Wherever these terms are r equired the f or egoing abbrevi at i ons are correct usage There i s no ob j ection however to spelling out hertz and cycl es per second where desired and deemed appr opriat e When doi ng s o t he appropriate prefix Kilo Mega Oiga and Ter a should also be spelled out

4 Policy on the use of he rtz and cycles per se cond The term he r tz shall be the appropr i ate term for the un i t of frequen cy t o be used in referencing radio f r equencies freque ncy bands or operating f requencies of commun i cat i ons - electroni cs equipment i n all corre sponden ce records standa rds pr ocedures documents and where applicable on equipment This policy does not r equi re immediate subst i t ut i on of hertz f or cycl es per s ec ond now appearing i n documents or on equipment No document or record of any des cription or nameplate or similar stamping should be r e issued r eprinted or restamped solely f or t he purshypose of substituting the new t erm he rtz (Hz) for the term cycl es per second (c s) Such substitution should t ake place only when eXisting documents r equi re revision fo r othe r reasons and when how equipment i s pr ocured The policy should be included in the next chan ge to or revision of existing do cuments such as ACP 167 During a period of t ransition it is inevitable that both terms will be used but this situation should not cr eat e serious pr oblems

5 Conflicting policy now supers eded Previous policy statements on this s ubj ect ar e hereby res cinded

6 Appl i cabi l i t y This policy i s appl icabl e to the DOD and all of its c omponents

-8shy

QUOTEABLE QUOTES

Age of Goof-off or of Pl ent y

Sometime during 1958 your editor noted two excellent editorials which appeared in Life magazine They were clipped and pres erved f or reference and stimulation in times to come Perhaps now is as good a time as any to br i ng one to light and to ponder its message Perhaps our youn ger ge ner at i on sees some of this goof i ng- of f which sparked t he or igi nal edi t or i al and f or that r eason is confused as to what is meaningful in life Perhaps the of tenshyexpr e s sed attitude t hat the goveI11IIlent owes us a living has its or igi n in the sarr~ trend toward irresponsibility and goof - of f In any event Lifers editor entitled his article Age of goof-off or plenty and had this to say

bullbull bullThe wonderful U S economy app ears to have seen t he worst of another slump its t hird since World War II its 15th in this cent ur y its 37th since the nation began No two of the 37 were exactly alike but all had a point in common The point of s l umps including this one i s to correct some widespread misuse of t he resources and talents at our disposalbull

bull bullQues t ion Have we yet earned another boom Have ve corrected the misuse of our res ources and talents in whi ch the recession caught us An advertising man Charles Brower rece nt l y described these errors i n graphic terms Opining that consumers were getting just bor ed with us and the things we sell Mr Brower called this the great era of the goof-off the ag e of t he halfshydone job The land from coast t o coast has been enj oying a s-cempede away from responsibility It is populated with laundry men rho won t iron shirts with waiters who von t t servewith carpenters who will come around someday maybe with execut i ves whose mind is on the gol f course with t eachers who demand a single salary s chedule so that achievement cannot be r ewarded nor poor work punishedjwith students who t ake cinch courses because the hard ones make them think with spiritual delin~uents of all kinds who have been triumphantly determined to enjoy what was known until the present crises as the new leisure And the salesman who wont sell is only a part of this overall mess

bullbull In his little book called Work and Its Discontents Daniel Bell of Fortune notes tendencies t oward the evasion of work which are so char act e r i s t i c of the Ameri can factory worker and which today obsess all workers Unlike traditional f eatherbedding this new evasion is motivated not by fear of unempl oyment but r ather by a l ost instinct of workmanship II I or the near impossibility of taking personal pride in the products of automation Si nce it also appears in the nonautomated service trades--notoriously among appl i an ce repairmen headwaiter s taxi drivers etc-- it may eve n reflect some feeling that in a society as affluent as ours the direct conne ct i on between ef f ort and reward has somehow be en br oken Is goofing-off a new and permanent American characteristic I s the Age of Plenty to be an age of gold-bricking

bullbullbull That would certainly be a s olemn thought for this or any Fourth of July For i f there is one thing that has always distinguished Americans and as sur ed their prosperity it i s their capacity for hard work They worked like coolies when they had to which was from 1620 to about 1900 they made heroes of John Henry and Paul Bunyan and set world records of sheer physical

-9shy

outputfor example miles of railroad track laid in a day or a decade--which still stand And when tasks got easier they still worked more efficiently than anybody else because of the chronic scarcity of labor in relation to the amount of work to be done This national emphasis on the efficiency of labor has put $16000 worth of tools behind the average American worker and made him the most productive in the world

bullbullSuch abundance as we have is the direct result of this emphasis on productivity It certainly does not bring the need for it to an end If the Puritan or Calvinist motives for hard work have dwindled common sense can supply reasons just as strong The shorter the workday the more important the efficiency within it to keep it short and to keep us capable of coping with the undiminished hugeness of the unfinished work of the world Life recently sponsored an Arden House conference on the consume r The experts concluded that whatever the quality of American production--and a lot of it has been pretty shoddy-shythere is no visible shortage of aut hent i c consumer amplt s The age of abundance is far from an age of satiety Even i f Ame r i can s we r-e satiated the fact that two billion non-~ericans are still _~ ivi~~ in an age of extreme scarcity will make it essential for us to go on r oducing as abundantly and ef f i ci ent l y as we know howbull

bullbullbull The leisure we have won has far better uses than gol d- br icki n Tn s lump we are leaving will be back all too soon if we do not continue t h cor r ect i ves it indicated--harder and more intelligent work by labor manage) ent and seller Hard work is a habit we dare not cease to cultivate Only if we do cultivate it will it earn us the power to cultivate other virtues as well

The Importance of Being Excellent

The second of the two Life editorials follows and is a sad indictment of the tendency to equalize toward mediocrity prevalent in the modern society of today Entitled The importance of being excellent it stated

bull ThePursuit of Happiness was named a basic right of all men in a day when all Americans were born to a life of hard work The Rockefeller Report on Bducation published last week sets forth a complementary goal the Pursuit of Excellence ie a feeling for intellectual virtues in an era dominated by communal happines s -hunts bull

bullbullbull Excellence says the report or the pursuit of achievement for its own sake is IIa blend of talent and motive of ability fused with zeal It is at once the virtue and the satisfaction of doing something superbly It came down to us from the Greek concept of arete and the Roman of virtus infused with a later Christian morality Excellence is a lonely virtue and that is one reason for its increasing rarity in our culture todaybull

bull ~Present-day US society the report points out has intensified democracys old tug-of-war between excellence and equality has posed the problem of how to cultivate the ideal of the one While recognizing the moral values of the other In the US school system most of the heavyweight pulling has been done on the side of equality The moral compulsion to give equal

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opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

- llshy

AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

-l2shy

ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

-13shy

------- - - --

Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

-15shy

CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

-16shy

be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

-21shy

In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

YOUR DIRECTORY COMMITTEE NEEDS HELP

Some readers of this newsletter will be taking part LY1 (or will have t aken part in) the workshop discussion a t Anaheim California in January 1968 For those unable to be at the workshop the list of questions for discussion there f ol l ow below Comments will be welcomed by Paul D Long whose address is

Western Electric Co Inc P O Box 24l Reading Fa 19603

What you have t o say need not be conf i ned to the se que sc rons the Committee wants the Directory to be as useful as possible

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSI ON

NCSL Directory Workshop Anaheim Californ i ~ Januar y 24 1968

l How often should a new directory be issued

2 How often shoul d s uppl ement s be issued ( The 1967 Di r ect ory ha s blank spaces to be filled in by holders from suppleme t data Que st i cnnaire s will be sent t o new members as they join)

3 How to obtain data and keep directory current (The Di r ect ory Commi t t ee has no way of knowing about changes unless they are L~~or med delegates and ot her contacts should inform the Commi t t ee via the NCSL Secretariat concerning all changes)

4 Should the alphabetical de legates l i st be re-instated ( ~ e 1966 preliminary questionnaire showed a majority in favor of not publi shi ng thi s information Delegates change relatively r apidly )

5 How abo ut additions or ch anges in capabilities column headings (Keep i ng these compl et e and definitive and within space considerations must be considered )

6 What changes or additions should be made in the directory format

7 Sho uld non-NCSL-member laboratories pa y f or copies of the Di r ect ory

TRAlITSFER OF VOLTAGE UNIT STUDIED

The Air Force (Newark Air Force St at ion) and the National Bureau of Standards have established a one year joint pro j ec t to evaluate methods for impr oving t he unit of voltage from one laboratory to another The objective s of the program a r e t o (l ) improve the a ssignment of the volt at the Newark Air Force St at i on ( 2) find the most effective means for the interlaboratory transfer of the unit of voltage (3) establish efficient procedures f or the intra- and inter-laborashyt ory surveillance of the v ol t and (4) st udy the probl ems ass ociated with shipshyping standard cell enclosures under power Among the transport st anda rd s being studied are shippable saturated cells in a ir baths unsaturated cells and zener diodes

- from OVERLAP a US Depar t ment of Commer ce National Bureau of Standards publication issue

=========No=l=O=ctober 1967

-6shy

NEW CONCEPT rn LOW-TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT

In the temperature range below looK and especially below 10K thermometry becomes very difficult The need for temperature measurements at these low temperatures however has been steadily increasing This need is especially felt in studies of rocket fuels superconductivity nuclear magnetism and many other areas of science and technology

Since traditional methods of temperature measurement become difficult to use in the millidegree range more exotic concepts have begun to appear more practical One such possibility was recently advanced by R A Kamper of the NBS Institute for Materials Research at the Cryogenics Laboratories Boulder Colo This concept offers the promise of a thermometer which can measure directly the absolute temperature of a metallic conductor in the temperature range from 0001 to lOOK An important advantage of the thermoshymeter in principle at least is that no calibration is required

The phenomenon on which the prediction of temperature measurement is based is electrical noise--a fluctuating voltage which is present in all metallic conductors due to the Brownian motion of the el ect r ons The magnitude of this voltage varies as a function of both temperature and resistance of the conductor and becomes very small at low temperatures However it should be detectable at very low temperatures with the aid of the Josephson effect which occurs when two superconductors are connected by a weak junction When a steady bias voltage is maintained between the two superconductors the junction oscillates at a freCiuency proportional to the voltage The reCiuired bias voltage may be conveniently supplied by passing direct current through a resistor connected in parallel with the junction The electrical noise in this resistor then causes a random freCiuency modulation of the signal from the junction spreading it over a band of freCiuencies

A preliminary calculation shows that the width of this band of fr-equenc Les is proportional to the value of the resistance and its absolute temperature Thus in theory measuring this bandwidth forms the basis of a new type thermometer

Preliminary experimentation by A H Silver and J E Zimmerman of the Ford Scientific Laboratory and R A Kamper of the Bureau staff has confirmed the predictions of the calculation over a wide range of resistances and a modest range of temperatures Although the thermometer has not yet been tested at millidegree temperatures realistic values for the bias resistance and system stability indicate the possibility of measuring temperatures in this range To do this however it will be necessary to eliminate all spurious noise associated with the junction It is apparent therefore that some development remains on the thermometer This further development is currently in progress

-7shy

HERTZ GETS ANQIHER CUSTCMER

On July 24 1967 t he Military Communicat i on-Electronics Board (MCEB) of t he U S Dep artment of Defense issued a policy statement r elated to the use of he rtz in place of cycles per s econd ~le statement is as follows

1 Reason for a policy statement For t he last few yea r s t here has been an i ncreasing use within t he United St at e s of the term hertz (Hz) as the unit of frequency However the term cycl es per second also cont i nues t o be used as a unit of frequency Such dual terminology has gene r ated questions as t o the DOD policy on the use of the te rm hertz Thus a need exists f or a policy i n this r egard

2 Definition of Hertz Hert z A unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second

3 St anda r d t erminology f or hertz and cycl e s per second The terms hertz (Hz) and cy cl es per second (cIs) are fully aynonymous and are usable interchangeably f r om a te c rLic~ standshypoint Paragraph 112 of the English ver s i on of the Inte r national Radio Regulations Geneva (1959) shows a secondary substitution of KHz f or kCS MHz for MC s and GRz for Gels wher e K M and G stand for Kilo Mega and Giga respectively The CC IR 1n a resolution at the XIt h Plenary Assembly at Os lo in 1966 (publ i s hed in DOC XIVI OOI - E of 18 July 1966) r ec ommends the excl us ive use of t he he rt z t ermi nolog~ and extend s the spectrum nomenclature t o Terahert z (TRz) f or 10- cis or TC s Wherever these terms are r equired the f or egoing abbrevi at i ons are correct usage There i s no ob j ection however to spelling out hertz and cycl es per second where desired and deemed appr opriat e When doi ng s o t he appropriate prefix Kilo Mega Oiga and Ter a should also be spelled out

4 Policy on the use of he rtz and cycles per se cond The term he r tz shall be the appropr i ate term for the un i t of frequen cy t o be used in referencing radio f r equencies freque ncy bands or operating f requencies of commun i cat i ons - electroni cs equipment i n all corre sponden ce records standa rds pr ocedures documents and where applicable on equipment This policy does not r equi re immediate subst i t ut i on of hertz f or cycl es per s ec ond now appearing i n documents or on equipment No document or record of any des cription or nameplate or similar stamping should be r e issued r eprinted or restamped solely f or t he purshypose of substituting the new t erm he rtz (Hz) for the term cycl es per second (c s) Such substitution should t ake place only when eXisting documents r equi re revision fo r othe r reasons and when how equipment i s pr ocured The policy should be included in the next chan ge to or revision of existing do cuments such as ACP 167 During a period of t ransition it is inevitable that both terms will be used but this situation should not cr eat e serious pr oblems

5 Conflicting policy now supers eded Previous policy statements on this s ubj ect ar e hereby res cinded

6 Appl i cabi l i t y This policy i s appl icabl e to the DOD and all of its c omponents

-8shy

QUOTEABLE QUOTES

Age of Goof-off or of Pl ent y

Sometime during 1958 your editor noted two excellent editorials which appeared in Life magazine They were clipped and pres erved f or reference and stimulation in times to come Perhaps now is as good a time as any to br i ng one to light and to ponder its message Perhaps our youn ger ge ner at i on sees some of this goof i ng- of f which sparked t he or igi nal edi t or i al and f or that r eason is confused as to what is meaningful in life Perhaps the of tenshyexpr e s sed attitude t hat the goveI11IIlent owes us a living has its or igi n in the sarr~ trend toward irresponsibility and goof - of f In any event Lifers editor entitled his article Age of goof-off or plenty and had this to say

bullbull bullThe wonderful U S economy app ears to have seen t he worst of another slump its t hird since World War II its 15th in this cent ur y its 37th since the nation began No two of the 37 were exactly alike but all had a point in common The point of s l umps including this one i s to correct some widespread misuse of t he resources and talents at our disposalbull

bull bullQues t ion Have we yet earned another boom Have ve corrected the misuse of our res ources and talents in whi ch the recession caught us An advertising man Charles Brower rece nt l y described these errors i n graphic terms Opining that consumers were getting just bor ed with us and the things we sell Mr Brower called this the great era of the goof-off the ag e of t he halfshydone job The land from coast t o coast has been enj oying a s-cempede away from responsibility It is populated with laundry men rho won t iron shirts with waiters who von t t servewith carpenters who will come around someday maybe with execut i ves whose mind is on the gol f course with t eachers who demand a single salary s chedule so that achievement cannot be r ewarded nor poor work punishedjwith students who t ake cinch courses because the hard ones make them think with spiritual delin~uents of all kinds who have been triumphantly determined to enjoy what was known until the present crises as the new leisure And the salesman who wont sell is only a part of this overall mess

bullbull In his little book called Work and Its Discontents Daniel Bell of Fortune notes tendencies t oward the evasion of work which are so char act e r i s t i c of the Ameri can factory worker and which today obsess all workers Unlike traditional f eatherbedding this new evasion is motivated not by fear of unempl oyment but r ather by a l ost instinct of workmanship II I or the near impossibility of taking personal pride in the products of automation Si nce it also appears in the nonautomated service trades--notoriously among appl i an ce repairmen headwaiter s taxi drivers etc-- it may eve n reflect some feeling that in a society as affluent as ours the direct conne ct i on between ef f ort and reward has somehow be en br oken Is goofing-off a new and permanent American characteristic I s the Age of Plenty to be an age of gold-bricking

bullbullbull That would certainly be a s olemn thought for this or any Fourth of July For i f there is one thing that has always distinguished Americans and as sur ed their prosperity it i s their capacity for hard work They worked like coolies when they had to which was from 1620 to about 1900 they made heroes of John Henry and Paul Bunyan and set world records of sheer physical

-9shy

outputfor example miles of railroad track laid in a day or a decade--which still stand And when tasks got easier they still worked more efficiently than anybody else because of the chronic scarcity of labor in relation to the amount of work to be done This national emphasis on the efficiency of labor has put $16000 worth of tools behind the average American worker and made him the most productive in the world

bullbullSuch abundance as we have is the direct result of this emphasis on productivity It certainly does not bring the need for it to an end If the Puritan or Calvinist motives for hard work have dwindled common sense can supply reasons just as strong The shorter the workday the more important the efficiency within it to keep it short and to keep us capable of coping with the undiminished hugeness of the unfinished work of the world Life recently sponsored an Arden House conference on the consume r The experts concluded that whatever the quality of American production--and a lot of it has been pretty shoddy-shythere is no visible shortage of aut hent i c consumer amplt s The age of abundance is far from an age of satiety Even i f Ame r i can s we r-e satiated the fact that two billion non-~ericans are still _~ ivi~~ in an age of extreme scarcity will make it essential for us to go on r oducing as abundantly and ef f i ci ent l y as we know howbull

bullbullbull The leisure we have won has far better uses than gol d- br icki n Tn s lump we are leaving will be back all too soon if we do not continue t h cor r ect i ves it indicated--harder and more intelligent work by labor manage) ent and seller Hard work is a habit we dare not cease to cultivate Only if we do cultivate it will it earn us the power to cultivate other virtues as well

The Importance of Being Excellent

The second of the two Life editorials follows and is a sad indictment of the tendency to equalize toward mediocrity prevalent in the modern society of today Entitled The importance of being excellent it stated

bull ThePursuit of Happiness was named a basic right of all men in a day when all Americans were born to a life of hard work The Rockefeller Report on Bducation published last week sets forth a complementary goal the Pursuit of Excellence ie a feeling for intellectual virtues in an era dominated by communal happines s -hunts bull

bullbullbull Excellence says the report or the pursuit of achievement for its own sake is IIa blend of talent and motive of ability fused with zeal It is at once the virtue and the satisfaction of doing something superbly It came down to us from the Greek concept of arete and the Roman of virtus infused with a later Christian morality Excellence is a lonely virtue and that is one reason for its increasing rarity in our culture todaybull

bull ~Present-day US society the report points out has intensified democracys old tug-of-war between excellence and equality has posed the problem of how to cultivate the ideal of the one While recognizing the moral values of the other In the US school system most of the heavyweight pulling has been done on the side of equality The moral compulsion to give equal

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opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

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AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

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ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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------- - - --

Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

bull

t

I I r ~ -

~middot ~J I ~~

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

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EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

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Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

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A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

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II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

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NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

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Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

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NEW CONCEPT rn LOW-TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT

In the temperature range below looK and especially below 10K thermometry becomes very difficult The need for temperature measurements at these low temperatures however has been steadily increasing This need is especially felt in studies of rocket fuels superconductivity nuclear magnetism and many other areas of science and technology

Since traditional methods of temperature measurement become difficult to use in the millidegree range more exotic concepts have begun to appear more practical One such possibility was recently advanced by R A Kamper of the NBS Institute for Materials Research at the Cryogenics Laboratories Boulder Colo This concept offers the promise of a thermometer which can measure directly the absolute temperature of a metallic conductor in the temperature range from 0001 to lOOK An important advantage of the thermoshymeter in principle at least is that no calibration is required

The phenomenon on which the prediction of temperature measurement is based is electrical noise--a fluctuating voltage which is present in all metallic conductors due to the Brownian motion of the el ect r ons The magnitude of this voltage varies as a function of both temperature and resistance of the conductor and becomes very small at low temperatures However it should be detectable at very low temperatures with the aid of the Josephson effect which occurs when two superconductors are connected by a weak junction When a steady bias voltage is maintained between the two superconductors the junction oscillates at a freCiuency proportional to the voltage The reCiuired bias voltage may be conveniently supplied by passing direct current through a resistor connected in parallel with the junction The electrical noise in this resistor then causes a random freCiuency modulation of the signal from the junction spreading it over a band of freCiuencies

A preliminary calculation shows that the width of this band of fr-equenc Les is proportional to the value of the resistance and its absolute temperature Thus in theory measuring this bandwidth forms the basis of a new type thermometer

Preliminary experimentation by A H Silver and J E Zimmerman of the Ford Scientific Laboratory and R A Kamper of the Bureau staff has confirmed the predictions of the calculation over a wide range of resistances and a modest range of temperatures Although the thermometer has not yet been tested at millidegree temperatures realistic values for the bias resistance and system stability indicate the possibility of measuring temperatures in this range To do this however it will be necessary to eliminate all spurious noise associated with the junction It is apparent therefore that some development remains on the thermometer This further development is currently in progress

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HERTZ GETS ANQIHER CUSTCMER

On July 24 1967 t he Military Communicat i on-Electronics Board (MCEB) of t he U S Dep artment of Defense issued a policy statement r elated to the use of he rtz in place of cycles per s econd ~le statement is as follows

1 Reason for a policy statement For t he last few yea r s t here has been an i ncreasing use within t he United St at e s of the term hertz (Hz) as the unit of frequency However the term cycl es per second also cont i nues t o be used as a unit of frequency Such dual terminology has gene r ated questions as t o the DOD policy on the use of the te rm hertz Thus a need exists f or a policy i n this r egard

2 Definition of Hertz Hert z A unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second

3 St anda r d t erminology f or hertz and cycl e s per second The terms hertz (Hz) and cy cl es per second (cIs) are fully aynonymous and are usable interchangeably f r om a te c rLic~ standshypoint Paragraph 112 of the English ver s i on of the Inte r national Radio Regulations Geneva (1959) shows a secondary substitution of KHz f or kCS MHz for MC s and GRz for Gels wher e K M and G stand for Kilo Mega and Giga respectively The CC IR 1n a resolution at the XIt h Plenary Assembly at Os lo in 1966 (publ i s hed in DOC XIVI OOI - E of 18 July 1966) r ec ommends the excl us ive use of t he he rt z t ermi nolog~ and extend s the spectrum nomenclature t o Terahert z (TRz) f or 10- cis or TC s Wherever these terms are r equired the f or egoing abbrevi at i ons are correct usage There i s no ob j ection however to spelling out hertz and cycl es per second where desired and deemed appr opriat e When doi ng s o t he appropriate prefix Kilo Mega Oiga and Ter a should also be spelled out

4 Policy on the use of he rtz and cycles per se cond The term he r tz shall be the appropr i ate term for the un i t of frequen cy t o be used in referencing radio f r equencies freque ncy bands or operating f requencies of commun i cat i ons - electroni cs equipment i n all corre sponden ce records standa rds pr ocedures documents and where applicable on equipment This policy does not r equi re immediate subst i t ut i on of hertz f or cycl es per s ec ond now appearing i n documents or on equipment No document or record of any des cription or nameplate or similar stamping should be r e issued r eprinted or restamped solely f or t he purshypose of substituting the new t erm he rtz (Hz) for the term cycl es per second (c s) Such substitution should t ake place only when eXisting documents r equi re revision fo r othe r reasons and when how equipment i s pr ocured The policy should be included in the next chan ge to or revision of existing do cuments such as ACP 167 During a period of t ransition it is inevitable that both terms will be used but this situation should not cr eat e serious pr oblems

5 Conflicting policy now supers eded Previous policy statements on this s ubj ect ar e hereby res cinded

6 Appl i cabi l i t y This policy i s appl icabl e to the DOD and all of its c omponents

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QUOTEABLE QUOTES

Age of Goof-off or of Pl ent y

Sometime during 1958 your editor noted two excellent editorials which appeared in Life magazine They were clipped and pres erved f or reference and stimulation in times to come Perhaps now is as good a time as any to br i ng one to light and to ponder its message Perhaps our youn ger ge ner at i on sees some of this goof i ng- of f which sparked t he or igi nal edi t or i al and f or that r eason is confused as to what is meaningful in life Perhaps the of tenshyexpr e s sed attitude t hat the goveI11IIlent owes us a living has its or igi n in the sarr~ trend toward irresponsibility and goof - of f In any event Lifers editor entitled his article Age of goof-off or plenty and had this to say

bullbull bullThe wonderful U S economy app ears to have seen t he worst of another slump its t hird since World War II its 15th in this cent ur y its 37th since the nation began No two of the 37 were exactly alike but all had a point in common The point of s l umps including this one i s to correct some widespread misuse of t he resources and talents at our disposalbull

bull bullQues t ion Have we yet earned another boom Have ve corrected the misuse of our res ources and talents in whi ch the recession caught us An advertising man Charles Brower rece nt l y described these errors i n graphic terms Opining that consumers were getting just bor ed with us and the things we sell Mr Brower called this the great era of the goof-off the ag e of t he halfshydone job The land from coast t o coast has been enj oying a s-cempede away from responsibility It is populated with laundry men rho won t iron shirts with waiters who von t t servewith carpenters who will come around someday maybe with execut i ves whose mind is on the gol f course with t eachers who demand a single salary s chedule so that achievement cannot be r ewarded nor poor work punishedjwith students who t ake cinch courses because the hard ones make them think with spiritual delin~uents of all kinds who have been triumphantly determined to enjoy what was known until the present crises as the new leisure And the salesman who wont sell is only a part of this overall mess

bullbull In his little book called Work and Its Discontents Daniel Bell of Fortune notes tendencies t oward the evasion of work which are so char act e r i s t i c of the Ameri can factory worker and which today obsess all workers Unlike traditional f eatherbedding this new evasion is motivated not by fear of unempl oyment but r ather by a l ost instinct of workmanship II I or the near impossibility of taking personal pride in the products of automation Si nce it also appears in the nonautomated service trades--notoriously among appl i an ce repairmen headwaiter s taxi drivers etc-- it may eve n reflect some feeling that in a society as affluent as ours the direct conne ct i on between ef f ort and reward has somehow be en br oken Is goofing-off a new and permanent American characteristic I s the Age of Plenty to be an age of gold-bricking

bullbullbull That would certainly be a s olemn thought for this or any Fourth of July For i f there is one thing that has always distinguished Americans and as sur ed their prosperity it i s their capacity for hard work They worked like coolies when they had to which was from 1620 to about 1900 they made heroes of John Henry and Paul Bunyan and set world records of sheer physical

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outputfor example miles of railroad track laid in a day or a decade--which still stand And when tasks got easier they still worked more efficiently than anybody else because of the chronic scarcity of labor in relation to the amount of work to be done This national emphasis on the efficiency of labor has put $16000 worth of tools behind the average American worker and made him the most productive in the world

bullbullSuch abundance as we have is the direct result of this emphasis on productivity It certainly does not bring the need for it to an end If the Puritan or Calvinist motives for hard work have dwindled common sense can supply reasons just as strong The shorter the workday the more important the efficiency within it to keep it short and to keep us capable of coping with the undiminished hugeness of the unfinished work of the world Life recently sponsored an Arden House conference on the consume r The experts concluded that whatever the quality of American production--and a lot of it has been pretty shoddy-shythere is no visible shortage of aut hent i c consumer amplt s The age of abundance is far from an age of satiety Even i f Ame r i can s we r-e satiated the fact that two billion non-~ericans are still _~ ivi~~ in an age of extreme scarcity will make it essential for us to go on r oducing as abundantly and ef f i ci ent l y as we know howbull

bullbullbull The leisure we have won has far better uses than gol d- br icki n Tn s lump we are leaving will be back all too soon if we do not continue t h cor r ect i ves it indicated--harder and more intelligent work by labor manage) ent and seller Hard work is a habit we dare not cease to cultivate Only if we do cultivate it will it earn us the power to cultivate other virtues as well

The Importance of Being Excellent

The second of the two Life editorials follows and is a sad indictment of the tendency to equalize toward mediocrity prevalent in the modern society of today Entitled The importance of being excellent it stated

bull ThePursuit of Happiness was named a basic right of all men in a day when all Americans were born to a life of hard work The Rockefeller Report on Bducation published last week sets forth a complementary goal the Pursuit of Excellence ie a feeling for intellectual virtues in an era dominated by communal happines s -hunts bull

bullbullbull Excellence says the report or the pursuit of achievement for its own sake is IIa blend of talent and motive of ability fused with zeal It is at once the virtue and the satisfaction of doing something superbly It came down to us from the Greek concept of arete and the Roman of virtus infused with a later Christian morality Excellence is a lonely virtue and that is one reason for its increasing rarity in our culture todaybull

bull ~Present-day US society the report points out has intensified democracys old tug-of-war between excellence and equality has posed the problem of how to cultivate the ideal of the one While recognizing the moral values of the other In the US school system most of the heavyweight pulling has been done on the side of equality The moral compulsion to give equal

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opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

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AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

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ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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------- - - --

Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

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A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

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II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

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NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

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Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

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HERTZ GETS ANQIHER CUSTCMER

On July 24 1967 t he Military Communicat i on-Electronics Board (MCEB) of t he U S Dep artment of Defense issued a policy statement r elated to the use of he rtz in place of cycles per s econd ~le statement is as follows

1 Reason for a policy statement For t he last few yea r s t here has been an i ncreasing use within t he United St at e s of the term hertz (Hz) as the unit of frequency However the term cycl es per second also cont i nues t o be used as a unit of frequency Such dual terminology has gene r ated questions as t o the DOD policy on the use of the te rm hertz Thus a need exists f or a policy i n this r egard

2 Definition of Hertz Hert z A unit of frequency equivalent to one cycle per second

3 St anda r d t erminology f or hertz and cycl e s per second The terms hertz (Hz) and cy cl es per second (cIs) are fully aynonymous and are usable interchangeably f r om a te c rLic~ standshypoint Paragraph 112 of the English ver s i on of the Inte r national Radio Regulations Geneva (1959) shows a secondary substitution of KHz f or kCS MHz for MC s and GRz for Gels wher e K M and G stand for Kilo Mega and Giga respectively The CC IR 1n a resolution at the XIt h Plenary Assembly at Os lo in 1966 (publ i s hed in DOC XIVI OOI - E of 18 July 1966) r ec ommends the excl us ive use of t he he rt z t ermi nolog~ and extend s the spectrum nomenclature t o Terahert z (TRz) f or 10- cis or TC s Wherever these terms are r equired the f or egoing abbrevi at i ons are correct usage There i s no ob j ection however to spelling out hertz and cycl es per second where desired and deemed appr opriat e When doi ng s o t he appropriate prefix Kilo Mega Oiga and Ter a should also be spelled out

4 Policy on the use of he rtz and cycles per se cond The term he r tz shall be the appropr i ate term for the un i t of frequen cy t o be used in referencing radio f r equencies freque ncy bands or operating f requencies of commun i cat i ons - electroni cs equipment i n all corre sponden ce records standa rds pr ocedures documents and where applicable on equipment This policy does not r equi re immediate subst i t ut i on of hertz f or cycl es per s ec ond now appearing i n documents or on equipment No document or record of any des cription or nameplate or similar stamping should be r e issued r eprinted or restamped solely f or t he purshypose of substituting the new t erm he rtz (Hz) for the term cycl es per second (c s) Such substitution should t ake place only when eXisting documents r equi re revision fo r othe r reasons and when how equipment i s pr ocured The policy should be included in the next chan ge to or revision of existing do cuments such as ACP 167 During a period of t ransition it is inevitable that both terms will be used but this situation should not cr eat e serious pr oblems

5 Conflicting policy now supers eded Previous policy statements on this s ubj ect ar e hereby res cinded

6 Appl i cabi l i t y This policy i s appl icabl e to the DOD and all of its c omponents

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QUOTEABLE QUOTES

Age of Goof-off or of Pl ent y

Sometime during 1958 your editor noted two excellent editorials which appeared in Life magazine They were clipped and pres erved f or reference and stimulation in times to come Perhaps now is as good a time as any to br i ng one to light and to ponder its message Perhaps our youn ger ge ner at i on sees some of this goof i ng- of f which sparked t he or igi nal edi t or i al and f or that r eason is confused as to what is meaningful in life Perhaps the of tenshyexpr e s sed attitude t hat the goveI11IIlent owes us a living has its or igi n in the sarr~ trend toward irresponsibility and goof - of f In any event Lifers editor entitled his article Age of goof-off or plenty and had this to say

bullbull bullThe wonderful U S economy app ears to have seen t he worst of another slump its t hird since World War II its 15th in this cent ur y its 37th since the nation began No two of the 37 were exactly alike but all had a point in common The point of s l umps including this one i s to correct some widespread misuse of t he resources and talents at our disposalbull

bull bullQues t ion Have we yet earned another boom Have ve corrected the misuse of our res ources and talents in whi ch the recession caught us An advertising man Charles Brower rece nt l y described these errors i n graphic terms Opining that consumers were getting just bor ed with us and the things we sell Mr Brower called this the great era of the goof-off the ag e of t he halfshydone job The land from coast t o coast has been enj oying a s-cempede away from responsibility It is populated with laundry men rho won t iron shirts with waiters who von t t servewith carpenters who will come around someday maybe with execut i ves whose mind is on the gol f course with t eachers who demand a single salary s chedule so that achievement cannot be r ewarded nor poor work punishedjwith students who t ake cinch courses because the hard ones make them think with spiritual delin~uents of all kinds who have been triumphantly determined to enjoy what was known until the present crises as the new leisure And the salesman who wont sell is only a part of this overall mess

bullbull In his little book called Work and Its Discontents Daniel Bell of Fortune notes tendencies t oward the evasion of work which are so char act e r i s t i c of the Ameri can factory worker and which today obsess all workers Unlike traditional f eatherbedding this new evasion is motivated not by fear of unempl oyment but r ather by a l ost instinct of workmanship II I or the near impossibility of taking personal pride in the products of automation Si nce it also appears in the nonautomated service trades--notoriously among appl i an ce repairmen headwaiter s taxi drivers etc-- it may eve n reflect some feeling that in a society as affluent as ours the direct conne ct i on between ef f ort and reward has somehow be en br oken Is goofing-off a new and permanent American characteristic I s the Age of Plenty to be an age of gold-bricking

bullbullbull That would certainly be a s olemn thought for this or any Fourth of July For i f there is one thing that has always distinguished Americans and as sur ed their prosperity it i s their capacity for hard work They worked like coolies when they had to which was from 1620 to about 1900 they made heroes of John Henry and Paul Bunyan and set world records of sheer physical

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outputfor example miles of railroad track laid in a day or a decade--which still stand And when tasks got easier they still worked more efficiently than anybody else because of the chronic scarcity of labor in relation to the amount of work to be done This national emphasis on the efficiency of labor has put $16000 worth of tools behind the average American worker and made him the most productive in the world

bullbullSuch abundance as we have is the direct result of this emphasis on productivity It certainly does not bring the need for it to an end If the Puritan or Calvinist motives for hard work have dwindled common sense can supply reasons just as strong The shorter the workday the more important the efficiency within it to keep it short and to keep us capable of coping with the undiminished hugeness of the unfinished work of the world Life recently sponsored an Arden House conference on the consume r The experts concluded that whatever the quality of American production--and a lot of it has been pretty shoddy-shythere is no visible shortage of aut hent i c consumer amplt s The age of abundance is far from an age of satiety Even i f Ame r i can s we r-e satiated the fact that two billion non-~ericans are still _~ ivi~~ in an age of extreme scarcity will make it essential for us to go on r oducing as abundantly and ef f i ci ent l y as we know howbull

bullbullbull The leisure we have won has far better uses than gol d- br icki n Tn s lump we are leaving will be back all too soon if we do not continue t h cor r ect i ves it indicated--harder and more intelligent work by labor manage) ent and seller Hard work is a habit we dare not cease to cultivate Only if we do cultivate it will it earn us the power to cultivate other virtues as well

The Importance of Being Excellent

The second of the two Life editorials follows and is a sad indictment of the tendency to equalize toward mediocrity prevalent in the modern society of today Entitled The importance of being excellent it stated

bull ThePursuit of Happiness was named a basic right of all men in a day when all Americans were born to a life of hard work The Rockefeller Report on Bducation published last week sets forth a complementary goal the Pursuit of Excellence ie a feeling for intellectual virtues in an era dominated by communal happines s -hunts bull

bullbullbull Excellence says the report or the pursuit of achievement for its own sake is IIa blend of talent and motive of ability fused with zeal It is at once the virtue and the satisfaction of doing something superbly It came down to us from the Greek concept of arete and the Roman of virtus infused with a later Christian morality Excellence is a lonely virtue and that is one reason for its increasing rarity in our culture todaybull

bull ~Present-day US society the report points out has intensified democracys old tug-of-war between excellence and equality has posed the problem of how to cultivate the ideal of the one While recognizing the moral values of the other In the US school system most of the heavyweight pulling has been done on the side of equality The moral compulsion to give equal

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opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

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AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

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ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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------- - - --

Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

bull

t

I I r ~ -

~middot ~J I ~~

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

-27shy

NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

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Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

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QUOTEABLE QUOTES

Age of Goof-off or of Pl ent y

Sometime during 1958 your editor noted two excellent editorials which appeared in Life magazine They were clipped and pres erved f or reference and stimulation in times to come Perhaps now is as good a time as any to br i ng one to light and to ponder its message Perhaps our youn ger ge ner at i on sees some of this goof i ng- of f which sparked t he or igi nal edi t or i al and f or that r eason is confused as to what is meaningful in life Perhaps the of tenshyexpr e s sed attitude t hat the goveI11IIlent owes us a living has its or igi n in the sarr~ trend toward irresponsibility and goof - of f In any event Lifers editor entitled his article Age of goof-off or plenty and had this to say

bullbull bullThe wonderful U S economy app ears to have seen t he worst of another slump its t hird since World War II its 15th in this cent ur y its 37th since the nation began No two of the 37 were exactly alike but all had a point in common The point of s l umps including this one i s to correct some widespread misuse of t he resources and talents at our disposalbull

bull bullQues t ion Have we yet earned another boom Have ve corrected the misuse of our res ources and talents in whi ch the recession caught us An advertising man Charles Brower rece nt l y described these errors i n graphic terms Opining that consumers were getting just bor ed with us and the things we sell Mr Brower called this the great era of the goof-off the ag e of t he halfshydone job The land from coast t o coast has been enj oying a s-cempede away from responsibility It is populated with laundry men rho won t iron shirts with waiters who von t t servewith carpenters who will come around someday maybe with execut i ves whose mind is on the gol f course with t eachers who demand a single salary s chedule so that achievement cannot be r ewarded nor poor work punishedjwith students who t ake cinch courses because the hard ones make them think with spiritual delin~uents of all kinds who have been triumphantly determined to enjoy what was known until the present crises as the new leisure And the salesman who wont sell is only a part of this overall mess

bullbull In his little book called Work and Its Discontents Daniel Bell of Fortune notes tendencies t oward the evasion of work which are so char act e r i s t i c of the Ameri can factory worker and which today obsess all workers Unlike traditional f eatherbedding this new evasion is motivated not by fear of unempl oyment but r ather by a l ost instinct of workmanship II I or the near impossibility of taking personal pride in the products of automation Si nce it also appears in the nonautomated service trades--notoriously among appl i an ce repairmen headwaiter s taxi drivers etc-- it may eve n reflect some feeling that in a society as affluent as ours the direct conne ct i on between ef f ort and reward has somehow be en br oken Is goofing-off a new and permanent American characteristic I s the Age of Plenty to be an age of gold-bricking

bullbullbull That would certainly be a s olemn thought for this or any Fourth of July For i f there is one thing that has always distinguished Americans and as sur ed their prosperity it i s their capacity for hard work They worked like coolies when they had to which was from 1620 to about 1900 they made heroes of John Henry and Paul Bunyan and set world records of sheer physical

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outputfor example miles of railroad track laid in a day or a decade--which still stand And when tasks got easier they still worked more efficiently than anybody else because of the chronic scarcity of labor in relation to the amount of work to be done This national emphasis on the efficiency of labor has put $16000 worth of tools behind the average American worker and made him the most productive in the world

bullbullSuch abundance as we have is the direct result of this emphasis on productivity It certainly does not bring the need for it to an end If the Puritan or Calvinist motives for hard work have dwindled common sense can supply reasons just as strong The shorter the workday the more important the efficiency within it to keep it short and to keep us capable of coping with the undiminished hugeness of the unfinished work of the world Life recently sponsored an Arden House conference on the consume r The experts concluded that whatever the quality of American production--and a lot of it has been pretty shoddy-shythere is no visible shortage of aut hent i c consumer amplt s The age of abundance is far from an age of satiety Even i f Ame r i can s we r-e satiated the fact that two billion non-~ericans are still _~ ivi~~ in an age of extreme scarcity will make it essential for us to go on r oducing as abundantly and ef f i ci ent l y as we know howbull

bullbullbull The leisure we have won has far better uses than gol d- br icki n Tn s lump we are leaving will be back all too soon if we do not continue t h cor r ect i ves it indicated--harder and more intelligent work by labor manage) ent and seller Hard work is a habit we dare not cease to cultivate Only if we do cultivate it will it earn us the power to cultivate other virtues as well

The Importance of Being Excellent

The second of the two Life editorials follows and is a sad indictment of the tendency to equalize toward mediocrity prevalent in the modern society of today Entitled The importance of being excellent it stated

bull ThePursuit of Happiness was named a basic right of all men in a day when all Americans were born to a life of hard work The Rockefeller Report on Bducation published last week sets forth a complementary goal the Pursuit of Excellence ie a feeling for intellectual virtues in an era dominated by communal happines s -hunts bull

bullbullbull Excellence says the report or the pursuit of achievement for its own sake is IIa blend of talent and motive of ability fused with zeal It is at once the virtue and the satisfaction of doing something superbly It came down to us from the Greek concept of arete and the Roman of virtus infused with a later Christian morality Excellence is a lonely virtue and that is one reason for its increasing rarity in our culture todaybull

bull ~Present-day US society the report points out has intensified democracys old tug-of-war between excellence and equality has posed the problem of how to cultivate the ideal of the one While recognizing the moral values of the other In the US school system most of the heavyweight pulling has been done on the side of equality The moral compulsion to give equal

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opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

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AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

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ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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------- - - --

Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

-middot9shy

37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

-21shy

In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

-27shy

NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

outputfor example miles of railroad track laid in a day or a decade--which still stand And when tasks got easier they still worked more efficiently than anybody else because of the chronic scarcity of labor in relation to the amount of work to be done This national emphasis on the efficiency of labor has put $16000 worth of tools behind the average American worker and made him the most productive in the world

bullbullSuch abundance as we have is the direct result of this emphasis on productivity It certainly does not bring the need for it to an end If the Puritan or Calvinist motives for hard work have dwindled common sense can supply reasons just as strong The shorter the workday the more important the efficiency within it to keep it short and to keep us capable of coping with the undiminished hugeness of the unfinished work of the world Life recently sponsored an Arden House conference on the consume r The experts concluded that whatever the quality of American production--and a lot of it has been pretty shoddy-shythere is no visible shortage of aut hent i c consumer amplt s The age of abundance is far from an age of satiety Even i f Ame r i can s we r-e satiated the fact that two billion non-~ericans are still _~ ivi~~ in an age of extreme scarcity will make it essential for us to go on r oducing as abundantly and ef f i ci ent l y as we know howbull

bullbullbull The leisure we have won has far better uses than gol d- br icki n Tn s lump we are leaving will be back all too soon if we do not continue t h cor r ect i ves it indicated--harder and more intelligent work by labor manage) ent and seller Hard work is a habit we dare not cease to cultivate Only if we do cultivate it will it earn us the power to cultivate other virtues as well

The Importance of Being Excellent

The second of the two Life editorials follows and is a sad indictment of the tendency to equalize toward mediocrity prevalent in the modern society of today Entitled The importance of being excellent it stated

bull ThePursuit of Happiness was named a basic right of all men in a day when all Americans were born to a life of hard work The Rockefeller Report on Bducation published last week sets forth a complementary goal the Pursuit of Excellence ie a feeling for intellectual virtues in an era dominated by communal happines s -hunts bull

bullbullbull Excellence says the report or the pursuit of achievement for its own sake is IIa blend of talent and motive of ability fused with zeal It is at once the virtue and the satisfaction of doing something superbly It came down to us from the Greek concept of arete and the Roman of virtus infused with a later Christian morality Excellence is a lonely virtue and that is one reason for its increasing rarity in our culture todaybull

bull ~Present-day US society the report points out has intensified democracys old tug-of-war between excellence and equality has posed the problem of how to cultivate the ideal of the one While recognizing the moral values of the other In the US school system most of the heavyweight pulling has been done on the side of equality The moral compulsion to give equal

-10shy

opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

- llshy

AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

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ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

-13shy

------- - - --

Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

-14shy

multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

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1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

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EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

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Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

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A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

opportunity to everyone has been turned into a rigid yard-stick by which the number graduated (and the degrees received) are valued more than the kind of education givenbull

This democratic reaction against excellence goes far beyond the schools-shyinto business politics and culture T i a in hort the constant pressure of an ever more complex society against the total creative capacity of its people bullbullbull

bullbullFending off this pressure as the report state ) has become a fundamental problem for no number of committees can compensate a country for the value and example of its zealous minds The zeal for excellence is the common denominator of the 86 Americansenshrined in New York Universitys Hall of Fame For them and those like them in our own time the effort and the pride of their lonely intellectual achievement has been its own recompense But its inevitable and indispensable by-product also has been to enrich and strengthen the entire nation bull

It is this kind of strength we need most urgently today The Pursuit of Happiness has been a long and satisfying IOO-yard dash Having rested all of us might now consider some of the more demanding but in the end more necessary disciplines of the Pursuit of Excellence

YOURE RlGl-tT TC~ l KOWS K V D OES

ou N 0 B E T WTl-t 20 MORE OUNDS

courtesy Jack L1ntelmann NARAutonet1cs

- llshy

AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

-l2shy

ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

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EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

AF CONSIDERS USE OF METRIC SYSTEM FOR BUILDING MAVERICK In what could evolve into one of the major changes ever Irrtroduced into the US missile industry the Air Force has asked its two MAVERICK study contractors t o investigate the f ea s i shybility of e~~L~eering and producing the missile using the metric system of weights and measures

While recommendations that the US consider use of the metric system i n a variety of manufacturing areas have been made both in Congress and the Pentagon the new contracts are believed to be the first to specifically cover development of a US missile system

Rea son for consideration of the metric system is t hat it would gr eat l y facilitate joint development efforts with NATO countries who employ the metric measurement unft s exclusively It was pointed out that a metric c-angeover would al so have the effect of improving joint logistics support ~~d wideni ng the scope of common shyality in Free World armament design and use

The new metric system feasibility contracts have been awarded by the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Division to Hughes and North Amer ican Avi at i on r s Columbus Division who were selected for MAVERICK contract de f LYli t i ol B yea r ag o ( SPACE Daily November 17 1966) CDP was recently extended under dual $145 million contracts (SPACE Daily August 14) with one contractor expected ~ o receive Air Force production go-ahead ea rly next year It

The new contracts funded at $650000 each and covering a 45-day per i od call fo r a study to determine the economic feasibility of engineering MAVERICK f r om beginshyning to end in International Standards Organization (ISO) units The study will encompass scaling the missile entirely in metric units from nuts and bolts to the complete missile a s sembl y All produc tLon machines would have to utilize metric measurement scales and all inspection tools would have to be scaled to metric units It was pointed out that the changeover under consideration would not be a simple translation of dimensions from English to metric units

The air-to-surface MAVERICK missile is a smaller more advanced version of the WALLEYE TV-guided glide bomb Unlike WALLEYE MAVERICK will have an electroshyopt i cal guidance system for hitting mobile t argets a warhead for penetrating armoured vehicles and rocket-boosted glide capability The non-nuclear missile will be carried aboard the F-lll the A-7D and F-4 aircraft The missile is designed to destroy military targets in interdiction and close-support operashytions under visual cond i t i ons Development of the missile has proceeded under a rush schedule designed to ready the missile f or Vietnam t o succeed WALLEYE which according to several sources--including the North Vietnamese (SPACE Daily September l2)--has a number of deficiencies

Total RampD costs of MAVERICK has been estimated by the Air Force at just over $88 million including a $10 million FY 68 budget (SPACE Daily August 23) SPACE Daily September 14 1967

-l2shy

ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

-27shy

NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

ENGINEERS-- STAND UP AND BE HEARD

Much has been mentioned in publ ic dur i ng the past fift een years of t he imporshyt ance of the engi nee r i ng accomplis hments which have occur red s i nce 1951 The re has also been a great deal of conf us ion created in t he public mind by l oos e r eporting in j ournals whi ch s hould know the diffe r ences between engi ne ering and s cience between enginee r s and sc ient i s ts Thi s appears t o be w or l~ing its way t oward a satisfactory solution simply because a number of cl ear- t h i nki ng and determined engi nee rs hav e f elt t he r e sponsibi l i ty t o sp e ak out in de f ens e of eng ineer ing accomplis hments whi ch have been a ssumed as scient i f i c a ccompl i shshyments by default

Slowl y the engi nee r i s be i ng made aware of the need t o have a pub l i c voice I n some p r ogr es sive companies it is eve n cons i de red good policy- to encourage the t echnical f orce (as well as admini s trative and cle rical) t o t ake an active part i n commun i ty af fai r s and gove rnment Even NCSL has star ted i n a small way t o encourage St andard s Laboratory- per sonnel to t ake part in the eve r y - day life of t he nation by conducting Workshop s (unde r the gu i dance of LEW WALLACE of IBM) whos e t heme is participation i n the ne eds of t he nat ion

In The El ectronic Engineer fo r October 1967 edi tor A Socolovsky speaks out on t he sub ject of the Fi f t h Esta t e namel y--you t he engi neer Read what he had t o say As elect r onic engi neers we f orm part of what is l oos ely called the technical commun i ty composed of pe ople who have acqui r ed some knowl edge and work i n one of the branche s of t echnology l~e a r e normally very pr oud of our knowledge and of our associ a t ion with very modern and even glamorous proshyj ects or p roduct s Above all the way thes e pro j ects and products af fec t the life of our modern s ociet y i s so evi dent t hat we cannot fail t o f eel a sense of importance and even pride I t s a l ways fun t o be where the action is

Our p ride i s und erstandable but do we r eali ze that our i nfluential position entails not only moral satisfac tion and profes s i onal awards but als o r esponshysibilities We are conscious of our power yet do we us e it Do we as member s of the t echnical community stand up and mak e oursel ves he a rd on thos e is sue s whi ch we understand bes t I dont think we do The t echnical communi t y in ge ne r al and we elect ronic engi neers i n part i cular usual l y pref er t o seek refuge in the haven of our own closed ci rcles with the ex cuse t hat it i s fo r pol iticians t o run the af fai rs of t he nation and that i t i s hopeles s fo r engi neers to t ry t o i nfluence t heir ways

I have recent ly at tended a meeting f or elect r onic engi neer i ng manager s whe r e a patent l awyer-engineer Mr Robert H Ri ne s of Boston called our t ec hnical communi t y the fifth es tate t o emphasize our potential pol i t i cal power Mr Rines challenged us t o sp eak out at l east on those mat te rs t hat directly affect us or el se othe rs les s quali f i ed will s olve them as best as they can

Mr Rines challenge had a sense of urgency He f eels t ha t it is not important just t o us ) but imperat i ve t o the nation that the fifth e st ate act ivel y par shyticipate in publ i c af fairs America ha s gi ven great ideals t o the worl d he s aid and the world has r espected us when the men who conducted ou r destiny fully und erstood t hos e ideals Now America has given t o the world the most advanced t echnology ye t t he men who understand it do not par t i c i pa t e in our government ) nor do the people in gove r nment f ully understand technology

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Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

-27shy

NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

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Mr Rines is right--we are relinquishing our power by default Do you know how many US Congressmen have any technical background Two or three How about in the Senate Nobody There perhaps lies the first step Let us particshyipate in the affairs of our communities of our states of the nation To do so we will have to acquire a clear idea about the influence of our technology in modern society We will have to study our institutions and learn the issues analyze the products we make and evaluate their importance and influence

11 Let us not be mere bystanders but participate actively Such participation may change our lives some of us will never be the same once we explore our political influence but we cannot afford not to participate

As if to emphasize the same desirability--that the engineer should shake himshyself loose occasionally from the chains tying him to the every day job P Robbins editorializes in The American Engineer in October 1967 on the useshyfulness of society participation as a preparation for a bigger and better life for the middot engineer Ris topic is related to developing management attributes by the simple expedient of exposure to technical society activities Rere is what he had to say

Practically every engineer in his career development at some time must face the deciston as to the degree of management responsibilities he wants to assume Most progressive employers now provide advancement opportunities either via the management r out e or through increased competence in engineering know-how Participation in society activities at the chapter state or national levels provides an excellent vehicle for the young engi nee r to test his management abilities as well as his interest in this facet of career activity and for the older engineer to sharpen his management skills It is of course axshyiomatic that all engineers do not make good managers and that some good engineers have been spoiled by being encouraged to follow the management route Row then does society activity provide a testing ground for management skills

According to authorities on management there are perhaps four qualities and skills which stand out as paramount in management leadership They might be summarized as planning communicating getting things done through others and courage All of these may be tested in the crucible of volunteer society effort As anyone who bas served as an officer of a chapter or state society is well aware progress during the term of office of an individual is accomplished only with a considerable amount of planning It may not be of the magnitude of a forty-hour-a-week assignment but it is a small pilot project for the person who wants to test his skills in this area or wishes to develop them further

The whole gamut of society activities tests the individual engineers ability to communicate From the presentation of his position as a member in an open meeting to leading a committees consideration to making a formal presentashytion at a banquet or before his peers he runs the gamut of the ability to present ideas to the understanding and motivation of others

Perhaps nowhere is the ability to get along with people more severely tested than in a volunteer organization It takes real tact and diplomacy to mobilize the potential of the organization toward any single program let alone the

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multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

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EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

multitude of programs that face the engineeri ng pr ofession I n a vol unteer organizat ion it i s t oo easy for those who di s agree or those who are i r ritated or those who ar e of a di f fe rent opinion to s i t on t hei r hands or sul k or ac t ual l y r es i gn Thus the ac t ive part i cipant i n s oc iety programs has an almost cont i nuous opportunity to judge his apt i t udes i n get t ing along with ot hers and accompl ishing wor t hwhile pr ogr ess

The attribute of courage is per haps t he one mos t s everely t ested i n society act ivi t i es Tbe eas iest thing f or the ave r age member of course is to do not hing- -not even part i ci pat e It t ak es courage t o volunteer to do a j ob it t akes courage t o s tand up and express one s opinion part icularly i f it i s con shyt r ar y t o t he preva i ling discuss ion it t ak es courage t o assume t he chairman ship of a c ow~ittee it t akes courage t o become an officer at any l evel

l-Iuch is said t hese days f or the need for cont i nuing educat i on and a number of sur veys have i ndicated that engineers are most desir ous of courses in t he vari ous elements of rnanagement Participati on i n s oci ety af fairs has a dual r eward--one of sharpeni ng t he engi neer-management ski l ls lnd at t he s arne time cont r ibut ing t oward t he progr ess of one s prof e s sion lI

THE METROLOGIST S DI LEMMA

After all t hese y e a r s of training And work of vast import I f i nd my prest i g e slowly drain ing With each r eque st for a weather report

(R D Brewster) (Collins Radio )

-15shy

CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

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be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

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A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

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II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

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NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

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Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

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CALIBRATION OR QUALIF I CATI ON OF PANEL METERS

The panel meters discussed herein are defined as those indicating meters which are part of or mounted in equipment panels or instrumentation having typical accuracies of 2 to 10 and whose parent equi pment or instrumentation is not period ically calibrated

The first issue to be settled is whether calibration of the panel meter i s r eshyqUi r ed If a meter is used for relative indication only such as indicating a peak or a dip where the sensitivity is not of prime importance calibration can usually be dispensed with Meters whose accuracy is not particularly important or which indicate relative magnitudes onl y can usually be allowed t o remain uncalibrated

If it is established that calibration i s required the best approach must be selected In gen eral it is best to disturb the meter as little as possible This suggests calibrating such meters in place u s i ng internally generated stimuli whenever possible The standard may be connected to the panel meter terminals if no other connections ar e available The equipment is then ene rgi zed and ad j us t ed to convenient meter indications usually at major scale divisions and the corresponding indications of the standard are noted or recorded

In case the equipment cannot be used t o suppl y the stimuli an external source or gener at or may be empl oyed The meter should be isolated f rom other circuits unless it is known that the application of the external signal will not adversely affect the rest of the equi pment

Removal of the panel meter for calibration should be r esorted to only when in-place cal i brat i on i s not practicable If r emoved it should be cali brated in the same position (vertical horizontal or sloping ) as it is normally mounted In addition the mat erial and thickness of the panel are sometimes significant and should be consid ered In rare instances the proximity of components generating magnetic fields (transformer s chokes) waveguide isolators etc) mayaffect the calibration

The selection of calibration points will vary with the normal us e of the meter and should be considered For example a meter which monitors a fixed value can be spot calibrated at the critical value Meters which may indicate fu1y value within thei r ranges will reqUire a linearity test at full s cale and at least three equally spaced divisions on one range) and a full-scale t est on ea ch r emaining range Other mete rs such as thos e used over a narr ow range may r equire calibration over a restricted portion of the scale

The s t andar d used should provide a 41 accuracy r atio eg a plusmn2 meter would r equire a standard of plusmn05 error Si nce most meters are rated in t erms of a percentage of error at full scale and therefore have a fixed error for each range the full-scale values of the meter and the standard must be considered For example of a 10-volt plusmn0 5 standard is used t o calibrate a meter having a full-scale value of 2 volts plusmn210 the error of the standard would be plusmn2 1 2 at 2 vol ts and therefore unsuitable f or calibratshying the 2-voltplusmn 2 meter Another consideration mi ght be that the standard should not overload the equ i pment _~_ cas e of the in-place calibration of a voltmeter using internally-generated stimulus voltages the standard should

-16shy

be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

-middot9shy

37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

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NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

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Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

be of high e nough impe dance to not draw excess ive current from t he source Thi s consideration might apply t o other sources or generators als o

Suitable standards i nclude the Fluke diffe rential voltmeter s whos e accuracy and high impedance at null makes t hem ve ry des i r able othe r mete r s can be us ed wi t h due r egard fo r t he accuracy at the measured vol t age l evel and f or l oading ef fects Current- indicating met ers can be cali brated against a 0 5 (or appropriate ac curacy ) ammeter

Range and s hort-time stability a re the primary cons i derations for a voltage current source although waveform errors can be signi f icant in a-v or a - c measurements Most general purpose power suppl i es are suitable j a bat tery and var iable res ist or may be used fo r dV dc and an autot ransforme r may be used t o r educe the 60 - or 400 -cps power line vol tage f or avac Note t hat al ternat i ng voltmeters and ammeters should be cali brated at t he f r equency of normal use

When calibrat i ng panel meter s the physical as pects must be kept i n mind Watch for sluggi sh or sticky action that may be indicative of worn or misshyaligned bearings) bent shafts etc Examine the meter f or bent or rubbi ng pointe r l oose connections cracked gl ass) or ot he r di screpanc i e s (Met r ology Bulletin Oct 64--USN Metrology Engineeri ng Center Pomona) Calif )

bull

HERE S A METER YOU CAN SHIP (Honeywell Inc ) ( Industrial Div)

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TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

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19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

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37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

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In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

bull

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I I r ~ -

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

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EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

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Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

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A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

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II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

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NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

TECmUCAL REFERENCES

1 Thermi s t or Bead Mat chi ng for Tempe r at u r e - Compensated W Power Thermi s t or Mounts E AsL an shy

2 A Thin-Fi lm Bolometer Mount Sakurai and Nemoto

3 A Laser Mi crocalorimete1 Sakurai 1gt i t 6uhaski amp Honda

4 An Ac cu r at e Semiautomatic Technique of eaGuring High Res istances F Tsao

5 Calibration of The rmal Trans f e r Standards of RF Voltage C a r k amp J ur kas

6 The Accur acy of Series and Parallel Connec t ions of Four - Termi nal Res istors J Ri ley

7 A Tec hni que fo r Measurement of Impedance Through a Lossles s Trans i tion J Russ el l

From IEEE Tr ans on Inst and Meas f or Dec 1967

8 A Proposed Ranging Sys tem with Appl ication to VLF ng J e sper son et al

9 Leakage Induct ance and Int erwindi ng Capac i tance in Toroidal Bati e Tr an s f orme r s Binni e amp Foor d

10 A New Ty])e of Q-Met e r Using Var iabl e -Wi dth Pulse Excitation G z-ame r

11 Simple Di vide r Yi elds Low Frequency Cali brat ion Pulse s A Angelone

12 Digital Measurement of Na r r owband Noise Power 1 i u1i and Halme Pr ec 0 IEEE Sep 1967 A method of creating a di gital r adi ometer

13 Analog-t o-Digital Convert e rs G Flynn Elect roni c Pr oduct s Oct 1967 Spec i al repor t on appl i cat ions t ypical product s and p i tfalls in use

14 How t o Termi nate a Puls e Generator T Dreher Electroni c Pr oducts Oct 1967 A s t udy of the us e of carbon res is tors f or s t ated pu rpose

15middot Trends in Helium Leak Detecti on S Bi1rnett Test Enginee ring Oct 1967 Two new test p rocedures involving IDass spect r ometer l eak detector s

16 Dest roy Your Microwave Transistor s I t E Boyd Electr onic Design 22 Oct 67 Some po i nters on avo i ding common faults

17 Sound - Pressu r e Convers ion Chart

18 Hot Filament vs Systems Sep 67

Level Convers ion D George Inst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 fo r qui ck translation

Col d Cat hode Gauges Baldino amp Connor Inst amp Cont rol Review of types of gauges

-18shy

19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

-middot9shy

37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

- 20 shy

NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

-21shy

In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

bull

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~middot ~J I ~~

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

-27shy

NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

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A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

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NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

19middot Improving Pressure and Vacuum Measurement St andar ds E IJ9yd Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 A r eview of wor k conducted at ~~S as preshysent ed at IMEKO-rv July 67

20 Pres su r e and Its Measurement R Benedict El ect r o- Technqlogy Oct 67 An excel l ent presentation of principles

21 Impedance Bridge s and Meters It P Koopman ~ Sep 67 Another guide in purchasing facilities

22 Power Supplies It M Elphick ERE Oct 67 Purchas i ng and design guide

23 Eliminating Scat ter i ng Error in Ele ctromagnet c- Fi eld Measurements L Humphrey Electro- Technology Oct 67 Som- hint s for fi eld surveying of Propogation

24 The Effects of Super impos ed Noise on DVM Ivieasurement s W McCullough EEE Sep 67

25middot Frequency Counters Editorial Review Elect r o-Technol ogy Oct 67 A presentation of instrument limitations deficience s and f ut u re

26 Taking Meaningful Temperature Measu r ements all amp Horn bake r rust Technology Oct 67 Some pitfalls t o avoi

27 Doppl er Frequency Slide Rule J DeIwood ~ E tmiddot Sep 67 A mak e- i t-yourself a i d for rapid s olutions

28 Ultrasensitive Mea surements of 8h rt Dis tance s I B voung Inst amp Corrbr -oL Systems Nov 67 More on t he f i el d emi s 10 uJt ami c r omet er announched in 1966

29 Non- Cont act i ng Dynamic Di stenc 1-~easurem nts G Iios te l ns t amp Control Syst ems Nov 67 A d s cr i pt i v ar t i cl re l eted to ~ ew i n t rument developed by Reliance Electr i c Co

30 Nar roW Bandpass Shock Ins rumentation ov 67 A Bayl es s ns t amp Control-Review

3 Survey of Nondestructive L at 1tethods bull Cofield Ins t iecbnology Nov 67 Review of subject bri e~ present at i on

32 Applying Mel ting Point Determinati ons H suter Inst amp Control Systems Sep 67 Brief expl a nat ory arti cle

33middot Errors i n Dat a Amplifier Syste s H Moss ewl et t - Packar d Journ Jul 67 Simple presentation of an portant SUbJect

34 Survey of Wave Analyzers ~ Nov 67 Useful for potential purchasers

35 ll-1C Symposium Fr equency SepOct 67 A resume of the 1967 Symposium in Washington DC

36 Present Status in Short Term Frequency Stabil i t y L Cutler Frequency SepOct 67 Tracing t echnical progress since 1966

-middot9shy

37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

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NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

-21shy

In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

bull

t

I I r ~ -

~middot ~J I ~~

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

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EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

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A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

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II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

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NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

37 Pub Tbe Versctor l s Induc-tance 00 Use n ~~ Schaif ne Electronic OOsign

OCmiddott ll 67 Some p rac t i cal t ips

38 Me as u re Hi gh-Power Pul e s Accur t~l~ ] -I T- [lCy 1 KLct r oni c De6 _gn Nov 8 67 De cribe s us c 00 _ practt cal curre nt t r 8l sforme r

39 Pra ct i cal s gn of Bal anced r-equency Doubl e r s It ) Acker and OI l EE Nov 67 More OIL de s gn llin t s use fu or me asu ring circul r v

1~0 ItTime Ne asur ement le chni q e s in t he Nicrosecond R gi o i W Mark ol-ri t z The E~gine erls Di ges t (U S Coa s t Guar d Pub ) J ul- A g 1962 Exc el l e nt b a ckgr ound and r ef e r en ce ma t ri on the s ub j ect rinc t pal l y rel a t ed to LORAN- C

4l Mi l l imet e r and Submill eter lay Di el _ctr i c lo1easur e rrent s II Breedan amp S1 eppard The Micr o~ eve Journ n OY 67 lPlyiug opt ical p r i ncipl e s i n conjuncti o v lth microwave phys i cs techniques f ~ v or k i )

30- 3000 GHz range

42 Simple Mol e cular Fr equen cy St anda r d s f T Mill t er iaves II G Schult en TIle Mic r owave Journa_ Nov 6 Gas ab sorpti on -~ quen~ie s a s pas s i ve

r equency s tandards

yen~~~ HE T WAN ED - F ACILITIES If (J Lintelmann-NAR)

- 20 shy

NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

-21shy

In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

bull

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Courtesy SCM Corp

-22shy

1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

-24shy

RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

-27shy

NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

NEW PUBLICATION

The new look in trade magazines which was imparted to Milt Aronsons Measurements and Data appears to have tiaken hold successfully judgi ng from some unbiased comments picked up at several meetings The trick of featuring a Book of the Month is a clever enticement to read more of the same by purchasing the entire book A great deal of effort has been put into the publication since issue No 1 in January and several of the articles in succeeding issues have been referenced in this Newsletters Technical Refshyerences for this issue If you are interested in a new concept of instrumentashytion publication contact l1r Aronson care of Measurements and Data Corporashytion 1101 E Entry Drive Pittsburgh Pa 15216

TECHNICAL REFERENCES (contd )

From Measurements and Data for Jan-Feb 1967

43 Frequency and Time Standardization D ftbl awi ch A concise review of state of the art and some measurement techni ques

44 Floating Interval Plan for Controlling Calibration As su r ance J Darrouzet A amptudy of one plan for initiating and maintaining flexible recall periods

45 Home Study Course-Transistors A do-it-yourself project

From Measurements and Data for Mar-Apr 1967

46 Cryogenic Thermometry Sparks amp Powell A description of work carried on at NBS to check thermocouple wire characteristics and gol d- i r on alloy response

47 KLectron Microscopy in Dimensional Metrology Estill amp Moody A short treatise on film thickness measurement using the Tallysurf

From Measurements and Data for May-Jun 1967

48 Frequency and Time Distribution F Koide A description of the installation at the new NAA-Autonetics Laboratory

49 Home Study Course_ Numbers Codes and Logic Do-it-yourself

From Measurements and Data for Jul-Aug 1967

50 state-of-the-Art Potentiometry G Vincent A brief review

From Measurements and Data for Sep-Oct 1967

51 Automation at the AEC Standards Laboratory Brandaway et ale Some techniques plus gictures

52 Data Rejection Criteria C Enmerich Deals with criteria for rejections depending upon error analysis method employed

53 Home Study Cour-se - LogarithmsExponents How to get rid of the mental rust spots induced by use of computing machines

-21shy

In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

bull

t

I I r ~ -

~middot ~J I ~~

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

-24shy

RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

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EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

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Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

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A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

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II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

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NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

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Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

In conjunction th ImREN there s sually eld C lU11()e of bu s i ne s s meeti gs of various IEEE ctivities h i ch have orne interest f or mem era 0 NOSI One uch Was the reguJar meeting f the Admin i s t rative Commit t ee oi th IEEE

In3trumentation and Measu ement cup - Fig 5 y will find Chairman GeO ge Scbafer cent e r is 8 ing a point on ~h e agend while Paul Ely secretary takes not es Chainuan- elect Frank Hermac r1ght vi enTs an item of business c oming up In Fig ) ccmmittee members left to right a Gordan P ridge He b Brownell Norbe Kuater s And Dunn and G orge Hoadley (Eliitor of t h e G- 1M Trans e ctions ) Fig 7 from l e f t t o right s hows members Harvey - anee Bob Soderman bull Kelly (Observer Ivan Easton R Sayres (of IEEE Hdqtrs ) and F r ed Tis cher (obs e rver ) be d Eft Hought on

Fi res 8 11 and 12 give Game i dea of be audfenc e part i cipatmiddot on at t he NEREM eXh i b i t s and Fig 9 illustrate on~ way t o mak th at tend e s stop and l ook Fi g 10 h ows one reason why busines of s igni ng up new me b e rs for IEEE wa s b oomfng his year Ybile Fig l3 shows three active NER~t

Progr v or ker s Pet e Burke K C m ack end Ken 3hapl e igh r e -cing t efr Weary b ones

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Courtesy SCM Corp

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

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EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

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Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

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1967 NEREM

-23

1967 NEREM

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RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

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EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

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II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

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NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

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Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

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1967 NEREM

-24shy

RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

-25shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

RECENT NBS PUBLICATIONS

NBS ANNUAL REPORT

A r eview of current r e search programs and a comprehensive dis cus sion of t he national measu rement system are featured in t he j us t -publ i s hed 1967 Technical Highlights of the National Bureau of St andards Also includ ed is supplementary information on Bureau organ izat i on p ersonnel budget and technical publicashytions of the s taf f The discussion of the national measurement system i s an a t tempt to view t he increasing complexity of U S measurement act ivi t ies in an orde r l y f ashion and to as sure that NBS fulfills its proper role in that complex The main body of the report deals with s igni f i cant s cientific and technical accompl i shment s during the fi scal year Brief ment i on is made of a var iety of studies and experiments Or der Miscellaneou s Publication 293 162 pages 55 cents from the Supe r i ntendent of Documents U S Gove r nment Pr i nt i ng Office Washi ngt on D C 20402

CORRELATIONS FOR PREDICTING LEAKAGE TRROUGH CLOSED VALVES

by Jesse Hord National Bur eau of St anda rds Technical Not e 355 issued August 1 1967 15 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Super i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Was hi ngt on D C 20402

In this publication various f low f ormulae (molecular transition and conshytinuum) are exwni ned and two simple methods of correlating leakage f or singleshyphase fluid s are dedQced The cor r elations obtai ned (excluding t r ansition flow through long channels) indicate the leakage i s inversely proportional t o the squa r e r oot of the density or inversely p r oporti onal to the absoDlte v i scos i ty of the fluid Thus for gases the l eakage i s di r ectly proportional t o the s oni c velocity of t he gas The proper relationship mus t be established by expe r i ment for ea ch valve fitting) et c

DESIGNS FOR SURVEILLANCE OF THE VOLT MAINTAINED BY A SMALL GROUP OF SATURATED STANDARD CELLS

by W G Eicke and J M Cameron National Bur eau of St andards Technical Note 430 issued October 9 1967 19 pages 20 cent s Order f rom Superintendent of Documents U S Government Printing Of f i ce Was hi ngton D C 20402

This publication describes a procedure for maintaining surveillance over a small group of saturated standard cells giving specific designs and their analysis for intercomparing 3 4 5 and 6 cells in a single tempera~lre conshyt rolled environment The procedures suggested give information on (1) t he stability of the differences in emf among the gr oup (2 ) the components of variability and dep endence of the measur ement process precision on environmenshytal influences or procedural changes and (3) estimation of t he magnitude of some of the possible syst emat i c errors affecting the process

The same type of cell used to maintain the National unit of electromot ive f orce--a group of saturated standard cells such as those mentioned ab ove-shyis also maintained in local laboratories as a primary standard of electromotive force These cells are in general calibrated at NBS at periodic intervals the mean emf of t he group i s a ssumed to st ay constant between calibrations

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However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

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NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

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NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

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EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

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Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

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A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

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II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

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Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

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NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

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NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

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The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

However since such calibrations are done only at intervals of one year or more some technique must be employed to maintain surveillance ove r the local unit between calibrations This publication is intended to pr ovide methods for that surveillance and techniques for detecting certain type of s ystematic errors Local laboratories will find it a valuable handbook and gui de

REALISTIC UNCERTADITIES AND THE MASS MEASUREMENT PROCESS--AN ILLUSTRATED REVIEW

by Paul E Pontius and Joseph M Cameron National Bureau of Standards Monograph 103 issued August 15 1967j 17 pages 20 cents Order f rom the Supe r i nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402

This paper is a condensed version of a lecture with photographs of the slides used gi vi ng a review of the mass measurement process from t he ir- i tial basic concept t o the statement of a meas ur ed mass value e xamin~ng in detail certain important elements whi ch are l i kel y t o be misunde r stood or misus ed The authors have emphas i zed the importance of viewing measurement as a pr o shyduction process and have presented methods of evaluat i ng process par ampneters One of the laboratorys standards has been used as an additional unknovn i n routine calibration in or der to provide an a ccu r acy che ck As time goes on re sults on the s t andar d provides the bas i s for prec i s ion and accura cy statements

MEASUREMENT--PACEMAKER OF AMERICAN ECONOMIC GROWTH

How precision of measurement affects our total economic structure--a s implified explanation in pamphlet form Ava i l able from Government Printing Office Washington D C 20402 for 25 cents

STAlIDARD REFERENCE MATERIALS

National Bureau of Standar ds Miscellaneous Publication 260 is sued Sept embe r 15 1967 (Supersedes NBS Misc Publ 260-1965 Edition ) 42 pages 45 cents Order f r om t he Superi nt endent of Documents U S Government Printing Office Washi ngt on D C 201~ 02

This catalog describes the various NBS St andard Reference Materials which are u se d t o calibrate measurement systems and to provide scientific information that can be referred to a common bas e A s chedule of prices and quant i t i es is included f or each mat er ial as well as directions for ordering

NBS OFFICE OF TtrE DIRECTOR APPOINIMENTS

Three new appointments have been announced in the Offi ce of the Director of the National Bure au of Standards Dr ROBERT D HUNlOON ha s been named head of the Of f ice of Program Development and Evaluation Dr GEORGE S GORDON Chief of t he Office of Industrial Services and Dr A ALLAN BATES Chi ef of the Of f i ce of Engineering St andards Liaison and Analysis the post vacated by Dr Gordon Bef or e accepting his new appointment Dr Huntoon had bee n Director of the NBS Institute f or Bas i c St andards a post he had held since M~y 1964bull Dr Go~ on ~ad been Chief of the Of f ic ~ of - Engineering St andar ds Llals on and AnalYSlS Sl nc e June 1966 Bef or e hi s recent appoi nt ment Dr Bat e s was Chief of t he Building Res ear ch Division NBS -- - - - --_- - - - --------shy

- 26shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

-27shy

NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

NEW HEAl) OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF STANDARDS REVIEW

Dr JOHN M RICHARDSON a scientist with 15 years exper ience in the National Bureau of Standards was sworn in as Di rector of t he new Office of St andar ds Review by Sec ret a ry of Commerce Alexander B Trowbridge Novembe r 7 Si nce 1960 Dr RICHARDSON has served as Chief of the NBS Radi o St andar ds Laboratory in Boulder Colorado Before that he was engaged in r esearch in mi c r owave physics e speci ally in atomic standards of frequency and time

The Office of St anda rds Review recently was es t abl i shed under the Assistant Secr e t ar y of Commerce for Science and Technology to administer certain standardization activities of the U S Department of Cownerce Broadly speaking the purpose of this new Office is to encourage the fo rmulation of domestic and international standards for advancing United St ate s commerce and trade economic gr owth and consumer protection

Intelligently drawn standards specifying preferred forms or performance for various goods or process es are becoming increasingly important both nationally and internationally These standards are sometimes called product standards because they r efer to products and they are sometimes called engineering standards because they r efer to the engi neer i ng and design of goods and processes to achieve certain levels of safety performance serviceability interchangeability and s o forth

Voluntary standards are developed by cooperation of interested parties Where the public health safety or welf are is at stake mandatory standards may be imposed by law as in the case of those pertaining to food drugs and aut omobi les The Office of St andards Review will deal with those mandatory standards which are administered by t he Secr et ary of Commerce such as flammable fabrics and in addition will be concerned with voluntary standards The Office of St andar ds Review will also provide analysis and advice to the Assistant Secr et ar y for Sci ence and Technology with respect to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act and the long-standing voluntary stanshydards program of the Department of Conmer-ce In carrying out its tasks the Office will work closely with existing st anda rds or ga~izations both public and private

NEW CHIEF AT BOULDER FREQUENCY SECTI ON

ROGER E BEEHLER National Bureau of St andards physicist has been appointed chief of the Atomic Frequency and Time St andar ds section Time and Frequency Division of the Radio St anda rds Laboratory He succeeds Dr James A Barnes who who was chosen to head this recently created division As chief of the section BEEHLER is responsible for basic and applied r esearch in the development and maintenance of the NBS Frequency St anda rd- - and of the NBS standard interval of time

-27shy

NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

NEW NES CALIBRATION SERVI CES

REFLECTION COEFFICIENT

Cal ibrati on services f or t he measurement of ref lect ion coefficient magnitude of wavegu i de ref lectors (mismatches ) in WR284 wavegui de ha s been announc ed by the Radio Standar ds Laboratory Si mi lar calibration services in five smaller wavegu i de s i zes (WRl87 j 1 37) 11 2 90) and 62) have been available f or seve ral years Calibrated mismatch devices are us eful as r ef eren ce s tandards f or the cal i brat ion of imped ance-measuring equipment such as slot t ed lines and ref lectometer s The cal i brat i on can be performed at any f r equency within t he r ange of 2 60 and 3 95 GHz However it i s more economi cal f or the customer if cali brat i ons are performed at the select ed frequenc ies of 2 85 325) and 3 55 GHz Measurements can be mad e over t he r ange f r om 0 024 t o 0 2 with an unc ertainty of the ref lect ion coef fici ent magnitude expressed as (0 0002 + 0 002 lr ) where 11 i s t he nwnerical val ue of t he measu r ed magnitude

NBS FORCE MEASUREMENTS

Two new deadweight machi nes of 6000 I bf and 25000 I bf capac i t ies hav e recently been put into service by the NBS Institute f or Basic Standards These machines supplement exist i ng l arge r machines of 112 )000-lbf 300000shyIbf and 1 000 000-lbf capaci t ie s Deadweight machi ne s ar e us ed f or applyi ng t he accurately known for ces necessa ry f or t he calibr ation of elast ic force shymeasuring devices such as proving r ings and load ce l ls Such devices are us ed as r eference standards f or t he calibration of t esting machi nes and f or measshyurements such as those of r ocket thrust

The new machi nes diffe r f r om t he large r machi nes in that each weight can be applied independently t o the device being calibrated As a r esult fewer weight s a re needed and test load s can be changed mor e rapi dly Wi t h the addi t ion of these new machines NES can now apply test l oads f r om 5 t o 1000000 Ibf with l oad accuracy wi t hi n 0 002 percent Convers ion weights wer e incorporated into t he 6000 - l bf machine t o prOVide an 8~ternate 3000- 1~gf r ange

NEW NES MICROCOPY RESOLUTI ON TEST CHARTS

St art i ng Decembe r 1 1967 the microc opy res olution t est charts i ssued by NBS St an dar d Referen ce Mat er ial No 1010 will have higher sp atial fre shyquencies t han those i s sued previously The Bureau ann ounced its intention t o extend the r an ge of these charts about a year ag o

The previous type was designed in 1963 and had 21 patterns of bl ack bars on whi t e backgr ound r angi ng f r om 1 to 10 cyclesmm These patterns were ar r anged t o permi t the extens ion of the chart to include higher spat ial frequencies The new type has f ive addi t ional patterns with spatial frequencies of 11 125 14 16 and 18 cy cl es mm In every ot her respect both charts are identical and may be used for t he same purposes

-28shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

EDITORS SPEAK OUT

George Rostky in EEE for Sept 67 pleads Let I s work t ogether Hes t alking t o specification writers Read his plea--For five ye ar s EEE has been crusad shyi ng agai nst unclear and deceptive spec s In our Spe cif yi ng Gu i de s in many f eature articles in Test Equipment Trends and in ot her parts of the maga zine weve called at tent i on t o traps i n artfully-worded specs More r ec ently many of the engineers f eatured on our covers in the Speak Out ser ies have als o highlighted important exmnples of spacffiaan shi p

Yet we seem t o be fighting a losing battle Its not that dishonesty is r ampan t in our industry--far fram it But we a re facing something like Greshams Law applied t o specs If Si r Thomas Gresham that shrewed 16th Century mer chant were alive today he would no doubt have extende d hi s comment that bad money drives go od money out of circulation He would today point out that bad spec s drive out good ones

All you need in any fi eld is one vendor with a poor product and with not enough financial and eng i ne e r i ng strength to improve it To stay alive he conceals his pr oducts weakne s s with f ancy wording If his wording i s clever enough he can make his product appear far better than superior ones And if he can stay in the fray long enough he f orces more r eputable vend ors to adopt hi s f ancy t erminology

In the l ong run of course engi nee rs who get stuck l earn t o spot cleverly written sp ecs but by that time too many vend ors may already have a new specification language And a new vendor may st a r t still anot he r sp ecshywriting r ace

Should we res ign oursel ves t o an ever-ascending spi ral of spec s we cant understand No Together we can st op this nons ense EEE will continue to expose and combat misleading specs If you will do the same middot if you will que s t i on a vendor very ca ref ull y when he hides a product behind tricky mathematics scientific verb i age and und efined superlatives if you will make short work of vendo r s who clothe poor pr oducts in fine words then we can wipe out spe cs mansh i p forever Let I S work at it togethe r

Again in the October 1967 i ssue of EEE Rostky states that power supply speci f i cat ions a r e a mes s--TheYre bad be cause the same words mean diffe rent things t o different pe ople And this provides a convenient loophole f or vend ors to cr awl into when their designs are not as good as they may have hoped

The s i t ua t ion i s so bad that some vendors provide their own gl oss ar ies of powershysupply terms This means that you have a devil of a time compar ing specs Say youre interested in suppl i es from Vendor s A B and C Lets make it easy and say that al l three firms have gl ossar i es

You start che ck i ng the spe cs) keep i ng a dictionary at your side No Not a dictionary thre e dictionaries What do you do when the definitions dont agree And what do you do when one glossary spea ks of ripple anothe r spe~Is

of ripple and noise ) and a third speaks of PARD And what do you do when f or the same term each vendor has a s i gni f i cant l y different meaning How then do you compare the specs

-29shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

Fortunately the National Electrical Manufacturers Association working with several leading power- supply vend or s has been wre stling with the problem and i s making important progress--slowly I presented my views at the first NEMA meeting in J anuar y 1963 shortly after publication of EEEs first major report on the subj ect Power Supplies A Maze of Confusion

At a more recent NEMA meeting in July 1967 I spoke on the latest NEMA draft spec Though this draft hasnt clarified al l the knotty terms that bu g a power- supply user it ha s gone a l ong way It ha s already shut several important loopholes

When the spec is compl eted) it won t be perfect Not hi ng i s But it may proshyvi de a powerful and needed tool f or both vendo rs and users To NEMA and its power- supply group EEE ext ends hearty congr atulations and thanks due from the enti r e engineering community Also on behalf of all engineers EEE has two more words fo r the NEMA group Please Hurry

Lewis Goodfriend in Sound and Vibration for July 1967 ob jects t o cl aims fo r research whi ch are impr ope r ly f ounded He says The r e are three facets of r es earch -i n vi br at i on and a i r borne s ound that cont i nue t o pu zzle us year af ter year The first r elates t o the sub ject areas s el ect ed f or resea r ch Second is the apparent lack of support f or basic r esear ch among acoustical pr oducts companies The third facet concerns publication of poorly don e r es earch and its corollary poorly documented paper s that mayor may not r eport signkfi shycant iniormation

Our observations indicate that very little basic re search i s being done either at universities or in industrial concerns t hat make and sel l acoustical pro shyducts such as mUfflers ce i l i ng tile building compone nts vi br at i on reduction syst ems and shock suppr ess i on systems t o name a f ew There i s a l ot of cutshyand-try experimentation but this can hardly be dignified by the name of ex shyper imental r esearch In addition a large volume of appl icat ion engi nee r i ng i s assigned to corpor ate research l aboratories This misses the mark too It s impl y i s not research

Turni ng to academic r esearch we find many research proj ects supported by Federal gr ants There are also numbers of published papers al l eg ed to be report s of research Some of the se are clearly partial fulfillment of the requirements fo r an advanced degree others look like staff members efforts to survi ve the publish or perish ph en omenon We s hould not over look the publication of p rogres s r eports which are interesting s i nce they usually deal with no progress This leaves a few genui ne resear ch papers But where is work of the s t ature of that produced by Harvey Fletcher W P Mason or P M Morse and R H Bolt Our present climate of Federally funded university res ear ch and product development i ndustrial r esear ch must be r e-oriented t o once aga i n produce work of such depth and quality For example little theoretical information of value has been publi sh ed on the us e of r everberat i on r ooms since the 1944 paper by Morse and Bolt It is even mor e appalling t hat many authors use such r ooms for t ransmi ss i on loss s ound abs orpti on and s ound power measurements that are not only of que stionable validity but are theoretically i ndefensible

-30shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

A review of r eferences or obviously omitted references is also illuminating One category ea s i l y detected this way is the new look at an old sUbject which was preceded by identical papers in another rel ated fi eld Lack of a reference to earlier work indicates to us that the author r eally did not go through Lf t erature Another category contains vhat might be t enned the company r eferences only paper Here the author lists only thos e papers published by his colleagues or pred ecessors in the company or institution Typically wher e a colleague has ~ferred to Rayleigh in a 1930 paper) we find not the original source) but the in hous e r efe r ence Of course there is no r egard to the fact that such in house publications are virtually inaccessible A second class in this category is the author references only paller Her e we find a list of the authors prior work often referring to topics more fully covered in other material In some case s) indeed many) refe rences to the authors om wor k are well justified but basic references should be r epeated

Disquieting conclusions present themselves af te r our review of current published work and projects in acoustical r e search

1 Problem solving not basic r e search) appears to receive the most attention and money in industrial and university resear ch facilitie s

2 Published work is often accompanied by inadequate r ef erence s Careful literature s earch no longer appe a r s t o be one of the basic precepts for modern accoustical r esearch in spite of the f act that the use of adequate refere nce material and the docunlentation of such use i s of great valu e It assists a r eader in orienting himself) reduces further r esea r ch on the sub ject and simplifies analysis and discussion of the paper itself

Although many industrial standards laboratories do not engage in res earch directly Goodfriends complaints are worth s t udyi ng carefully He is reshyflecting on a fundamental lack of energy and hone sty whi ch is appar ent in too many technical paper s p resented today If you are interested in writing technically) think seriously of his complaints (CEW)

Goodf riend in the August i ssue of Sound and Vib ration for August 1967 tears into the significance (or lack) in much of the measurement data presented in today I s project reports AIthough presented fr-om the narrow vi ewpoi nt of the magazines specialty--sound and vibration--the criticism i s nonetheless pershytinent to each field of engineering St udy hi s points and detennine how often you have detected similar poor practices in the reports which come acr os s you r desk He titles his ed i torial The Meaning of Measurements a nd he starts by saying We have read the report several times and have exami ned the curves in gr eat detail We are now convinced that the one - i nch thick report weighing two pounds r esting on the Editors desk t ells the r eader little mor e than the title of the project and the hopes of its aut hor s Why Possibly anot he r look at the report will t ell us

In looking at the re sul t s we note that al l of the acous t i cal measurements made with the blower in the r oom have a rising high frequency spectrum This conshytradicts our own knowledge that the spectrum should be falling f or the test

-31shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

II

sp ecimen The curves of the background noise without the test sp eclinen running) show high frequency background noise levels far below those of the blower We determined that if the s ound l evel meter used for the measu r ement s was on an incorrect setting while measuring a noise wi t h a rapidly falli ng spect rum the attached analyzer would be r eading the internal noise level of the met e r itself Therefore the analyzer could not show the act ual levels of the sound to be measured

The next trouble spot encountered in the r eport came when we looked at the backshyground noise levels in the room- - t hey had a rather flat sp ectrum r i s i ng sl ight l y at the l ow frequency end The instrument manufacturers sp ecifications verified that in s ome octave bands r oom noise l evels were identical to the internal instrument noise for the combined sound level meter-octave band analyzer being us ed

Next we looked at the vibration levels measured on the floor of the room) at the base of the blower and on the unisolated blower frame The change in spect rum from one l ocation to the other did not ag r ee at all with the isolators used for the blower support Again equi pment specifications assisted in solvshying the inconsistency Once the accelerometer was moved from the frame t o either of the isolated po sitions the el ect r i cal signal caused by the acoustic noise output of the blower was greater than the vibration induced output The change i~ spectrum shape occurs because of the difference between acoustic outshyput and vibration output of the blower and the differences in the s ens i t ivi t y of the a ccel er omet e r to acoust ic and vibration excitation

Dat a recorded for the acoustical output of the motor-blower assembly covered octave bands from 315 to 8000 cis (center frequency) The r oom however had no dimension larger than 15 ft Under these condi t i ons there are so few modes within the room that the data in the 315 or even the 63 cis band could not be vali d If this were not enough we also f ound a simi l ar f an i n ou r file of old sp ectra which has a pure t one in the 315 cis band at a fre quen cy fa r r emoved from any room mod e This means that the level of the pure t one] measured in reverberation room i s compl et el y unrelated to the actual s ound output of the blower Later along in the report we did find a mention of the pure t one but no comment on the pos sible er r or introduced by the met hod of measurement

More questions than answers were provided by the t ext) and so abandoning it we turned to the charts for s ol ut ions We were aga i n foiled the charts ce r shytainly contained some of the neces sary information but without spending at l east as much time as the author we could not perform any meaningful cross checks The cha r t s were in four different s i ze s wi t h no combination that could be overshylaid The s cales varied from one set to another and the reference acceleration level was omitted

Of course there a r e fundamental questions about desig~ approval of a product on the basis of t esting only the production prototype and) maybe) one or two production units Certainly a major influence here is the cost of sound and vi br at i on measurements on one s ampl e which may be as high as the entire proshyduction quality cont r ol program on electrical and aerodynamic properties But testing one or two units leads to some questionable statistical and e t hi cal results

- 32shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

Conclusions a r e usually a j oy to r ead since fo r the most part they ar e brief optimistic) and exude confidenc e St i l l our final judgement on this r epo r t must be ne gative i n spite of the carefully performed t ests and the volume of data r eduction and pr e sentation The report was of little value t o the reader and t he work of little value t o t he fi rln t hat subsidized it

How does thi s happen It can happen be cau se the organizat i on needing the inshyf ormation has no one on the staf f who can r eally interpret the data or de sign the experiment and becaus e competent use of electronic i nstruments is no proshytection from non-el ectronic difficulties t hat occur The ab ove ci ted report i s hypothetical but all of the examples were taken f rom recent r eports that have pas s ed a cross the Editor s des k

AN ODE WRITTEN UPON LEARNING CYCLES HAD BECOME HERTZ r S

Her t z Rent A Cycl e -- I thought I was go i ng Ne rt z the day they named the cycle Hert z From names like Deliliotinsky save us Wil they name the second Avis ~~at now of foot -pounds ergs and j oul es will they be named f or wate r fowl s To quot e the Bard would r ose sme l l sweeter i f name were changed to foot or meter Oh doctors egghead s profs and seers please dont c bnfuse us engineers

- from Hi gh Vol tage (The Electrical Ma i nt ena nc e Eng i neer s Ass oc iat ion of Calif ornia) ~ t

========= Tamp LAME LEADnJG THE HALT DEPARTMEJIT -- A poor mathematician The Antenna has had dif ficulty in converting cycles t o hertz and asked some engineers at the Nat i onal Forestry Service Engineering Branch f or ass i stance They came up with the fo l lowshying equation wh ich t hey avow makes hert z-to-cycles conversion a sinh

F Fr equency in hertzh =

F = Fr eque ncy in cpsc

Readers who f i nd this simple formula time-saving are invited t o spend their lei sure t i me in the nation s beaut iful f orests helping to p r event f ires

- f r om Electronic News Monday

==========s=eptember ll 1967 ~c

-33shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

NBS NEWS

Cal i f ornia Rece ives New Weights and Measures St andards

On Wednesday Novembe r 22 California became the f ift h State to rece i ve new weights and meas ures standards und er a pr ogr am to r epla ce the stand a rd s of all 50 States Dr Allen V Astin Dir ector of the U S Department of Commerce s National Bur eau of St andards p res ented one new set of weights and measur e s stand a rds to officials of the State of Cal ifornia at 1000 AM in a ce remony at the Cali for nia Department of Agricultur e in Sa cramento

Many of the standa r ds and instruments used by t he States in weight s and measures administration were provfded by the Federal Government 100 years ago or mor e The National Bur eau of St andards i s supe rvising replacement of the State stand ards to update and extend measurement competence throughout the Nation as r equired by s cient i f ic and t ecbnologocal advan ces St andar ds have p r eviously been pres ented t o Ohi o I llinois Oregon and Utah Wi thi n the next few months s ets will be pres ented to Connect icut Del awar e Kent ucky New Mexi co and TeTiJlessee It is expected t hat n 2)11 standa rds and i ns truments Ifill be provided t o about 10 State s pe r year unt i l all St ate st andards and f acilities have been moderni zed

Each new set includes standar ds of ma s s (yeneight) length and volume a nd ne cessary l aboratory instruments includi ng 11i gn p r e ci s i on balances al l spec i ally designed t o meet State weight s and measur es requirement s Each set cos ts t he Fede r al Government about $70000 incl udi ng cal ibrat i on installation and training of l aboratory personnel The State contribution to the program in the form of new or expanded laboratory f acilities and better qualifi ed personnel will be cons i de r abl y more than the Feder al cost

Measur ement uniformity arrlong the st ates began i n 1836 when Congr es s authori zed t he Fed eral Government to supply each State with If bullbullbull a complete s et of wei ghts and measures adopted as s t anda r ds -- to the end t hat a uniform s t andard of weights and measur es may be established thr oughout the United s t at es

In the United States the actual r egulat ion of weighing and measuring equi p shyment in commerce i s retained l argely by t he s t ates The National Bureau of Standards i s t he principal t echnical r es ource f or t he States in thi s area

Four Nat ions Compare Microwave Standa rds

The NBS Institute f or Basic St andar ds (U S Department of Commer ce) is s ervi ng as pi l ot laboratory in an international cross - che ck of powe r standards at 3 GHz Canada the USSR Japan and the USA are each supplyi ng one or more transf er standards which wi l l be compared with the primary st anda rds in all f our countries Measurements on the t r ansfer st andar ds hav e been complet ed at ~rns and they are now being compa r ed with the primary standards in Canada Data obtained at eac h nati onal l aborat ory will be r eported t o the International Bureau of Weights and Mea sures at Sevres Fr an ce which wi l l i s sue a final r eport when all t he r esults ar e in

-34shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

NBS Pre ci sion Mea sur ement Seminars 1967-68

Semi nar s on eight t opics have been announ ced f or t he 1967-68 s eries of Precision Measur ement Semi na rs held at the National Bureau of St andards These will take plac e depending on the topic e i t her at the NBS l aborato r ies in Gaithersbu r g Md i ndicat ed below by (G) or in Boulder Col o i nshydicated by (B) The announced t opics are as fol l ows

Low Frequency Electrical Standar ds (G) Dec 11-13 1967 Length Measurements (G) April 1-51968 Precision and Accu r acy in Measurement and Calibr at ion (G)

Feb 12-15 1968 Frequ en cy and Time (B) Feb 1968 High Frequency and Microwave At tenuation (B) Mar ch 1968 Micr owave Calibration Works hop (B) May 6-10 1968 Color i me t r y and Spectr ophotometry (G) May 6-8-1968 Radiation Quant i t ies (G) May 15-17 1968

The s eminars are one of several NBS activities t r s- pr-ov i de advice and as s i s shytance on measurement and calibration pr oblems to -c1e growi ng number of s t anshydards l abor at or ies in tracing to NBS standards the accuracies of measurement needed fo r research work f actory produc t i on or fi eld evaluation Participashyt ion is open t o a limited number of persons f rom measurement and s tanda r ds laboratories who meet app r opriate prerequisities r el ating t o educat ion work expe r ience and cu r r ent profes sional activity ~rthe r information is availshyable f rom Dr L Mason NBSIES Washington D C 20234

Coaxial Transmis s i on Lines Wit h Minimal Discontinuities

Disk-shaped supports fo r r i gid coaxial transmission lines are sometimes t rimmed f or small e r step discontinuities in the ce nter condu ct or and minimi zed r eflections in t he line An equat i on developed at the NBS Radio Standards Laboratory gives t he e f fective dielectric constant of cutaway supports from whi ch the cor rect ce nt e r conduct or diameter can be f ound

At omic Second Adopted As International Unit Of Time

A new definition of the international unit of time the second was adopted Friday October 13 1967 in Pari s by t he 13th General Confe r ence on Weights and Measures The se cond ha s now been defined in terms of a character istic r ate of el ect r omagnet i c os ci l lat i on of the ce s ium-133 at om The Conference also made t erminological de cisions in regard to t he micron the degree Kel Vin and the candela and it add ed s eve r al t o its l i s t of derived units in t he International Syst em

Speaking f or t he gover nment s r epresented which include those of all t he l eading sci ent i f ic and industrial count r ies the Conference agreed ove r shywhelmingly t hat the moment had come to replace the existing definition based on the earth s orbital motion around t he sun by an atomic definition

- 35shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

The ConfereD~ e de cided t hat

Tne unit o~ time o~ the International Sys t em of Uni t s i s the second de f i ned in t he foLLowfng t erms The second i s t he du r ation of 9 192 631 770 periods of the r adiation correspond shyi ng to the trans i t ion between t he t wo hJT erf i ne levels o~ t he fund8Jl1ental s tate of t he atom of cesium 133

and ab rogated t he resolut ions giving t he earl ier defini t i on

The f requency (9 192631 7(0 HZ) whi ch t he defi nition ass i gns t o t he ces iwn r arli at i on was ca r e~ull y chos en to rnake i t impos s ible by any eXi sti ng ex shyperimental evidence t o d i s t l ngu tah t he new second fr-om t he ephemeris second ba sed on the ea r th s motion Therefor e no change s need to be made in dat a s t ated i n te rms of t he old standard in order to conve rt t hem t o the new one On t he other hand t he a tomic definition ha s two i rnportant advanshytage s ove r t he p r -ecedLng defini tion (1) i t can be realized (Le ] generat ed by a suitable cl ock ) with suf f i ci ent pr ecision part i n a hund r ed bil lion (lOl l) or better to meet t he mos t exact ing de mands of current metrol ogy and (2) i t i s avai l abl e to anyone who ha s ac ce s s t o or who can bu i ld an a tomi c clock cont r ol l ed by the spe ci f i ed cesimn radiat i on and one can compar e ot he r hi gh-pr e cis ion clocks directly vi th such 2~ s t andard i n a rel ative l y shor t t ime- - an hour or s o a s ag ainst years with t he astronomical s tandard

The 13t h General Conference also made several ot her dec i s ions

Length The name mi cr on for a un it of l ength equal t o 10-6 meter and the symbol fl which ha s be en us ed for i t are dr opped The symbol l i s t o be used s olel y a s an abb re viation for t he prefix mi cr o- standing fo r rnul t iplication by 10-6 Thus t he lengt h previously de signated as 1 micron) should be designat ed 1 yenill -

Temper atur e The Conf erence recognized t he ur gency of revl s lng t he I nter national Pract i cal Scale of 1emper atur e of 1948 Not i ng t hat the Lab or-ator ies competent in the area are agreed on t he main lines of the changes r equ Lr -ed it au thori zed t he I nt e r nat i onal Committee on Weights and Measures to t ake t ~~e steps ne ces sar y to put a new Int e rnational Practical Scale of Tempe r atur e into ef fect as soon as poss ible

The name of the unit of t herrnodynamic temperature was changed f r om degree Kelvi n (symbol OK) to ke l vi n (symbol K) The defini t ion of the un it of thermodynamic t emperatur e now reads

The ke lvi n the un it of thermodynami c temperature i s the fraction 1 27316 of t he t he rmodynamic temperature of t he triple point of wat e r

I t wa s also decided t hat the same name (kelVin) and symbol (K) be used for express i ng t empe r atur e int ervals dr opping the forme r convent ion which expressed a tempe r a t ur e interval in de gr ee s Kelvi n or abbreviated de g K However the old des ignati ons ar e ac cept able temporari ly as al t ernat i ves-to- t he new ones One may also express t emperat ur e int ervals i n de grees Celsius

-36shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

Photometry Recognizing that photometry must take into account the principles and techniques of colorimetry and radiometry the Confe rence approved plans drawn up by the International Committee on Weights and Measures to expand the scope of its activities to include the fundamental metrological aspects of colorimetry and radiometry

The definition of the unit of luminous int ens i t y the candela was rephrased to meet the ob ject ions of critics who found a certain aWkwardness in its wording The meaning of the definition which was never in doubt remains the same The reformulated definition follows

The candela is t he luminous intensity in the direction of the normal of a black body surface 1 600000 square meter in area at the temperature of solidification of pl atinum under a pres shysure of 101325 newtons per square meter

Derived units To t he derived un its and associated symbols that the 11th General Conf erence (1960) had included in its Resolution 12 which introduced the International System of Units (of f i c i al abbreviation SI from the French designation Sys t eme International dUnites) t he 13th General Conshyf e r ence added the following

Wave number bullbull bull bull bull bull bullbull bull 1 per meter bullbull bull bullbullbull bull m- l Entropy bull j oule per kelvin bull bull 3K Spec i f i c heat bull bull j oule per ki l ogr am kelvin bull 3kg K Thermal Conductivity bull watt per meter ke l v i n bullbull bullbullbullbull W~ K Radiant intensity watt per steradian bullbull bullbull bull Ws r Activity (of a rad ioshy

active source) bullbull 1 per s econd bullbullbullbull bull bull bull bull s- l

Low-Frequency Digital Phas emeter

A phase-angle meter developed at the NBS Institute for Bas i c Standards (U S Department of Commerce) gives digital indications of the phase angle (in radians) to f our decimal places) between two electrical s i gnals f r om an arbitrarily low frequency to 10 k ll z Devised by John E McKirmey of the I nstit u t e1s rheology laboratories the meter can be assembled from commercially available logic modules When used With a conventional digital f r equencyshyratio meter it supplies precise values f or the pbase angle between two signals of the same f r e quency

The measurement is absolute and is referred to a tinle base wht ch may be derived f r om the NBS frequency standard Its accuracy is better than 001 de gree at 400 Hz and is expect ed to L~prove at lower frequencies The inshystrument is simple in design inexpensive easily portable and requires little space i n a laboratory

The pbasemeter is comprised of a logic circuit which can be assembled from l ogic modules and a preset frequency-ratio meter Bot h t he logic module s and the frequency-ratio meter are commerci ally avai l able

- 37shy

Basically the phasemeter is a timing circuit which lneasures the average time interval between appropriate zero crossings of the two signals ove r an arbitrarily selected number of cycles The r eas on f or using many cycles of a signal is to reduce errors caused by random and incommensurable imperfections accompanying the signals and to average the timing errors between ze ro croSSshyings However considera91e ability to i gnore certain types of sine wave imperfections such as d-c offset nois e a-c hum and s ome harmonics is inherent in the device

As we go to press we learn that New Mexico became the sixth state to receive new weights and standards of measure unde r the Bureau s continuing program of supplementing and replacing old standards

Piston Gage Developed For High Pressure Measurements

A high-pressure piston gage has been developed at NBS for improved pressure determinations up to 26000 bars or 380000 psi The device has been used to obtain a more accurate value for the polymorphic phase transition of bismuth

High pressures are being used increasingly in scientific research and inshydustrial processes creating an urgent need for more precise measurements and calibrations This need is felt expecially in the range up to 30 kilobars or 430000 psift the maximum pressure for which apparatus gener a t i ng hydroshystatic pressure is currently available

At pressures exceeding 10 kilobars it becomes exceedingly difficult to connect different instruments in the high-pressure system by means of high pressure tubing The NBS scien~ist~ therefore ~es~ampned the high-pressure piston gag e to include a pressure gener at or and a large enough ns i de space to contain the sample immers~~ in liquid for the necessary measurements

In the NBS deVice Figure l~~a gage piston made of dense fine- grained cemented tungsten carbide fits into a 2 mm-diarr~t er bor e of a high-pressure cylinder The lower part of this cylinder is wid er and serves as a sample

chamber A ram pushes a movable seal upward into the 101er end of the liquidshyfilled sample chamber i ncreasing the pressure to the desired value

The force generated by the internal pressure acting on the cross section of the piston is balanced by loading the piston with a sufficient number of weights through a pivot resting on the piston To reach the highest operatshying pressure of this gage a total load of one ton is balanced on the top of the 2 rum-diameter piston Piston pivot and the entire load are rotated to relieve friction between piston and cylinder The rotating is accomplished by directing air jets against vanes on t he weight holder at op the piston

The first measurements made with this gage demonstrated the feasibility of the design and also indicated desirable improvements These measurements have prOVided a more accurate value for the lowest pressure polymorphic phase transition of a bisrnuth sample at 25degC 25499 with an estimated uncertainty of plusmn 60 bars Bismuth is one of the most widely used calibrants in this high pressure range

-38shy

JP

Figure 14 Cross-sectional drawing of the NBS-developed high pressure piston gage The gage piston P fits into the 2-mm diameter bore of the high-pressure cylinder C The ram R pushes the movable seal S into the liquid-filled sample chamber increasing the pressure to the desired value A separate ram E is used to supply end-loading to the tapered cylinder and to pUSh it into the jacket J to generate support presshysure on the outer surface of the cylinder The jacket in turn is supported by presshysure in the annular space shown connected to the port JP and this pressure and the ram force are used to control the clearance between the gage piston and the cylinder In operation the force generated by the internal pressure acting on the crossshysection of the piston is balanced by loading the piston with a sufficient number of weights -39shy

The establisbment by NES of the Pilot Program in Mass Measurement has had an interesting by-product It is a newsletter entitled OVERLAP and it is edited by Don Baker who is located in the Metrology Division Room B 322 Bldg 220 Natio~al Bureau of St anda rds rashington D C 20234 Don states the purpose of -t he Newsletter is to benefit thoe who participated in the Pilot Program and for others engaged in like projects He hopes to stimulate readers to discussions of philosophies techniques and application of measurement process evaluation to the measurement problems of the national measurement system

In the first issue orne bas i c philosophy of the original program is brought out After describi ng the philosophi cal approach to a standardized value of a unit he proceeds to des cr i be the role of amp check standard in the process of intercomparison round robins He later pr sents a bit of information--a new buoyancy correction formula for mass measurements In closing he r el a t es the effort to establish a program of ol t age s t and intercomparisons similar to that of Pilot Engaged in this effort ar t he Air Force Newark AF Station in Ohio and the National Bureau of Standards A one-year program of study and exper iment has been started

GENTLEMEN IN RESPONSE TO A REMARK ABOUT THE UNCALIBRATED BAT RAY

Courtesy ResearchDevelopment 1966 F D Thompson Pub

1 1 II

~ ~J C QA L

Quality control man eh How are

you on tong reports roulin e Iests inmiddot strument cnlibrotion ond all Ihot dull jazz

courtesy Quality Assurance

-40shy

BACKGROUND READING

A 40 Years of Precise Pressure Measu r ement W Brombacker lnst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 A tutorial review

B Performan ce Testing Pressure Transducers P Lederey Inst amp Control Systems Sep 167 Review of NBS Tech Note 411

C How to Use Programmed Measurements C Donaldson EEE Oct 67 A r eview of principles of new approach to elect ronic t esting

D Prepare Ahead f or thos e Execut i ve Decisions T Carlin The American Engineer Oct 67 A briefing on the importance of preparing f or decision making

E Hurdles on the Cl i mb t o Management F Kimmel The American Engineer) Oct 67 A r eview of some fundamental requirements for the successful manager

F Preci s i on Measurement of the Acceleration of Gravity J Faller Sci ence 6 Oct 67 A r eview of measur ement progres s

G Bibliography of Tempe rat u re Measurement L Ol sen amp C Halpern NBS Monograph 27 Supplement 2 (April 28 1967) Obtain from Supt of Documerrt s Govt Ftg Of f i ce Washington DC 20402 f or $0 35

H Particle AnalYSis W McCrone Research Development Sep 167 Lab oratories interested in clean - room r equirements may benefit by this review

r The Crisis in Non-Destructive Testing J Judge Aerospace Technology Aug 28 67 Good information for industrial st andards l aboratories closely associated with this quality contr ol t echnique

J ISA Instrumentation Index I s sue Two Sep 67 Instrwnent Soc i ety of Ameri ca An as s is t to information retrieval cover i ng articles publi shed by lSA

K Concept of a Nat i onal Measurement Sys t em R Hunt oon Sci ence ) 6 Oct 67 A r ewrite and expanSion of the original theme presented two years ago

L St andard s and Practice s for Instnunentation J French Instrument Soc iet y of America Oct 66 Ord e r from I SA Pub Dept 530 WID Penn Place Pittsburgh Pa 15219 f or $450

M From RFl to EMC G Flynn Electronic Products Nov 67 Tracing the history of interference and its mi t i ga t ion through the efforts of the FCC and DOD with a l ook at future problems f or industrial designing

-41shy

Noteven oneletter to the editor today

THANK YOU - WALL STREEI JOURNAL FOR FEELING THIS WAY TOO

-42shy

RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION~

Unless you have been placed on the Newsletter mailing list since June 30 1967 it is important that you read the instructions below and alert us to the fact that you are an active reader and would like to continue receiving each issue in 1968

Each year it has been the custom to revise and update the mailshying list for this Newsletter This coming year it is quite imshyportant that our American readers supply the editor with an upshyto-date address including Zip Code To simplify our mailing proble~s note that you the reader will not receive future 1968 issues of the Newsletter until and unless you return this page complete with name and mailing address to which the Newsletter is to be sent

Please do not delay return of this address information sheet since compiling new address plates is a time-consuming task fitted into gaps in our company1s regular work schedule Send your reply-request to C E White Editor-NCSL Newsletter co Avco-MSD Room 3162 201 Lowell St Wilmington Mass 01887

I would like to receive the NCSL Newsletter during 1968

Signed

Print Your Name Here

Mailing Address

Zip Code

-43shy

APPLICAT ION FOR MEl-ffiERSH IF

NAT IONAL CONF ERENC E OF STANDARDS LABORATORIES

Name of Laboratory-or Organization

Address

applies for membership in the National Conference of Standards Laboratories and appoints as its

Delegate

Name and Title

who will serve until June 30 1968

Signed

Title

Date

The NCSL is a continuing non-profit association whose members are either measurement standards and calibration laboratories organizations maintaining such activities or other organizations having related interests whether operated under academic scienshytific industrial commercial or government auspice

Application for membership is made by compLet Lng the above form and submitting it together with the annual dueB of fifty dollars ($5000) Checks should be made payable to the National Conference of Standards Laboratories

Applications may be mailed to

National Conference of Standar ds Laborat ories co National Bureau of Standar ds Washington D C 20234

If an otherwise qualified organization finde it impossible to become a member organshyization by p~ent of dueB as such it may be granted member privileges by payment of

~ an equivalent registration fee in advance of the Delegatels Assembly

~

~ ~ o

-45shy

-I

201 tOWIampLL STRIEET WILMINQlTON MASS 01SIl

z-

CONTRIBUTORS

R COUTURE - AUTONETICS H MASON NBSIBS

C E WHITE - EDITOR

Avec MlalilLE avaTMa DIVlalCN

~caCAC PRINTING amp DISTRIBUTION COURTESY OF

-46

JP

Figure 14 Cross-sectional drawing of the NBS-developed high pressure piston gage The gage piston P fits into the 2-mm diameter bore of the high-pressure cylinder C The ram R pushes the movable seal S into the liquid-filled sample chamber increasing the pressure to the desired value A separate ram E is used to supply end-loading to the tapered cylinder and to pUSh it into the jacket J to generate support presshysure on the outer surface of the cylinder The jacket in turn is supported by presshysure in the annular space shown connected to the port JP and this pressure and the ram force are used to control the clearance between the gage piston and the cylinder In operation the force generated by the internal pressure acting on the crossshysection of the piston is balanced by loading the piston with a sufficient number of weights -39shy

The establisbment by NES of the Pilot Program in Mass Measurement has had an interesting by-product It is a newsletter entitled OVERLAP and it is edited by Don Baker who is located in the Metrology Division Room B 322 Bldg 220 Natio~al Bureau of St anda rds rashington D C 20234 Don states the purpose of -t he Newsletter is to benefit thoe who participated in the Pilot Program and for others engaged in like projects He hopes to stimulate readers to discussions of philosophies techniques and application of measurement process evaluation to the measurement problems of the national measurement system

In the first issue orne bas i c philosophy of the original program is brought out After describi ng the philosophi cal approach to a standardized value of a unit he proceeds to des cr i be the role of amp check standard in the process of intercomparison round robins He later pr sents a bit of information--a new buoyancy correction formula for mass measurements In closing he r el a t es the effort to establish a program of ol t age s t and intercomparisons similar to that of Pilot Engaged in this effort ar t he Air Force Newark AF Station in Ohio and the National Bureau of Standards A one-year program of study and exper iment has been started

GENTLEMEN IN RESPONSE TO A REMARK ABOUT THE UNCALIBRATED BAT RAY

Courtesy ResearchDevelopment 1966 F D Thompson Pub

1 1 II

~ ~J C QA L

Quality control man eh How are

you on tong reports roulin e Iests inmiddot strument cnlibrotion ond all Ihot dull jazz

courtesy Quality Assurance

-40shy

BACKGROUND READING

A 40 Years of Precise Pressure Measu r ement W Brombacker lnst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 A tutorial review

B Performan ce Testing Pressure Transducers P Lederey Inst amp Control Systems Sep 167 Review of NBS Tech Note 411

C How to Use Programmed Measurements C Donaldson EEE Oct 67 A r eview of principles of new approach to elect ronic t esting

D Prepare Ahead f or thos e Execut i ve Decisions T Carlin The American Engineer Oct 67 A briefing on the importance of preparing f or decision making

E Hurdles on the Cl i mb t o Management F Kimmel The American Engineer) Oct 67 A r eview of some fundamental requirements for the successful manager

F Preci s i on Measurement of the Acceleration of Gravity J Faller Sci ence 6 Oct 67 A r eview of measur ement progres s

G Bibliography of Tempe rat u re Measurement L Ol sen amp C Halpern NBS Monograph 27 Supplement 2 (April 28 1967) Obtain from Supt of Documerrt s Govt Ftg Of f i ce Washington DC 20402 f or $0 35

H Particle AnalYSis W McCrone Research Development Sep 167 Lab oratories interested in clean - room r equirements may benefit by this review

r The Crisis in Non-Destructive Testing J Judge Aerospace Technology Aug 28 67 Good information for industrial st andards l aboratories closely associated with this quality contr ol t echnique

J ISA Instrumentation Index I s sue Two Sep 67 Instrwnent Soc i ety of Ameri ca An as s is t to information retrieval cover i ng articles publi shed by lSA

K Concept of a Nat i onal Measurement Sys t em R Hunt oon Sci ence ) 6 Oct 67 A r ewrite and expanSion of the original theme presented two years ago

L St andard s and Practice s for Instnunentation J French Instrument Soc iet y of America Oct 66 Ord e r from I SA Pub Dept 530 WID Penn Place Pittsburgh Pa 15219 f or $450

M From RFl to EMC G Flynn Electronic Products Nov 67 Tracing the history of interference and its mi t i ga t ion through the efforts of the FCC and DOD with a l ook at future problems f or industrial designing

-41shy

Noteven oneletter to the editor today

THANK YOU - WALL STREEI JOURNAL FOR FEELING THIS WAY TOO

-42shy

RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION~

Unless you have been placed on the Newsletter mailing list since June 30 1967 it is important that you read the instructions below and alert us to the fact that you are an active reader and would like to continue receiving each issue in 1968

Each year it has been the custom to revise and update the mailshying list for this Newsletter This coming year it is quite imshyportant that our American readers supply the editor with an upshyto-date address including Zip Code To simplify our mailing proble~s note that you the reader will not receive future 1968 issues of the Newsletter until and unless you return this page complete with name and mailing address to which the Newsletter is to be sent

Please do not delay return of this address information sheet since compiling new address plates is a time-consuming task fitted into gaps in our company1s regular work schedule Send your reply-request to C E White Editor-NCSL Newsletter co Avco-MSD Room 3162 201 Lowell St Wilmington Mass 01887

I would like to receive the NCSL Newsletter during 1968

Signed

Print Your Name Here

Mailing Address

Zip Code

-43shy

APPLICAT ION FOR MEl-ffiERSH IF

NAT IONAL CONF ERENC E OF STANDARDS LABORATORIES

Name of Laboratory-or Organization

Address

applies for membership in the National Conference of Standards Laboratories and appoints as its

Delegate

Name and Title

who will serve until June 30 1968

Signed

Title

Date

The NCSL is a continuing non-profit association whose members are either measurement standards and calibration laboratories organizations maintaining such activities or other organizations having related interests whether operated under academic scienshytific industrial commercial or government auspice

Application for membership is made by compLet Lng the above form and submitting it together with the annual dueB of fifty dollars ($5000) Checks should be made payable to the National Conference of Standards Laboratories

Applications may be mailed to

National Conference of Standar ds Laborat ories co National Bureau of Standar ds Washington D C 20234

If an otherwise qualified organization finde it impossible to become a member organshyization by p~ent of dueB as such it may be granted member privileges by payment of

~ an equivalent registration fee in advance of the Delegatels Assembly

~

~ ~ o

-45shy

-I

201 tOWIampLL STRIEET WILMINQlTON MASS 01SIl

z-

CONTRIBUTORS

R COUTURE - AUTONETICS H MASON NBSIBS

C E WHITE - EDITOR

Avec MlalilLE avaTMa DIVlalCN

~caCAC PRINTING amp DISTRIBUTION COURTESY OF

-46

The establisbment by NES of the Pilot Program in Mass Measurement has had an interesting by-product It is a newsletter entitled OVERLAP and it is edited by Don Baker who is located in the Metrology Division Room B 322 Bldg 220 Natio~al Bureau of St anda rds rashington D C 20234 Don states the purpose of -t he Newsletter is to benefit thoe who participated in the Pilot Program and for others engaged in like projects He hopes to stimulate readers to discussions of philosophies techniques and application of measurement process evaluation to the measurement problems of the national measurement system

In the first issue orne bas i c philosophy of the original program is brought out After describi ng the philosophi cal approach to a standardized value of a unit he proceeds to des cr i be the role of amp check standard in the process of intercomparison round robins He later pr sents a bit of information--a new buoyancy correction formula for mass measurements In closing he r el a t es the effort to establish a program of ol t age s t and intercomparisons similar to that of Pilot Engaged in this effort ar t he Air Force Newark AF Station in Ohio and the National Bureau of Standards A one-year program of study and exper iment has been started

GENTLEMEN IN RESPONSE TO A REMARK ABOUT THE UNCALIBRATED BAT RAY

Courtesy ResearchDevelopment 1966 F D Thompson Pub

1 1 II

~ ~J C QA L

Quality control man eh How are

you on tong reports roulin e Iests inmiddot strument cnlibrotion ond all Ihot dull jazz

courtesy Quality Assurance

-40shy

BACKGROUND READING

A 40 Years of Precise Pressure Measu r ement W Brombacker lnst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 A tutorial review

B Performan ce Testing Pressure Transducers P Lederey Inst amp Control Systems Sep 167 Review of NBS Tech Note 411

C How to Use Programmed Measurements C Donaldson EEE Oct 67 A r eview of principles of new approach to elect ronic t esting

D Prepare Ahead f or thos e Execut i ve Decisions T Carlin The American Engineer Oct 67 A briefing on the importance of preparing f or decision making

E Hurdles on the Cl i mb t o Management F Kimmel The American Engineer) Oct 67 A r eview of some fundamental requirements for the successful manager

F Preci s i on Measurement of the Acceleration of Gravity J Faller Sci ence 6 Oct 67 A r eview of measur ement progres s

G Bibliography of Tempe rat u re Measurement L Ol sen amp C Halpern NBS Monograph 27 Supplement 2 (April 28 1967) Obtain from Supt of Documerrt s Govt Ftg Of f i ce Washington DC 20402 f or $0 35

H Particle AnalYSis W McCrone Research Development Sep 167 Lab oratories interested in clean - room r equirements may benefit by this review

r The Crisis in Non-Destructive Testing J Judge Aerospace Technology Aug 28 67 Good information for industrial st andards l aboratories closely associated with this quality contr ol t echnique

J ISA Instrumentation Index I s sue Two Sep 67 Instrwnent Soc i ety of Ameri ca An as s is t to information retrieval cover i ng articles publi shed by lSA

K Concept of a Nat i onal Measurement Sys t em R Hunt oon Sci ence ) 6 Oct 67 A r ewrite and expanSion of the original theme presented two years ago

L St andard s and Practice s for Instnunentation J French Instrument Soc iet y of America Oct 66 Ord e r from I SA Pub Dept 530 WID Penn Place Pittsburgh Pa 15219 f or $450

M From RFl to EMC G Flynn Electronic Products Nov 67 Tracing the history of interference and its mi t i ga t ion through the efforts of the FCC and DOD with a l ook at future problems f or industrial designing

-41shy

Noteven oneletter to the editor today

THANK YOU - WALL STREEI JOURNAL FOR FEELING THIS WAY TOO

-42shy

RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION~

Unless you have been placed on the Newsletter mailing list since June 30 1967 it is important that you read the instructions below and alert us to the fact that you are an active reader and would like to continue receiving each issue in 1968

Each year it has been the custom to revise and update the mailshying list for this Newsletter This coming year it is quite imshyportant that our American readers supply the editor with an upshyto-date address including Zip Code To simplify our mailing proble~s note that you the reader will not receive future 1968 issues of the Newsletter until and unless you return this page complete with name and mailing address to which the Newsletter is to be sent

Please do not delay return of this address information sheet since compiling new address plates is a time-consuming task fitted into gaps in our company1s regular work schedule Send your reply-request to C E White Editor-NCSL Newsletter co Avco-MSD Room 3162 201 Lowell St Wilmington Mass 01887

I would like to receive the NCSL Newsletter during 1968

Signed

Print Your Name Here

Mailing Address

Zip Code

-43shy

APPLICAT ION FOR MEl-ffiERSH IF

NAT IONAL CONF ERENC E OF STANDARDS LABORATORIES

Name of Laboratory-or Organization

Address

applies for membership in the National Conference of Standards Laboratories and appoints as its

Delegate

Name and Title

who will serve until June 30 1968

Signed

Title

Date

The NCSL is a continuing non-profit association whose members are either measurement standards and calibration laboratories organizations maintaining such activities or other organizations having related interests whether operated under academic scienshytific industrial commercial or government auspice

Application for membership is made by compLet Lng the above form and submitting it together with the annual dueB of fifty dollars ($5000) Checks should be made payable to the National Conference of Standards Laboratories

Applications may be mailed to

National Conference of Standar ds Laborat ories co National Bureau of Standar ds Washington D C 20234

If an otherwise qualified organization finde it impossible to become a member organshyization by p~ent of dueB as such it may be granted member privileges by payment of

~ an equivalent registration fee in advance of the Delegatels Assembly

~

~ ~ o

-45shy

-I

201 tOWIampLL STRIEET WILMINQlTON MASS 01SIl

z-

CONTRIBUTORS

R COUTURE - AUTONETICS H MASON NBSIBS

C E WHITE - EDITOR

Avec MlalilLE avaTMa DIVlalCN

~caCAC PRINTING amp DISTRIBUTION COURTESY OF

-46

BACKGROUND READING

A 40 Years of Precise Pressure Measu r ement W Brombacker lnst amp Control Sys tems Sep 67 A tutorial review

B Performan ce Testing Pressure Transducers P Lederey Inst amp Control Systems Sep 167 Review of NBS Tech Note 411

C How to Use Programmed Measurements C Donaldson EEE Oct 67 A r eview of principles of new approach to elect ronic t esting

D Prepare Ahead f or thos e Execut i ve Decisions T Carlin The American Engineer Oct 67 A briefing on the importance of preparing f or decision making

E Hurdles on the Cl i mb t o Management F Kimmel The American Engineer) Oct 67 A r eview of some fundamental requirements for the successful manager

F Preci s i on Measurement of the Acceleration of Gravity J Faller Sci ence 6 Oct 67 A r eview of measur ement progres s

G Bibliography of Tempe rat u re Measurement L Ol sen amp C Halpern NBS Monograph 27 Supplement 2 (April 28 1967) Obtain from Supt of Documerrt s Govt Ftg Of f i ce Washington DC 20402 f or $0 35

H Particle AnalYSis W McCrone Research Development Sep 167 Lab oratories interested in clean - room r equirements may benefit by this review

r The Crisis in Non-Destructive Testing J Judge Aerospace Technology Aug 28 67 Good information for industrial st andards l aboratories closely associated with this quality contr ol t echnique

J ISA Instrumentation Index I s sue Two Sep 67 Instrwnent Soc i ety of Ameri ca An as s is t to information retrieval cover i ng articles publi shed by lSA

K Concept of a Nat i onal Measurement Sys t em R Hunt oon Sci ence ) 6 Oct 67 A r ewrite and expanSion of the original theme presented two years ago

L St andard s and Practice s for Instnunentation J French Instrument Soc iet y of America Oct 66 Ord e r from I SA Pub Dept 530 WID Penn Place Pittsburgh Pa 15219 f or $450

M From RFl to EMC G Flynn Electronic Products Nov 67 Tracing the history of interference and its mi t i ga t ion through the efforts of the FCC and DOD with a l ook at future problems f or industrial designing

-41shy

Noteven oneletter to the editor today

THANK YOU - WALL STREEI JOURNAL FOR FEELING THIS WAY TOO

-42shy

RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION~

Unless you have been placed on the Newsletter mailing list since June 30 1967 it is important that you read the instructions below and alert us to the fact that you are an active reader and would like to continue receiving each issue in 1968

Each year it has been the custom to revise and update the mailshying list for this Newsletter This coming year it is quite imshyportant that our American readers supply the editor with an upshyto-date address including Zip Code To simplify our mailing proble~s note that you the reader will not receive future 1968 issues of the Newsletter until and unless you return this page complete with name and mailing address to which the Newsletter is to be sent

Please do not delay return of this address information sheet since compiling new address plates is a time-consuming task fitted into gaps in our company1s regular work schedule Send your reply-request to C E White Editor-NCSL Newsletter co Avco-MSD Room 3162 201 Lowell St Wilmington Mass 01887

I would like to receive the NCSL Newsletter during 1968

Signed

Print Your Name Here

Mailing Address

Zip Code

-43shy

APPLICAT ION FOR MEl-ffiERSH IF

NAT IONAL CONF ERENC E OF STANDARDS LABORATORIES

Name of Laboratory-or Organization

Address

applies for membership in the National Conference of Standards Laboratories and appoints as its

Delegate

Name and Title

who will serve until June 30 1968

Signed

Title

Date

The NCSL is a continuing non-profit association whose members are either measurement standards and calibration laboratories organizations maintaining such activities or other organizations having related interests whether operated under academic scienshytific industrial commercial or government auspice

Application for membership is made by compLet Lng the above form and submitting it together with the annual dueB of fifty dollars ($5000) Checks should be made payable to the National Conference of Standards Laboratories

Applications may be mailed to

National Conference of Standar ds Laborat ories co National Bureau of Standar ds Washington D C 20234

If an otherwise qualified organization finde it impossible to become a member organshyization by p~ent of dueB as such it may be granted member privileges by payment of

~ an equivalent registration fee in advance of the Delegatels Assembly

~

~ ~ o

-45shy

-I

201 tOWIampLL STRIEET WILMINQlTON MASS 01SIl

z-

CONTRIBUTORS

R COUTURE - AUTONETICS H MASON NBSIBS

C E WHITE - EDITOR

Avec MlalilLE avaTMa DIVlalCN

~caCAC PRINTING amp DISTRIBUTION COURTESY OF

-46

Noteven oneletter to the editor today

THANK YOU - WALL STREEI JOURNAL FOR FEELING THIS WAY TOO

-42shy

RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION~

Unless you have been placed on the Newsletter mailing list since June 30 1967 it is important that you read the instructions below and alert us to the fact that you are an active reader and would like to continue receiving each issue in 1968

Each year it has been the custom to revise and update the mailshying list for this Newsletter This coming year it is quite imshyportant that our American readers supply the editor with an upshyto-date address including Zip Code To simplify our mailing proble~s note that you the reader will not receive future 1968 issues of the Newsletter until and unless you return this page complete with name and mailing address to which the Newsletter is to be sent

Please do not delay return of this address information sheet since compiling new address plates is a time-consuming task fitted into gaps in our company1s regular work schedule Send your reply-request to C E White Editor-NCSL Newsletter co Avco-MSD Room 3162 201 Lowell St Wilmington Mass 01887

I would like to receive the NCSL Newsletter during 1968

Signed

Print Your Name Here

Mailing Address

Zip Code

-43shy

APPLICAT ION FOR MEl-ffiERSH IF

NAT IONAL CONF ERENC E OF STANDARDS LABORATORIES

Name of Laboratory-or Organization

Address

applies for membership in the National Conference of Standards Laboratories and appoints as its

Delegate

Name and Title

who will serve until June 30 1968

Signed

Title

Date

The NCSL is a continuing non-profit association whose members are either measurement standards and calibration laboratories organizations maintaining such activities or other organizations having related interests whether operated under academic scienshytific industrial commercial or government auspice

Application for membership is made by compLet Lng the above form and submitting it together with the annual dueB of fifty dollars ($5000) Checks should be made payable to the National Conference of Standards Laboratories

Applications may be mailed to

National Conference of Standar ds Laborat ories co National Bureau of Standar ds Washington D C 20234

If an otherwise qualified organization finde it impossible to become a member organshyization by p~ent of dueB as such it may be granted member privileges by payment of

~ an equivalent registration fee in advance of the Delegatels Assembly

~

~ ~ o

-45shy

-I

201 tOWIampLL STRIEET WILMINQlTON MASS 01SIl

z-

CONTRIBUTORS

R COUTURE - AUTONETICS H MASON NBSIBS

C E WHITE - EDITOR

Avec MlalilLE avaTMa DIVlalCN

~caCAC PRINTING amp DISTRIBUTION COURTESY OF

-46

RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION~

Unless you have been placed on the Newsletter mailing list since June 30 1967 it is important that you read the instructions below and alert us to the fact that you are an active reader and would like to continue receiving each issue in 1968

Each year it has been the custom to revise and update the mailshying list for this Newsletter This coming year it is quite imshyportant that our American readers supply the editor with an upshyto-date address including Zip Code To simplify our mailing proble~s note that you the reader will not receive future 1968 issues of the Newsletter until and unless you return this page complete with name and mailing address to which the Newsletter is to be sent

Please do not delay return of this address information sheet since compiling new address plates is a time-consuming task fitted into gaps in our company1s regular work schedule Send your reply-request to C E White Editor-NCSL Newsletter co Avco-MSD Room 3162 201 Lowell St Wilmington Mass 01887

I would like to receive the NCSL Newsletter during 1968

Signed

Print Your Name Here

Mailing Address

Zip Code

-43shy

APPLICAT ION FOR MEl-ffiERSH IF

NAT IONAL CONF ERENC E OF STANDARDS LABORATORIES

Name of Laboratory-or Organization

Address

applies for membership in the National Conference of Standards Laboratories and appoints as its

Delegate

Name and Title

who will serve until June 30 1968

Signed

Title

Date

The NCSL is a continuing non-profit association whose members are either measurement standards and calibration laboratories organizations maintaining such activities or other organizations having related interests whether operated under academic scienshytific industrial commercial or government auspice

Application for membership is made by compLet Lng the above form and submitting it together with the annual dueB of fifty dollars ($5000) Checks should be made payable to the National Conference of Standards Laboratories

Applications may be mailed to

National Conference of Standar ds Laborat ories co National Bureau of Standar ds Washington D C 20234

If an otherwise qualified organization finde it impossible to become a member organshyization by p~ent of dueB as such it may be granted member privileges by payment of

~ an equivalent registration fee in advance of the Delegatels Assembly

~

~ ~ o

-45shy

-I

201 tOWIampLL STRIEET WILMINQlTON MASS 01SIl

z-

CONTRIBUTORS

R COUTURE - AUTONETICS H MASON NBSIBS

C E WHITE - EDITOR

Avec MlalilLE avaTMa DIVlalCN

~caCAC PRINTING amp DISTRIBUTION COURTESY OF

-46

APPLICAT ION FOR MEl-ffiERSH IF

NAT IONAL CONF ERENC E OF STANDARDS LABORATORIES

Name of Laboratory-or Organization

Address

applies for membership in the National Conference of Standards Laboratories and appoints as its

Delegate

Name and Title

who will serve until June 30 1968

Signed

Title

Date

The NCSL is a continuing non-profit association whose members are either measurement standards and calibration laboratories organizations maintaining such activities or other organizations having related interests whether operated under academic scienshytific industrial commercial or government auspice

Application for membership is made by compLet Lng the above form and submitting it together with the annual dueB of fifty dollars ($5000) Checks should be made payable to the National Conference of Standards Laboratories

Applications may be mailed to

National Conference of Standar ds Laborat ories co National Bureau of Standar ds Washington D C 20234

If an otherwise qualified organization finde it impossible to become a member organshyization by p~ent of dueB as such it may be granted member privileges by payment of

~ an equivalent registration fee in advance of the Delegatels Assembly

~

~ ~ o

-45shy

-I

201 tOWIampLL STRIEET WILMINQlTON MASS 01SIl

z-

CONTRIBUTORS

R COUTURE - AUTONETICS H MASON NBSIBS

C E WHITE - EDITOR

Avec MlalilLE avaTMa DIVlalCN

~caCAC PRINTING amp DISTRIBUTION COURTESY OF

-46

201 tOWIampLL STRIEET WILMINQlTON MASS 01SIl

z-

CONTRIBUTORS

R COUTURE - AUTONETICS H MASON NBSIBS

C E WHITE - EDITOR

Avec MlalilLE avaTMa DIVlalCN

~caCAC PRINTING amp DISTRIBUTION COURTESY OF

-46