Government Paper Standards.-Two notable improvements have been made during the past year in the Government's standards for printing papers. These resulted from work done by the Materials Evaluation Laboratory in cooperation with the Specifications Committee of the Congress Joint Committee on Printing. The first relates to standards that now exclude fluorescent brighteners for many classes of papers; this requirement has the aim of making the appearance of the paper in Government publications more uniform. The method of testing for the presence of fluorescent materials uses a filter reflectometer with 0°- 45° geometry, an incandescent light source operating at 3100 °K, a CIEZ (blue) filter, and a movable ultraviolet absorbing filter to permit exclusion or inclusion of the UV component. It was possible to set an instrumental value for maximum fluorescence that gave satisfactory correlation with expert subjective evaluation.

The second improvement results from research by NBS and other laboratories, over many years, which has demonstrated that acidity in paper reduces the useful life of books and archival documents. Recent progress in the paper industry has made it possible for the Government to reduce substantially the amount of acid permitted in most printing papers. Journals, books, and other items printed by the Government can thus be expected to remain in good condition much longer.

Long-Term Storage of Medical Items.-The Public Health Service maintains the Civil Defense Medical Stockpile, at a level of more than $200 million, and consisting of some 400 items of medical supply and equipment in 37 depots and 1800 emergency hospital units in all sections of the country. Since little data relating to the quality of the stockpile was available, the Public Health Service enlisted the aid of the Food and Drug Administration, the Naval Ammunition Depot at Crane, Indiana, and NBS to provide testing services for a comprehensive surveillance program. During the last five years data have been amassed which provide general guidance for storage of medical items and other products of similar composition and components. The Bureau has been concerned with items other than antibiotics, drugs, and pharmaceuticals. The modes of deterioration observed fall into a few well-defined categories. Organic polymers, such as rubber, cellulose, and plastics, show loss in strength properties, decreased elasticity, migration of plasticizer, discoloration, and blooming. Corrosion of metal parts was fairly common in items containing needles and clamps, and in some cases, appeared to be associated with plasticizers in plastic components. Items containing cellulosics, such as bandages, showed decreases in the rate and total amount of moisture absorbed. On the other hand, items containing plaster of Paris exhibited deterioration caused by hydration or water absorption, reflected in increased setting time and decreased strength.

INDUSTRIAL AND CONSUMER PRODUCTS

During 1967 the Institute broadened its efforts to provide improved technical services to the public and to State and Federal Government agencies in product standardization and weights and measures activities. It operated a Testing Laboratory for the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Agency, which conducted work leading to more meaningful specifications for commodities purchased by the Government. Through the Bureau's Office of Weights and Measures various State programs were updated. Product standards were revised by the Office of Engineering Standards Services to meet current needs of the consumer and industry.

Product Standards.-Under the revised procedures for the development of voluntary product standards, amendments to three existing standards were approved and published, and eight standards are ready for publication. The process of developing these voluntary product standards includes circulation of the proposed standard to producers, distributors, users, and consumers who are concerned with the product. During the fiscal year sixteen standards were in this phase of the cycle, 60 proposed standards were started, and 65 existing standards, dating to 1930, were under review to determine the need for revision or withdrawal.

National Conference on Weights and Measures.-The 51st National Conference on Weights and Measures was held in Denver, Colo., July 11-15, 1966. This marked the first time in history of the Conference that a meeting was held outside of Washington, D.C. The principal reason for holding the meeting in the West was to give western officials greater opportunity to attend and participate in Conference matters. The 52nd National Conference returned to the customary Washington meeting place and was held June 26-29, 1967. This meeting provided the first opportunity for Conference Members to inspect the Bureau's new Gaithersburg facilities.

Model Weights and Measures Laboratory.-Due to a great increase in the number of mass, length, and capacity standards calibrations required (over 2,000 such standards which included weights from 10,000 pounds down to 1,000 pounds, volumetric standards from 750 gallons down to precision glassware, and a variety of length standards) to be performed at the Office of Weights and Measures, and because of the increasing requirements of the New State Standards program, a larger and more complete Model State Weights and Measures Laboratory has been constructed at NBS. It is expected that the new lab will be seen by increasing numbers of State visitors as more

and more States begin preparations for constructing their own new facilities.

New State Standards.-A five-year program was initiated in 1965 to provide the 50 States with new standards of mass, length, volume and with precision instruments of measurement to complement them. Laboratories constructed by the States will serve as the measurement center for the States. For the first 10 States, installation of the standards is in the final stages. The standards have been officially presented in dedication ceremonies at Reynoldsburg, Ohio and Springfield, Ill. Standards for the second 10 States are presently being manufactured and deliveries are underway.

The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act.-During FY 1967, steps were taken to organize a staff and to line up the first phases of the new "truth in packaging" program for the NBS responsibility in implementation of the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1966. Although the effective date of the Law is July 1967, it was necessary to develop procedures to determine proliferation in packaged consumer goods. In addition, liaison activities with State and Federal agencies were expanded.

These volumetric standards (automatic pipets and burets calibrated in both metric and U.S. customary units) are part of the complete new set of mass, length and volume standards being provided to each State.

TEXTILE AND APPAREL CENTER

During 1967 IAT closed out the activities of the Center, which was originally funded by the Congress under the Civilian Industrial Technology appropriation. Recognizing the basic difference in methods. of operation between the textile and apparel industries, the Center concentrated its efforts on two major projects. For textiles, in anticipation of the technological revolution just starting with the amalagmation of companies, the Center financed the development of an information storage and retrieval system. This consists of a thesaurus to classify the literature, computer programs to operate the system, and indexing of 20 years of textile mechanics literature. The industry is expected to finance the continued operation of the system. For the apparel industry, the Center funded the start of the Apparel Research Foundation, which provides a means to stimulate and educate the industry to invent and innovate. The Foundation publishes a journal which reviews and evaluates new devices, methods, and equipment.

TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY

Transfer of Technology may be defined as that process whereby means are devised and applied for stimulating new technologies, channeling them in promising useful directions, and exploiting their use for purposes other than those for which they were originally developed. Within IAT, this process is promoted by programs encompassing the act of invention, the conversion of inventions to commercially viable items through innovation, and the dissemination of technical information to the R&D community.

INVENTION AND INNOVATION

The Office of Invention and Innovation is the Institute activity which helps to develop an environment conducive to technological change. Its basic program has three phases: providing a national basis for formulation of climate-setting federal policies; offering assistance to inventors; and education.

Panel on Invention and Innovation.-Consisting of outstanding business and academic leaders, the Panel was created by the Secretary of Commerce in response to the President's directive to explore new ways for "speeding the development and spread of new technology." The Panel studied the effect of taxation, finance and competition on invention and innovation and issued its findings and recommendations in a report "Technological Innovation-Its Environment and Management." The report was presented to the President, members of Congress, interested Federal agencies, professional groups and international bodies including NATO.

Education in Techniques of Invention and Innovation.-The Bureau and selected universities are exploring what opportunities might be promoted for teaching the techniques of invention and innovation. The program started from recommendations of the National Inventors Council and at this stage its principal activity is the preparation of design cases, based on real problems, for use in engineering curriculae.

Invention Expositions.-The number of States holding invention expositions in fiscal 1967 more than doubled over the previous year: 21 States had at least one such meeting. The expositions are usually run by State organizations to facilitate the licensing, development, and exploitation of new technology by helping to get inventions into commercial use. NBS provides counsel and expert assistance in planning and running the expositions. Publication of an article by the Vice President on the need for inventive skill gave impetus to the program.

National Inventors Council.-The Council, which consists primarily of outstanding inventors, prepared a report for the President's Commission on the Patent System which analyzed the system from the inventor's viewpoint. The Council is concerned with the invention process, the work of inventors, and ways to provide assistance to them through State, regional, and Federal invention programs.

THE CLEARINGHOUSE

A second major activity of the Transfer of Technology category is the IAT program for the dissemination of technical information. This program centers around the Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information which is the central point of contact in the Federal Government for disseminating the results of Governmentsponsored R&D to industry, commerce, and the general public. In addition to the Clearinghouse, the Institute maintains certain specialized technical information centers covering engineering standards, weights and measures, instrumentation, and computer sciences.

The work load and output of the Clearinghouse increased substantially during FY 1967. The two Clearinghouse journals (U.S. Government Research and Development Reports and Technical Translations) announced 33,000 and 19,000 titles, respectively. The title collection in the Clearinghouse now numbers 510,000 which is an increase of almost 12 percent over fiscal 1966. In addition, the Clearinghouse distributed over 2 million copies of research reports.

Document Order Processing.-A unit price/coupon system for paper and microfiche copies of documents was established to provide faster, more efficient service on document requests. Clearinghouse documents with a few exceptions now have a single price, $3.00 for hard copy and