Measures for Progress: A History of the National Bureau of Standards

STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC UTILITIES 115
dustry accepted the findings of the Bureau and agreed to sell gas on the basis
of its heating value.
One of the early investigations of the Bureau's gas engineering group
to modifications in the street gas lamps in the District of Columbia that
increased street illumination by 50 percent, with no rise in the cost of
service.23 The gas industry was further aided, against its will, by later
Bureau investigations of gas appliances, gas stoves, and gas furnaces. The
results led to notable increases in gas efficiency and safety, as well as in sales.24
Dr. Rosa's division continued its research in gas photometry and gas
engineering until the early 1920's when the work was transferred to a section
in the chemistry division under Elmer R. Weaver, and gas instruments re-
search became the province of the weights and measures division. By then
the electric light had begun to replace gaslight almost everywhere and gas
appliances were rapidly making wood and coal stoves obsolete. For lack
of a satisfactory Btu meter, gas continued to be measured in cubic feet, as it
is to this day, but in more and more States it was gas monitored by State
laboratories equipped with chemical and calorimetric test equipment.
Four years passed before the Bureau undertook to establish standards
of service for the electrical utilities as it had for gas. Meanwhile, the
electrical industry continued to seek Bureau help with its measuring instru-
ments, in particular the ammeters, voltmeters, wattmeters, and watthoux
meters by which its power production and consumer rates were measured.
For almost 40 years, beginning with his arrival at the Bureau in 1903, Dr.
Herbert B. Brooks dominated this section of the electrical division, devising
a long series of ingenious new instruments for more accurate and rapid
measurement of current and voltage. And the Bureau aided in other ways.
As electric power consumption rose, not only Federal agencies, but business
firms, and the public reacted to what they considered excessively high electric
bills and called on the Bureau for meter tests. The meters were not at fault.
The tests proved them to be much more reliable than generally supposed, and
if neglected they actually tended to favor the consumer.25 The Bureau was
swamped as company meters poured in for calibration.
As long-distance power transmission developed out on the Pacific
coast, Dr. Paul G. Agnew began his pioneer studies in the analysis and testing
of current transformers for high-voltage power stations. Out of the work
came the insulating materials (dielectrics) program of the Bureau, begun
regulations for manufactured gas and gas service" in the second edition, 1913, and to
"Standards for gas service" in the third edition, 1915. A fourth edition came out in
1920, and in 1934 was superseded by C405.
NBS Annual Report 1911, pp. 8—9.
24 See ch. V pp. 263—265.
22 Letter, Rosa to Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Dec. 2, 1910 (NBS Box 9, IEP).