By 1900, only 124 years after declaring independence, the United States had grown and expanded into one of the most prosperous and influential countries in the world. The economy was strong, driven by the power of steel locomotives, steam engines, electricity, and the beginning of automated manufacturing. But the burgeoning economic productivity, along with the complexity of 20th century machinery, created problems when different manufacturers had to work together. Disagreements arose over the units of measurement and how to apply them. For example, one company’s “gallon” might not be the same as another company’s. Without standards, the parts or containers made by one company did not fit another company’s items, resulting in chaos.
On March 3, 1901, the U.S. government chartered the National Bureau of Standards to remedy this problem. Beginning with a staff of 1 2, the new bureau quickly went to work, improving the standards of length and mass measurements, and establishing new standards of temperature, time, and light. Time was especially important, as it synchronizes the activities of so many people. How do railroads, radio and television networks, and other time-conscious organizations know what time it is – and keep the same time? The bureau has provided time signals from a radio station, WWV, since 1 923. Governing this timekeeping is an atomic clock so precise that it will not gain or lose a second in 60 million years!
The National Bureau of Standards changed its name to the National Institute of Standards and Technology in 1988. Today, the NIST has facilities in Gaitherburg, Maryland, and Boulder, Colorado, and employs about 2,800 scientists, engineers, and staff. The NIST continues to improve measurement technology and standards, helping promote economic and technological progress. Laboratories at the NIST include the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Information Technology Laboratory, the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, the Physics Laboratory, and others.
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National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Aircraft Technology Applied to Trucks
Several aerodynamic improvements and flow control techniques are used in jet aircraft wings in order to allow a better movement through the air and thus enhance the overall performance of the airplane. The Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta is now working on using these same techniques with trucks and trailers. According to the latest tests using a full-size truck show clearly how the techniques enhance fuel efficiency reducing fuel costs by as much as 12 percent. The techniques can also improve directional control and breaking, enhancing this way safety as well on the roads.
Robert Englar, principal research engineer of Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems Laboratory of the Georgia Tech Research Institute said that they have resolved unknowns from previous testing, and that they have demonstrated that this technology functions in trucks as well as it does in airplanes, and they expect that the trucking industry will consider an estimated 12 percent of fuel expenditure reduction worthy of pursuing. This amount will improve fuel economy resulting in approximately 2,400 million gallons of fuel worth of savings for the United States heavy truck fleet.
The techniques employed in this technology include aerodynamic improvements made possible by geometry modifications in the trucks that generate savings of up to 6 to 7 percent. These modifications include rounding aft trailer corners, installation of fairings, as well as other modifications that smooth air flow over the boxy trucks. The additional savings of 5 percent are achieved through pneumatic devices that blow air from vents at the rear of the vehicle to prevent separation of air flow.
MIT Has Come a Long Way – Book Review
The Massachusetts Institute of technology or MIT has always been on the cutting edge of technology, and years ahead of the rest of the world. Their engineers, students, and professors have brought forth significant innovations, concepts, and they have literally changed the world. To fully understand how incredible this institution is and how long all of this has been going on, it takes a little bit of a history lesson.
If this is a topic that interests you, as much as it does me, then perhaps I can recommend a very good book to you. It is a book actually that is on my shelf at home, and one that I use as a reference from time to time. The name of the book is;
“The Media Lab; Inventing the Future at MIT,” by Stuart Brand, Penguin Book Publishers, 1988, (304pp), ISBN: 01-4009-701-5.
There are pictures, charts, and illustrations of what MIT was bringing to the market place prior to 1990. Some of the ideas and concepts will make you laugh because they are commonplace today, but now you know where they started, who started it, and the theory and technology behind it all. Each and every year there are new ideas and concepts which are being generated from MIT, and therefore it is interesting to study their past, present, and there ever increasing drive towards the future.
I invite you to read this book, think about it, and take the MIT magazine. I’d also advise you to take their online newsletter for the topics that interest you in biotech, energy, computers, Internet, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, or robotics. If you do this you too can be on the cutting edge of what comes next. Please consider all this.