ASTM

Influence”
37
A
ASTM STANDARDS IN NEW INDUSTRIES
In the early 1920s, ASTM’s main activities still focused
on the steel, railroad, and cement industries, and
most of its members were based in the Northeastern
part of the country. In the four decades after World
War I, ASTM
evolved into
a truly
national
organization
whose more
than 100
technical
committees
formed an
integral part
of America’s maturing economic base, contributing to
the rise of new industries in strategic areas such as
highway transportation, petrochemicals, electronics,
and aerospace technology, to name only a few.
ASTM’s development from the 1920s to the 1960s
helped facilitate the nation’s rise to economic and
military superpower status.
The period between the two world wars witnessed
a phenomenal growth of
mass-production industries,
which formed the backbone
of American
economic strength for
decades to come. Mass
production, which
involved interchangeable
parts and manufacturing
methods based on
the
assembly-line
system, had
been pioneered
by Eli Whitney
in small arms
manufacture,
Isaac Singer in
sewing machine
production, and
Henry Ford (who was a member of ASTM) in
automobile production. In the 1920s, massproduction
technologies fueled skyrocketing growth
in other product lines as well, including appliances,
telephones, rubber tires, chemicals, and electrical
equipment. The principle of interchangeability, the
linchpin of the mass-production system, confronted
new-growth industries with major challenges because
materials used in manufacturing processes had to
conform to new standards of precision and
uniformity.
To meet this challenge, leading manufacturers
availed themselves of ASTM standards, which gained
wide acceptance well beyond the steel industry.
General Electric, for example, a pioneer in the use
of ASTM standards in the electrical industry, required
suppliers to adhere to ASTM’s new standard
specifications for non-ferrous metals in the early
1920s. A GE official commented that the company
bought many supplies “directly to A.S.T.M.
specifications by title and designations. …
Occasionally direct reference to A.S.T.M.
standards is made even on drawings.” Like most
manufacturers, GE also used ASTM
standards as a basis for its own
specifications. “In such cases quotations
from the A.S.T.M.
C
A. Early auto assembly room.
Courtesy of the Detroit Public Library,
National Automotive History Collection.
B
B. Henry Ford in his original Model A.
Courtesy George Eastman House.
C. Front page of first ASTM Bulletin,
April 1921.