The Office of Weights and Measures (OWM), one of the longest running and best known programs of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), promotes uniformity in U.S. weights and measures, regulations and standards to achieve equity between buyers and sellers in the marketplace. The purpose of the Office of Weights and Measures is to create consumer confidence in the marketplace, enable U.S. businesses to compete fairly at home and abroad, and strengthen the U.S. economy. 1.
OWM established the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) in l905. The NCWM is a professional organization of State and local weights and measures officials and representatives of business, industry, consumers groups, and Federal agencies.2 OWM and NCWM develop standards in the form of uniform laws, regulations, and methods of practice, which are then published by NIST. When State or local governments or Federal agencies adopt these standards, they become mandatory.
Weights and measures have affected people's lives and livelihoods throughout history. Fair compensation for goods produced as well as fair and accurate statement of the weight and volume of items to be purchased have been critical to our ability to provide for ourselves and our families. The struggle to achieve weights and measures standardization was important to the progress of the industrialization of the United States and the growth of national and international markets.3 Our countries scientific advance and economic development was dependent on forming an accurate method of measuring to guarantee fairness.
Weights and measures are a story that is told with objects. This includes measurements of length, capacity, and weight, using standard units. Early standards of length were the palm or hand width, the foot, and the cubit, which is the length from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. Such standards are changeable and perishable, and only in modern times have definite unchanging standards of measurement been adopted.