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Hand-colored Wood Engraving of Custom House in Cincinnati  |  Mass Standards Constructed by Maryland Reflected in 25 lb. State Reference Standard
Half-Bushel, missing ground glass cover  |  Bronze Yard No. 11
Imperial Avoirdupois Pound  |  Arago Kilogram

Portrait of Joseph Saxton  |  Drawing of Saxton's Linear Dividing Engine
Drawing of Saxton's Reflecting Comparator and Pyrometer  |  Photograph of Balances
Drawing of Fireproof Room

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The Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) in the U.S. Coast Survey (subsequently called the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey) constructed standards for distribution to the custom-houses, the states, agencies of the U.S. Government, foreign governments, and agricultural colleges.

Under Hassler and his successors' supervision and with the authority of the 1836 joint resolution, OWM continued to construct troy and avoirdupois weights, yard measures, half bushels, gallons, half-gallons, quarts, pints, and half-pints.

Under the authority of a joint resolution of 1838, OWM also constructed balances of three sizes for the states, custom-houses, and for branches of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia and New Orleans.

In 1866, Congress legalized the metric system and directed OWM to distribute sets of metric weights to the states and custom-houses.


Hand-colored Wood Engraving of Custom House in Cincinnati Mass Standards Constructed by Maryland Reflected in 25 lb. State Reference Standard Half-Bushel, missing ground glass cover Imperial Avoirdupois Pound Arago Kilogram Bronze Yard No. 11 Portrait of Joseph Saxton Drawing of Saxton's Linear Dividing Engine Drawing of Saxton's Reflecting Comparator and Pyrometer Photograph of Balances Drawing of Fireproof Room