CODES AND STANDARDS What is the first concem of any engineer? At one time, pethaps, the answer to this question was: to solve a problem of to improve an existing machine, ‘or even fo make more money. Nowadays, however, the answer is simple. The frst concern is safety. This ‘concern has led to the introduction of worldwide codes and siandards for the manufacture and ‘maintenance of machines. “Machinery of all kinds has certainly made the world a more dangerous place. Hundreds of people are at risk from the crash ofa jumbo et or the explosion of a power station. At one time, of course, engineers did not know how to make a machine safe. But as they began to understand the seience behind the behaviour of metals and other materials, engineers started to constrict codes of manufacturing. and standands to which machines must be built. ‘The steam engine was one ofthe first machines which aroused interest in safety standards. The danger of steam under pressure was recognized very early in the history of the machine. Denis Papin, a French ‘mathematician, designed the first salety valve for boilers in 1679, But safety valves sometimes failed and explosions were quite commen. ‘The steam engine works on a very simple scientific principle. When you heat water in a vessel, the ‘molecules expand, until, at a certain temperature, the liquid turns into a gas. This gas needs a greater space than the same volume of liquid. Ifthe vessel is sealed, the gas cannot occupy a greater volume, 50 the pressure increases, At first, engineers tried to avoid the problem by only working with low-pressure steam. The first practical low-pressure engine was built by Thomas Newcomen, an English inventor, in 1712. It was ‘used to pump water out of a coal mine. The invention helped to spark the Industrial Revobution, the time of fast progress in mechanization of agriculture and the textile industry James Walt improved the efficiency of the engine. Hiis first patent, in 1769, included oil lubrication, and insulation of the cylinder to maintain the high temperature needed for efficient operation. Purther improvements were made in the 1830s by a man. called Jacob Perkins. His boiler could produce 1,400 pounds per square inch (psi). The normal pressure ofthe air around us, atmospheric pressure, is 147 psi However, as the boilers used higher temperatures and developed higher pressures, the dangers rose. In 1854, an explosion in England kiled ten people. On 30 fly, 1870, the boiler ofthe Staten Island fezry in Now York City explode, kiling 62 people. It was time for mechanical engineers to act ‘The Sen ton fry oclent of 1870 Jn 1882, anew law onboier safety was passed inthe UK. As a result, the number of deaths from boiler accidents fell from 35 in 1883 to 14 in 1908. However, there was no similar legislation in the United States and 383 people died in the same period. Finally, in 1914, the American Society of “Mechanical Engineers (ASME) produced the Boiler Safety Code. ‘The boiler code was only the start. Over the next 80 years, the ASME produced codes in all areas of ‘mechanical engineering, inchiding safety standards for eranes, industrial ladders, elevators, machinery shafts, liquid fuels and incinerators for hazardous medical waste. Codes and standards in engineering are offen ‘unknown to the general public. However, they are fundamental to the safety of manufactured products, and they have led to a safer world 19