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Testing of clinical thermometers
308
U . S . BUREAU OF STANDARDS NOTES.
[J. F. I.
cal analyses show puri=ty as follows: Zinc, 99.993 per cent. ; tin, 99.988 per cent. ; copper, 99.987 per cent." aluminum, 99.66 per cent. TESTING
OF
CLINICAL
THERMOMETERS.
a
[ABSTRACT ]
THE Bureau of Standards has just completed a revision of 'Circular No. 5 on the "Testing of Clinical Thermometers." This new edition, which is the third so far, announces the adoption of new regulations, effective January I, I917, governing the testing of clinical thermometers. Past practice was to issue certificates containing tables of corrections at four points, 96°, m o ° , m 4 °, and lO8 ° F.; the new certificates will be issued only for thermometers correct within o°.i F. at normal (98°.6), and o°.2 at Io4 °, and will contain the statement that the thermometer is correct within these tolerances. The circular contains a full description of the method of testing clinical thermometers and considerable matter of general interest concerning these instrmnents. The question of accuracy in clinical thern3ometers is obviously an important one. The clinical thermometer ])ears the same relation to the physician as the weighing scale does to the merchant, but, in a way, the former is vastly more important, as it has to do with life itself. It has been estimated that over a million of these little instruments are manufactured each year to replenish the supply, for a clinical thermometer is delicate and usually short lived. Unscrupulous manufacturers, taking advantage of this neverceasing demand, place on the market thousands of unreliable thermometers which, on account of their cheapness and the fact that their defects are ahnost impossible of detection, find ready sale. It is obvious that the Bureau cannot inspect all these thermometers, for it tests only those that are voluntarily submitted. This circular calls attention to the fact that thermometers of doubtful accuracy may always be checked at this Bureau, and that when a thermometer is offered for sale with a Bureau of Standards certificate its reliability cannot be questioned. If instruments of a high quality are thus demanded, in time the unreliable article will no longer be manufactured. a Circular No. 5.
U . S . BUREAU OF STANDARDS NOTES.
[J. F. I.
cal analyses show puri=ty as follows: Zinc, 99.993 per cent. ; tin, 99.988 per cent. ; copper, 99.987 per cent." aluminum, 99.66 per cent. TESTING
OF
CLINICAL
THERMOMETERS.
a
[ABSTRACT ]
THE Bureau of Standards has just completed a revision of 'Circular No. 5 on the "Testing of Clinical Thermometers." This new edition, which is the third so far, announces the adoption of new regulations, effective January I, I917, governing the testing of clinical thermometers. Past practice was to issue certificates containing tables of corrections at four points, 96°, m o ° , m 4 °, and lO8 ° F.; the new certificates will be issued only for thermometers correct within o°.i F. at normal (98°.6), and o°.2 at Io4 °, and will contain the statement that the thermometer is correct within these tolerances. The circular contains a full description of the method of testing clinical thermometers and considerable matter of general interest concerning these instrmnents. The question of accuracy in clinical thern3ometers is obviously an important one. The clinical thermometer ])ears the same relation to the physician as the weighing scale does to the merchant, but, in a way, the former is vastly more important, as it has to do with life itself. It has been estimated that over a million of these little instruments are manufactured each year to replenish the supply, for a clinical thermometer is delicate and usually short lived. Unscrupulous manufacturers, taking advantage of this neverceasing demand, place on the market thousands of unreliable thermometers which, on account of their cheapness and the fact that their defects are ahnost impossible of detection, find ready sale. It is obvious that the Bureau cannot inspect all these thermometers, for it tests only those that are voluntarily submitted. This circular calls attention to the fact that thermometers of doubtful accuracy may always be checked at this Bureau, and that when a thermometer is offered for sale with a Bureau of Standards certificate its reliability cannot be questioned. If instruments of a high quality are thus demanded, in time the unreliable article will no longer be manufactured. a Circular No. 5.