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Weights and Measures
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National Weights and Measures Week commemorates the anniversary of the date when President John Adams signed the first weights and measures law in the United States on March 2, 1799. The week was set aside to familiarize the public with this important service.
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The duty of the Sealer of Weights and Measures enforces the laws, rules, and regulations relating to weights and measures and the use of weighing and measuring devices in commercial transactions. Towns over 5,000 in population are required by law to have a Sealer, which must be trained and certified for this purpose. The type of devices tested, including small and large capacity scales, weights, motor fuel dispensers and vehicle tank meters used in the sale of liquid fuels.
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John Quincy Adams once said "Weights and Measures may be ranked among the necessaries of life to every individual of human society. They enter into the economical arrangements and daily concerns of every family. They are necessary to every occupation of human industry; to the distribution and security of every species of property; to every transaction of trade and commerce; to the labors of husbandman; to the ingenuity of the artificer; to the studies of the philosopher; to the researches of the antiquarian; to the navigation of the mariner and the marches of the soldier; to all the exchanges of peace, and all the operations of war. The knowledge of them as in established use, is among the first elements of education and is often learned by those who learn nothing else, not even to read and write. This knowledge is riveted in the memory by the habitual application of it to the employments of men throughout life."
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ISD encompasses five regulatory divisions including Building and Structures, Code Enforcement/Environmental Services, Health, Housing, and Weights and Measures. Several primary objectives for the department are to streamline and automate inspection scheduling and disposition tracking; permit and licensing workflow management; and multi-agency construction plan reviews. Reviewing agencies that will be included in the new permitting application process include Fire Prevention, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Assessing, Landmarks Commission, Boston Water and Sewer, Public Works, Transportation, Conservation, and Parks and Recreation. Thus far in FY05, ISD's revenue is over $25 million obtained from processing nearly 100,000 permit and license applications. ISD's Building and Structures Division is responsible for over $23 million of that revenue, collected from processing nearly 56,000 permits and licenses. ISD as a whole conducts over 60,000 inspections a year.
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The earliest units of weights and measures were derived from the human body and from natural surroundings. The cubit, for example, was defined as the distance between a man's elbow and the tip of his middle finger. This unit, which probably originated as early as 3000 BC, was standardized so precisely by the Egyptians that they could use it in building the pyramids.
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The definition, agreement and practical use of units of weights and measures have played a crucial role in human endeavor from early ages up to this day. Just to underline the importance of agreed units, the NASA Mars Polar Lander in December 1999 crashed on the planet Mars instead of staying in orbit, due to miscommunications about the value of forces: different people used different assumptions about the unit of measure (newton versus pound force). Enormous amounts of effort, time and money were wasted.
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Weights and Measures