STANDARDS INSTITUTE

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30156, 13 June 1963, Page 10

STANDARDS INSTITUTE

New Projects Considered

The standardisation of crane hand signals is being considered by the New Zealand Standards Institute. Standard New Zealand wine bottles, and investigations into double - action syringe-pumps, aspects of radio and television interference suppression characteristics and performance of radio receiving equipment fbr aural and visual reproduction are other new projects of the institute.

In its monthly bulletin, the institute says that a code of recommended practice for hand signals for the control of cranes has been formulated and circulated to interested parties for comment. These will eliminate any misunderstanding between crane drivers and those handling goods or directing operations. “Every day, somewhere in New Zealand, cranes are operating with inadequate signalling, resulting iin potentially dangerous conditions,” the bulletin says. Men on the job and representatives from many interested organisations have been consulted. The code will not cover the waterfront industry, which has used its own for many years. The standard specification for wine bottles has been requested by the Department of Agriculture, the four growers’ associations endorsing the request. Costs of production and sorting of different sized and shaped bottles, as well as a desire for a distinctive New Zealand bottle, have prompted the request. A similar type of specification was made for milk bottles. The mechanical sectional committee requested the specification for syringe pumps, in view of the decreasing use of hand-oper-ated spray pumps. The other specifications have been requested by the radio industry sectional committee, as it was felt that national standards similar to the British ones were needed.