The Committee Meter was given to Hassler by Johann Tralles, who as the Swiss delegate to a 1798 Paris Conference, played an important part in the first determination of the meter. The iron Committee Meter was one of several replicas of the prototype Meter of the Archives. It was an end-standard of length, meaning that the standard length it defined extended from one end of the bar to the other. Hassler used this meter to measure base-lines for the Survey as well as to make comparisons with measures in use at American custom-houses. In 1866, Congress legalized use of the metric system in the United States. The Treasury Department was directed to provide each state with one set of standard metric weights and measures. Hassler's Committee Meter was used to construct the length standards. Hassler also bought the Committee Kilogram with him to the United States in 1805, but it never was used to construct standards.
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