Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, October 24, 2016 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

Rick Seifarth

"Rebuilding the Million-Pound Deadweight Machine"

ABSTRACT -- At their Gaithersburg facility, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently used 50-year-old wrenches and spare parts to refurbish the most massive deadweight machine in the world. A deadweight machine calibrates force sensors by using stacks of precisely measured weights. The NIST machine has a million pounds of weights to call on, making it the largest deadweight machine in the world.

Fifty years after it was built, the machine was in need of maintenance. Although the technology was half a century old, the job was possible because the builders of the machine had prepared a "time capsule"; a stash of spare parts and special wrenches.

This talk will describe the challenges (and solutions) in refurbishing the deadweight machine. The talk will also make connections between current systems and the 50-year old technology of the deadweight machine, and will give an overview of NIST's mission.

SPEAKER -- Rick Seifarth works in Gaithersburg for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He is a member of the Force Metrology Laboratory, where he is involved in research on and dissemination of units in the SI system. (The SI, or System Internationale, units are often referred to as "metric.".) He served as project leader for the 16-month overhaul of the million pound (4.45-million newton) deadweight machine. Seifarth is a graduate of the University of Maryland.

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Colloquium Committee Sponsor: Brent Warner

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Engineering Colloquium home page: https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov