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U. S. Code, 1946 Ed., Title 15, Ch. 7-National Bureau of Standards.

Sec. 271. Bureau established.

The Office of Standard Weights and Measures shall be known as the National Bureau of Standards. [1901]

[ED. NOTE. The National Bureau of Standards was in the Treasury Department until the creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor by Act Feb. 14, 1903, Ch. 552, 32 Stat. 826, when it was transferred to that Department. Subsequently, by Act Mar. 4, 1913, Ch. 141, 37 Stat. 737, the Department of Commerce and Labor was divided into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor at which time the National Bureau of Standards was assigned to the Department of Commerce.]

Sec. 272. Functions and activities.

The Secretary of Commerce (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary") is authorized to undertake the following functions:

(a) The custody, maintenance, and development of the national standards of measurement, and the provision of means and methods for making measurements consistent with those standards, including the comparison of standards used in scientific investigations, engineering, manufacturing, commerce, and educational institutions with the standards adopted or recognized by the Government.

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(b) The determination of physical constants and properties of materials when such data are of great importance to scientific or manufacturing interests and are not to be obtained of sufficient accuracy elsewhere.

(c) The development of methods for testing materials, mechanisms, and structures, and the testing of materials, supplies, and equipment, including items purchased for use of Government departments and independent establishments.

(d) Cooperation with other governmental agencies and with private organizations in the establishment of standard practices, incorporated in codes and specifications.

(e) Advisory service to Government agencies on scientific and technical problems.

(f) Invention and development of devices to serve special needs of the Government.

In carrying out the functions enumerated in this section, the Secretary is authorized to undertake the following activities and similar ones for which need may arise in the operations of Government agencies, scientific institutions, and industrial enterprises: (1) the construction of physical standards; (2) the testing, calibration, and certification of standards and standard measuring apparatus;

(3) the study and improvement of instruments and methods of measurements;

(4) the investigation and testing of railroad track scales, elevator scales, and other scales used in weighing commodities for interstate shipment;

(5) cooperation with the States in securing uniformity in weights and measures laws and methods of inspection;

(6) the preparation and distribution of standard samples such as those used in checking chemical analyses, temperature, color, viscosity, heat of combustion, and other basic properties of materials; also the preparation and sale or other distribution of standard instruments, apparatus and materials for calibration of measuring equipment;

(7) the development of methods of chemical analysis and synthesis of materials, and the investigation of the properties of rare substances;

(8) the study of methods of producing and of measuring high and low temperatures; and the behavior of materials at high and at low tempera

tures;

(9) the investigation of radiation, radioactive substances, and X-rays, their uses, and means of protection of persons from their harmful effects;

(10) the study of the atomic and molecular structure of the chemical elements, with particular reference to the characteristics of the spectra emitted, the use of spectral observations in determining chemical composition of materials, and the relation of molecular structure to the practical usefulness of materials;

(11) the broadcasting of radio signals of standard frequency;

(12) the investigation of the conditions which affect the transmission of radio waves from their source to a receiver;

(13) the compilation and distribution of information on such transmission of radio waves as a basis for choice of frequencies to be used in radio operations;

(14) the study of new technical processes and methods of fabrication of materials in which the Government has a special interest; also the study of methods of measurement and technical processes used in the manufacture of optical glass and pottery, brick, tile, terra cotta, and other clay products;

(15) the determination of properties of building materials and structural elements, and encouragement of their standardization and most effective use, including investigation of fire-resisting properties of building materials and conditions under which they may be most efficiently used, and the standardization of types of appliances for fire prevention;

(16) metallurgical research, including study of alloy steels and light metal alloys; investigation of foundry practice, casting, rolling, and forging; prevention of corrosion of metals and alloys; behavior of bearing metals; and development of standards for metals and sands;

(17) the operation of a laboratory of applied mathematics;

(18) the prosecution of such research in engineering, mathematics, and the physical sciences as may be necessary to obtain basic data pertinent to the functions specified herein; and

(19) the compilation and publication of general scientific and technical data resulting from the performance of the functions specified herein or from other sources when such data are of importance to scientific or manufacturing interests or to the general public, and are not available elsewhere, including demonstration of the results of the Bureau's work by exhibits or otherwise as may be deemed most effective. [1901; last amended 1950.]

[ED. NOTE.-The text of the above section as here presented is from Public Law 619-81st Congress, Chapter 486-2nd Session, approved July 22, 1950, which by its terms amends Section 2 of the Act of March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. 1449). Section 2 of the Act of March 3, 1901 is now codified as Section 272 of the United States Code and it is presumed that the amended language will be codified as Section 272 of the Code. Accordingly, the amendment is here presented as Section 272 of the Code.

Although the new language relates specifically to the functions and activities of the Secretary of Commerce, these functions and activities have been delegated to the National Bureau of Standards, and thus the new text comprises, in effect, a statement of the functions and activities of the National Bureau of Standards.]

Sec. 273. Same: For whom exercised.

The bureau shall exercise its functions for the Government of the United States; for any State or municipal government within the United States; or for any scientific society, educational institution, firm, corporation, or individual within the United States engaged in manufacturing or other pursuits requiring the use of standards or standard measuring instruments. All requests for the services of the bureau shall be made in accordance with the rules and regulations established in sections 276 and 277 of this title. [1901]

Sec. 274. Director: Appointment; powers and duties; report. The director shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. He shall have the general supervision of the bureau, its equipment, and the exercise of its functions. He shall make an annual report to the Secretary of Commerce, including an abstract of the work done during the year and a financial statement. He may issue, when necessary, bulletins for public distribution, containing such information as may be of value to the public or facilitate the bureau in the exercise of its functions. [1901; last amended 1913.] Sec. 276. Fees.

For all comparisons, calibrations, tests, or investigations, performed by the National Bureau of Standards under sections 271-278 of this title, as amended and supplemented, except those performed for the Government of the United States or State governments within the United States, a fee sufficient in each case to compensate the National Bureau of

U. S. Code, 1946 Ed., Title 15, Ch. 7-National Bureau of Standards-Continued.

Standards for the entire cost of the services rendered shall be charged, according to a schedule prepared by the Director of the National Bureau of Standards and approved by the Secretary of Commerce. All moneys received from such sources shall be paid into the Treasury to the credit of miscellaneous receipts. [1901; last amended 1932.]

Sec. 277. Regulations.

The Secretary of Commerce shall, from time to time, make regulations regarding the payment of fees, the limits of tolerance to be attained in standards submitted for verification, the sealing of standards, the disbursement and receipt of moneys, and such other matters as he may deem necessary for carrying into effect sections 271-278 of this title. [1901; last amended 1913.]

Sec. 281. Testing materials for District of Columbia.

Materials for fireproof buildings, other structural materials, and all materials other than materials for paving and for fuel, purchased for and to be used by the government of the District of Columbia, when necessary in the judgment of the commissioners to be tested, shall be tested by the Bureau of Standards under the same conditions as similar testing is required to be done for the United States Government. [1913]

Sec. 282. National hydraulic laboratory; establishment; purpose; study of Federal and State projects.

There is hereby authorized to be established in the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce a national hydraulic laboratory for the determination of fundamental data useful in hydraulic research and engineering, including laboratory research relating to the behavior and control of river and harbor waters, the study of hydraulic structures

and water flow, and the development and testing of hydraulic instruments and accessories: Provided, That no test, study, or other work on a problem or problems connected with a project the prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of any department or independent agency of the Government shall be undertaken in the laboratory herein authorized until a written request to do such work is submitted to the Director of the Bureau of Standards by the head of the department or independent agency charged with the execution of such project: And provided further, That any State or political subdivision thereof may obtain a test, study, or other work on a problem connected with a project the prosecution of which is under the jurisdiction of such State or political subdivision thereof. [1930]

U. S. Code, 1946 Ed., Title 15, Ch. 6-Metric System. Sec. 204. Metric system authorized.

It shall be lawful throughout the United States of America to employ the weights and measures of the metric system; and no contract or dealing, or pleading in any court, shall be deemed invalid or liable to objection because the weights or measures expressed or referred to therein are weights or measures of the metric system. [1866]

Sec. 205. Authorized tables.

The tables in the schedule annexed1 shall be recognized in the construction of contracts and in all legal proceedings as establishing, in terms of the weights and measures on June 22, 1874, in use in the United States, the equivalents of the weights and measures expressed therein in terms of the metric system; and the tables may lawfully be used for computing, determining, and expressing in customary weights and measures the weights and measures of the metric system. [1866]

1 See page 11.

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