This workshop services 90 motor-truck weighbridges, 225 goods and 6 wagon scales, 110 table and 15 dial scales, 4 technical balances, and over 1200 weights.

A correct organization of the work made it possible to lower the cost of repairs by 12.5% as compared with the prices charged by the repair station of the local industry administration, and to raise the mechanics' wages by 15-20%.

In 1959, the Eisk District Soviet Executive Committee decided to organize, with the active participation of the head of the Eisk interdistrict branch of the State Inspection Laboratory, V. L. Lisovskii, an instrument repair shop, attached to the intercollective farm council. It now occupies premises with a floor space of 40 mZ, and a special building is in the course of construction. In addition to reference weights and scales, the workshop also possesses a mobile manometric press and reference spring manometers. This shop has repaired 67 motor-truck weighbridges, 90 goods and 45 table scales, 800 weights; 20 milk measures, etc. The shop personnel consist of three people: the mechanic (1200 rubies per month), assistant mechanic (900 rubles), and a driver.

For the repair of the equipment and its inspectlo%each collective farm pays the intercollective farm council 50 kopeks per hectare of arable land. For the large amount of weighing equipment possessed by the collective farms, this is an insignificant expenditure.

The workshop helps in the purchase of weighing equipment for all 10 collective farms of the district and also purchases equipment for its own rephacements.

The experience of the operation of these workshops shows that the new methods of organizing repair shops, especially when they are attached to tractor repair stations or intercollective farm councils, have been completely justified.

The experience thus gained also shows that the comrades who thought that the mechanics repairing equip- ment in the tractor repair stations would have idle periods owing to lack of work were incorrect.

A D D I T I O N A L I N F O R M A T I O N ABOUT THE D E F E C T S

OF E L E C T R I C I T Y METERS

The editorial board continues receiving correspondence about the low quality of electricity meters. Thus, F. V. Popov writes from V.erkhnii Ustyug that many of the new meters made in 1958-1959 have to be repaired due to distortions of the counting mechanism yoke, which is made of aluminum, whereas it should be made of duralu- min according to the approved drawing.

The personnel of the meter manufacturing plants should see to it that aluminum,which is much softer,should not be used instead of duralumin in certain batches of meters.

F. V. Popov estimates correctly that to date there is no interchangeability between rollers of the counting mechanisms made by different factories. The constructors of electricity meters and the agencies which approve the designs must aim at unifying the details of the counting mechanism, since this is important for all the repair organizations and will reduce the work of meter manufacturing plants involved in making spares for the meters.

V. P. Kazanskii (Kimry, Kalinin Region)raises the question of standardizing the basic components of Soviet- made meters.

Our industry is perfecting electricity meters and improving their qualities. The counting mechanism for 80-2 meters have been greatly improved, and their speed has been reduced, thus extending the life of their mov- ing parts.

Yet the problem of interchangeability of meter parts has not been solved. The voltage coils of the SO-2 meters do not fit the SO or the SO-1 meters; theSO-2 meter base does not fit the SO or SO-1 meters, since the base in the SO and 80-1 meters is secured by two parallel bolts,and in the SO-2 meters, by two bolts connected crosswise.

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V. P. Kazanskii suggests that three threaded lugs for the M4 bolts be made instead of the two cross lugs, thus making it possible to use thebases both for the SO and SO-I, and the SO-2 meters.

The spare parts are mostly made for the SO-2 meters, whereas the widely used SO and SO-1 meters have

practically no available spare parts.

The above defects of the electricity meters create considerable difficulties in their repair.

Considering that a large number of SO and SO-1 meters are still in use, the manufacturing plants should pro- duce spares for these meters.

R E S T O R A T I O N OF C A L I P E R JAWS

N. N. A s t a f ' e v

Caliper jaws for internal measurement become shorter each time they are repaired, thus making the use of calipers more difficult, since allowances have to be made for their reduced size, which often leads to errors,

Restoration of the Jaws to their normal size of 10 mm by means of gas or electric welding, or by soft solder- ing of hard plates, involves considerable expenditure of t ime and requires highly skilled operators, thus raising the

cost of repairs.

At the Klaipeda ship-repair yard the Jaws are chromium-plated.

The layer of chrome adheres very well and exceeds the hardness of the steel from which the Instrument is made. The simplicity of preparations for chromium plating and the possibility of placing a large number ofjaws into the galvanizing vat considerably simplify the repairs and reduce their cost.

In addltion~the life of the calipers is also extended.

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