292
CURRENT TOPICS.
[J. F. I.
those in which several different industries are concerned and which are approved by the central national body. These include fundamental engineering standards as : Standard diameters, tapers, sizes of keys, threads, fits, etc. ; materials; tools; measuring instruments and gages; machine parts, including handles, ball and journal bearings, etc. ; gears and sizes of paper.
A striking example is cited of the efficiency of national standardization as it has been developed in Germany, in the case of a rush order placed with German manufacturers for two hundred locomotives for delivery to Russia. Production of different parts was allotted to seventeen different manufacturers to be produced strictly upon the plan of interchangeable parts, no one manufacturer making a complete locomotive. No serious practical difficulty was encountered in filling the order. The inspectors made a particularly striking test of the feasibility and accuracy of the plan by ordering a complete locomotive to be assembled from parts chosen at i-andom from the parts furnished by the seventeen manufacturers. It proved to be ready for service immediately after assembly without the necessity of any disassembling for readjustment.
H.L.