Engineering and industrial standardization

MOST of us speak of standardization in a vague sort of way, usually having in mind some particular corner of the field, but without sensing the comprehensiveness of the word or the magnitude and importance of the field covered, not realizing that the cooperation without which our modern society would be impossible, would in turn be impossible without a large measure of standardization. It might almost be said that the degree of standardization in any nation is a measure of its civilization, certainly in the material or industrial sense of the word.