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

HIGH POLYMERS AND BUILDING RESEARCH 481,
In this test of house wall fire resistance, the fire took 27 minutes to come through the
Douglas fir siding as gas flames were applied to the other side. An instrument on
the pole measures the bulge of the wall. (Picture by courtesy of the National Geo-
graphic Society.)
take no blame for a major flaw in many of the new buildings, their woeful
failure in soundprooflng. As it only added to the comfort of tenants, accept-
ance of Bureau studies in the acoustic properties of materials had little appeal.
But as they saved time or money or material, Bureau reports on asphalt
stabilizers, vapor-barrier materials, thermal conduction, and heat transfer
found ready acceptance in the industry.149
As a service to new homeowners and old, the Bureau revised and
reissued its publication, "Care and repair of the house." On its first appear.
ance in 1931, "Care" went through 12 printings, selling 175,000 copies at
20 cents each.15° In the 5 years after 1949 that the 209-page revision, Cir-
cular 489, was available to the public it sold 253,000 additional copies, at
50 cents each. Undergoing a second revision in 1955, the Bureau's best-
NBS Annual Report 1949, p. 36; Annual Report 1951, p. 61.
See ch. V, pp. 251—253.