United States Standards of Weights and Measures: Their Creation and Creators

Abstract

Establishment of standard weights and measures in the United States necessitated the solving of technical and mechanical problems of instrumentation and the establishment of a government agency to carry out this mission. This study considers the contributions and relationships of the principal contributors, Joseph Saxton, Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler and his son Edward, and Alexander Dallas Bache, to each other and to the tasks they were dedicated to fulfill.