Chemical Engineering August 2023 - 37

A BRIEF HISTORY OF STANDARDS
In the late 1800s, boiler explosions were occurring at an alarming rate due to the fact that
manufactures of pressure containment vessels for steam pressure was an unfettered and
crude process, at best. The application of steam pressure as a power source was ahead of
our ability to manufacture vessels that could safely contain that pressure. The industry was
ruled by over-powering industrialists at the time who did not want, nor did they allow any
bureaucrat or engineer to tell them how to manufacture their product. There were no organizations
- government or otherwise - that could step in and put a stop to the disastrous
and unregulated methods of manufacturing pressure vessels that were being perpetrated
on industry and the public.
" The Grover Shoe Co. incident [in which 58 people were killed, and approximately 150
people injured in the town of Brockton, Mass.] created sufficient incentive for the state of
Massachusetts to do something about the lack of standardization for pressurized equipment
used in that state, specifically as it related to boilers. But it was not until the following year
when another boiler explosion, in yet another shoe factory, located this time in Lynn, Mass.,
finally shook the Massachusetts government out of its bureaucratic complacency and into
immediate action. It prompted them to initiate and pass 'An Act Relating to the Operation
and Inspection of Steam Boilers' in 1909. This Act would become a preeminent early step in
promoting additional interest and consensus of the work the ASME had been involved in and
working on since 1884, that of standardizing on the design and materials of construction
used in the fabrication of pressure vessels " (quoted from the author's article, " Piping Codes:
What the CPI Engineer Should Know, " Chem. Eng., October 2016, pp. 42-53).
The ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel code (BPVC), which, after much turmoil and initial
dissention among its membership, had finally achieved consensus - thanks sadly to too
many disasters, such as those in Brockton and Lynn - and was published in 1914, but not
printed and released until 1915.
On the heels of the work that ASME was doing, a group of scientists and engineers in 1898
formed the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM). This was in response to steel
railroad tracks all too frequently failing under the stress of operation. In 1961, the name was
changed to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). In 2001, its name was
changed once again to its current name of ASTM International.
Membership between ASME and ASTM International overlaps in many cases in which
some people hold membership in both organizations. Such dual memberships of these
organizations provide much-needed dialog and harmonization between the two groups. Effectively
marrying the design and fabrication (ASME) with material of construction (ASTM) in
such a way that the results are a seamless relationship that benefits the two organizations
and the industry at large.
❐
containing piping material without
change to the ASTM specifications.
Any material not listed in B31.3 for
use in pressure-containing fluid
services can be submitted to the
committee for approval in accordance
with ASME B31.3, paragraph
323.1.2, as follows:
323.1.2 Unlisted Materials. Unlisted
materials may be used provided
they conform to a published
specification covering chemistry,
physical and mechanical properties,
method and process of manufacture,
heat treatment, and quality
control, and otherwise meet the
requirements of this Code. See
also ASME BPVC, Section II, Part
D, Appendix 5. Allowable stresses
shall be determined in accordance
with the applicable allowable stress
basis of this Code or a more conservative
basis.
By stating the following in paragraph
323.1.2 above: " ...a published
specification covering chemistry,
physical and mechanical
properties, method and process of
manufacture, heat treatment, and
quality control... " it is referring to
internationally accredited material
specification organizations. such as
the following:
* ASTM International - American
Society for Testing and Materials,
International
* AISI - The American Iron and
Steel Institute
* BSI Group - British Standards
Institution
* CSA Group - Canadian Standards
Association
* DGN - Dirección General de
Normas
* DIN - Deutsches Institut für
Normung
* GB - Guobiao
* ISO - International Organization
for Standardization
* JISC - Japanese Industrial Standards
Committee
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