I nt roduct ion

During the golden age of the industrial revolution, it became evident that there
was a need for more than social exchanges among engineers. By the middle of
the nineteenth century the field of mechanical engineers had grown in size and
importance, but no institution existed to satisfy the needs of that emerging pro-
fession. In the period before 1880 there were powerful motives to organize an
institution capable of projecting a national role for mechanical engineers. One
source of pressure grew out of the work mechanical engineers did. In some
types of industry, notably
the construction of
machine tools, steam
engines, and other
machinery, it had
become clear by the
1850s that economic
success depended upon
advanced technical
knowledge and that an
institution was needed to
systematize the flow of
information from
research and experience
to practical application. William Sellers 1863 proposal for a standardized
American screw thread was one of the first efforts to extend this rationalization
of manufacturing beyond the level of regional practice.
Thus, it was no accident that from the very founding of the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (ASME*) in 1880, discussions were held on standards for
shop drawing symbols, wire gauge, pulleys and line shafting, machine screws,
nut bevels, keyseats, drawing boards, and mechanical dictionaries. In 1883 a
committee on standards and gauges was created, and a member unsuccessfully
argued that the society also determine a standard for rating steam-boiler capa-
bility. During the annual meeting of the society in 1883, a paper was presented
to initiate discussion on the need to adopt a set of rules for conducting boiler
tests which would be generally accepted among engineers as a standard code
of practice. The paper emphasized that every engineer who makes a boiler test
ASME Standards Topics
Abbreviations
Accreditation
Air Cooled Heat Exchangers
Air Cylinders and Adapters
Air Heaters
Atmospheric Water Cooling
Equipment
Automatically Fired Boilers
Automotive Lifting Devices
Backwater Valves
Bioprocessing Equipment
Boilers
Bolts
1
ASME establishes safety rules governing the design, fabrication, and
inspection of pressure vessels. The interior of a pressure vessel plant is
shown here.
* In 1994, ASME added the word International to its name to reflect the expansion of the societys activities
beyond the United States and North America. Thus, ASME is now also called ASME International.
makes a rule for himself, which may be varied from time to time to suit the con-
venience or interests of the party for whom the test is made.This resulted in
the formation of a committee to study the subject. It is interesting to note that
the new proposal would do exactly what the member tried to do earlier, but
while he tried to propose a standard for boiler horsepower, the new proposal
argued for the need of uniform test procedures. A test code was published in
1884 and became ASMEs first standard. Shortly thereafter, the society decided
that pipe and pipe threads should be standardized and that the standards com-
mittee should be com-
posed of men repre-
sentative of pipe manu-
facturers and pipe users,
with perhaps one repre-
sentative of the sprin-
kling system and cer-
tainly one of the manu-
facturers of taps and
dies. Such an approach
to balance came to typi-
fy the makeup of future
ASME standards com-
mittees.
The involvement of ASME in developing national standards soon extended to
international standards, and in 1885 the society appointed a committee to
search for uniform methods of conducting tests of strength of materials which
would review the tests made in the United States against those made on the
Continent, particularly Germany.
In 1911, ASME recommended the establish-
ment of an organization to coordinate the
development of voluntary standards in the
United States. Such an organization was
formed in 1918 and is currently known as
the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI). ANSI is the U.S.A. member of the
International Standards Organization for
Standardization and the administrator of the United States National Committee
of the International Electrotechnical Commission. ANSI also serves as a book-
Building Services Piping
Cableways
Cargo Containers
Carriers
Castings and Forgings
Centrifugal Pumps
Charts
Chemical Plant and
Petroleum Refinery
Equipment
Chucks and Chuck J aws
Cleanouts
Coal Pulverizers
Compressors
Consumable Tools
2
ASME develops standards for the design, welding, and identification of
pipes and fittings.
CSP 2 (a )
ASME provides support to repre-
sentatives of the public when the
scope of the project addresses
health, safety, or environmental
matters.
seller of domestic and international standards.
ASME has consistently enacted policies of prior announcement of meetings,
open meetings, public announcements and reviews, appeal mechanisms, and
overall procedural due process.
The key to ASMEs role
in developing standards
goes beyond its willing-
ness to respond to
requests for help in its
field. As professional
engineers, we try to
anticipate the economics
and safety problems that
wait around the bend.
When a new twist in
technology suggests an
important change in the
road map, we are there at the crossroads with the proper signs, signals, and
route instructions.
N ot t he La st W or d
The La t e st W or d
From time to time, some of us nostalgically reflect upon the good old days.We
wonder about earlier eras. How blissful it would be to be living in some bygone
time when the world was less complicated.
What happens when we penetrate the misty past? You find yourself living on a
farm or in a small village where the only means of transportation is the horse,
where the only source of illumination is the candle or oil lamp. Communication
beyond the borders of your community is difficult or close to impossible. Medical
knowledge is rudimentary. Occupational opportunities are severely limited. You
dream of travel to far-off places but, except for a trip to the big city many miles
away, a lifetime of dreams goes unfulfilled. And, that lifetime has a limited
expectancy of scarcely 45 to 50 years.
When you go to the general store, little variety in clothing or household items
exists. If your nostalgic journey lands you at the threshold of the industrial revo-
Conveyors
Coordinate Measuring
Machines
Cranes
Deaerators
Definitions and Values
Density Determination
Derricks
Dial Indicators
Diaphragm Seals
Dies
Diesel and Burner Fuels
Digital Systems
Dimensional Metrology
3
The ASME B133 series of standards covers considerations for procure-
ment of gas turbines, while the ASME PTC 22 code covers conduct and
report of performance tests for gas turbines.
lution during the early nineteenth century,
some of the newfangled machines break
down easily, and you scrounge for replace-
ment parts that do not fit properly. If you
are affluent enough to own a new coal-
burning furnace and boiler to heat water,
you are apprehensive because you hear
constantly of boilers exploding.
You may spend so much time building or repairing your home, making your
clothes, growing food, and raising livestock, that leisure might as well be an
exotic word in a foreign language.
You are hard at work from sunrise to sundown, falling exhausted into bed before
the moon rises.
Ah, the good old days
A flurry of invention cat-
apulted nineteenth-cen-
tury society into new,
uncharted areas.
Spearheaded by engi-
neers, a torrent of new
and wonderful machines
began to pour into every
city, town, village, and
farm. Implements of
every description
appeared for sale.
But as the twentieth
century approached, engineers saw that the avalanche of inventions they had
created were causing serious problems.
Lack of interchangeability was one such problem. Engineers soon realized the
need for standardizationthe need to arrive at universal agreements on how a
consumer could buy a bolt in California for a nut acquired in New J ersey, how a
worn boiler connection could be easily replaced by a new one that would fit into
place securely and safely.
Dimensioning and
Tolerancing
Dimensions
Drafting
Drains
Dumbwaiters
Ejectors
Elevators
Escalators
Exhausters
Fans
Fasteners
Feedwater Heaters
Fine Particulate Matter
4
CSP 5 (b)
Any item that is constructed and
stamped with an ASME mark
shall follow the standards of the
applicable section of the applica-
ble ASME code, without excep-
tion.
The ASME B30 series of standards serves as a guide to manufacturers,
purchasers, and users of cranes, including tower cranes.
Our nation, characterized by rugged individuals, spawned aggressively inde-
pendent entrepreneurs and manufacturers. In this competitive atmosphere, it
took time and circumstance as well as persuasion and common sense to estab-
lish a system of voluntary standardization. To cut down chaos and high cost, the
interchangeability of parts had to be established.
Another serious problem facing engineers of that era was exploding boilers.
Heating water to produce steam and converting that steam into energy to power
machinery revolutionized production in the
nineteenth century. To build up pressure,
steam must be contained in some type of
vessel; and, uncontrolled, pressurized
steam can burst even one of steel. For want
of reliably tested materials, secure fittings,
and proper valves, boilers of every descrip-
tion, on land and at sea, were exploding
with terrifying regularity. They would contin-
ue to do so into the twentieth century.
Though engineers could take pride in the
growing superiority of American technology,
they could not ignore the 50,000 dead and
2 million injured annually by such acci-
dents. Thus, the mechanical engineers who
tackled problems in the 1880s began by seeking reliable methods for testing
steam boilers. Establishment of universally accepted construction standards
would take many years.
In the quarter-century that followed the ASME boiler test code in 1884, mechan-
ical engineers confronted a broad range of design and manufacturing tasks
involving pipe and pipe threads, cast-iron water and gas pipe, boiler tubes, gas
burners, hose couplings, bolt heads and nuts, pumping engines, marine and fac-
tory engines, gas and oil motors, and many other types of equipment.
Because technology is dynamic, ASME realized that it would be necessary to
continually update and revise most of its codes and standards to keep pace with
new materials, new designs, and new applications.
Fittings
Flanges
Floor Drains
Flue Gas Desulfurization
Fluid Flow in Pipes
Fuel Gas Piping
Gage Blanks
Gage Blocks
Gas Flow Measurement
Gas Transmission and
Distribution Piping
Gas Turbine Power Plants
Gas Turbines
Gaseous Fuels
5
CSP 5 (c)
ASME codes and standards pro-
vide rules for the construction of
various items. They include
requirements for materials,
design, fabrication, examination,
inspection, and stamping. Items
constructed in accordance with
all of the applicable rules of the
governing code or standard are
identified with the official code
symbol stamp described in the
governing sections of the code or
standard.
ASME never assumes that a code or standard is the last wordonly the latest
word.
W ha t I s a St a nda r d?
A standardcan be defined as a set of technical definitions and guidelines
how to instructions for designers and manufacturers. Standards, which can
run from a few paragraphs to hundreds of pages, are written by experts who sit
on many committees.
Standards are considered voluntary not
because they are created by volunteers.
Rather they are considered voluntary
because they serve as guidelines, but do
not of themselves have the force of law.
ASME publishes its standards; accredits
users of standards to ensure that they are
capable of manufacturing products that
meet those standards; and provides stamps
that accredited manufacturers may place
on their products, indicating that a product was manufactured according to a
standard. ASME cannot, however, force any manufacturer, inspector, or installer
to follow ASME standards. Their use is voluntary.
Why then are standards effective? Perhaps the 1991 Annual Report of the
American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) said it best. Standards are a
vehicle of communication for producers and users. They serve as a common
language, defining quality and establishing safety criteria. Costs are lower if pro-
cedures are standardized; training is also simplified. And consumers accept
products more readily when they can be judged on intrinsic merit.
W ha t I s a Code ?
A codeis a standard that has been adopted by one or more governmental bod-
ies and that has the force of law.
A SM E
ASME is a not-for-profit educational and technical organization with more than
125,000 members worldwide, most of whom are practicing engineers. About
25,000 members are students.
Gaskets
Gauges
Graphic Symbols
Grinding Industrial Vehicles
Hand Tools
High Lift Trucks
High Pressure Systems
Hobs
Hoists
Hooks
Hydroelectric Equipment
Incinerators
Indicated Power
6
CSP 6 (a )
Where firsthand knowledge of
events, such as accidents, fires,
or earthquakes, will aid a stan-
dards committee in the develop-
ment of safety requirements, the
committee may conduct site
investigations and develop
reports.
ASME has a wide variety of programs: publishing, technical conferences and
exhibits, engineering education, government relations, and public education, as
well as development of codes and standardsall aimed at serving the engi-
neering profession, the public, industry, and government.
The ASME Board of Governors has delegated the codes and standards activity to
a 22-member Council on Codes and Standards which directs all aspects of the
program. Under the council are 10 boards made up of ASME members and other
interested persons. Six of those boards are supervisory boards that in turn have
committees, each responsible for a specific area of standards development.
Committees in one form or another have
dealt with standards since the first test
code in 1884. Presently there are more
than 120 consensus committees dealing
with nearly 600 standards which are under
regular review and revision. Approximately
3500 engineers, manufacturers, designers,
and others sit on these committees and
their subcommittees, subgroups, and work-
ing groups.
After a standard has been considered and reconsidered at many meetings and
through many drafts, it is sent to the consensus committee, representing all
interests, which votes on the standard. It is then made available for public com-
ment and must be approved by the appropriate ASME supervisory board.
Once accepted, and only after having undergone these and other rigors of pro-
cedural due process, the standard is printed and made available to manufactur-
ers, regulatory agencies, designersanyone with an interest in its subject.
The St a m p of A ut hor it y
The first edition of the ASME Boiler Code, published in 1915, provided for a
stamp to be affixed to every product constructed in accordance with the Code.
Individual state laws had required the use of similar stamps. During a congress
held in 1915, the chief inspector of the city of Detroit saw the realization of a
uniform boiler code, and he cited an instance of a boiler that bore four state
stamps, one city stamp, and one manufacturers stamp.
Industrial Sound
Industrial Trucks and
Vehicles
Internal Combustion Engine
Generator Units
Ion Exchange Equipment
J acks
Keys
Keyseats
Knurling
Letter Symbols
Lifts
Limits and Fits
Line Conventions and
Lettering
Linear Measurements
7
CSP 3 7 (b)
Safety codes and standards are
intended to enhance public
health and safety. Revisions
result from committee consider-
ation of factors such as techno-
logical advances, new data, and
changing environmental and
industry needs.
Today the vari-
ous boiler and
pressure vessel
stamps are rec-
ognized by
many foreign
countries as
indicative of
products manu-
factured in com-
pliance with the Code and under a quality program acceptable to the society.
But how does a manufacturer obtain permission to use one of the stamps?
Through the ASME accreditation process, the manufacturers quality control
process is reviewed by an ASME team. If the quality control system meets ASME
requirements and the manufacturer successfully demonstrates implementation
of the program, the manufacturer is accredited by ASME. The manufacturer then
may certify the product as meeting ASME standards and apply the stamp to the
product.
A stamp consists of a modified cloverleaf (from the shape of the ASME logo)
with one or more letters in the center. The letters indicate the codes or parts
thereof met by the products upon which they are placed. ASME stamps issued
are:
A Field Assembly of Power Boilers
E Electric Boilers
H Heating Boilers, Steel Plate or Cast Iron Sectional
HV Heating Boiler Safety Valves
HLW Lined Potable Water Heaters
M Miniature Boilers
N Nuclear Power Plant Components
NPT Nuclear Power Plant Component Partials
NA Nuclear Power Plant Installation/Assembly
NV Nuclear Power Plant Safety Valves
PP Pressure Piping
RP Reinforced Plastic Pressure Vessels
RTP Reinforced Thermoset Plastic Corrosion Resistant Equipment
S Power Boilers
U, U2, U3 Pressure Vessels
Liquid Transportation
Systems
Low Lift Trucks
Machine Guarding
Machine Tools
Manlifts
Measurement
Mechanical Power
Transmission Apparatus
Mechanical Springs
Metric System
Milling Machines
Model Testing
Monorails
Moving Walks
8
Companies that are accredited by ASME use code symbol stamps to identify
products constructed in accordance with the societys standards.
UD Rupture Disc Devices
UM Miniature Pressure Vessels
UV Pressure Vessel Safety Valves
UV3 High Pressure Vessel Safety Valves
V Boiler Safety Valves
ASME has accreditation programs for
nuclear power plant materials, fasteners,
and organizations that certify elevator
inspectors. ASME also is accredited to cer-
tify a companys quality management sys-
tem to ISO 9000 standards.
Since 1992, ASME has certified individuals
to recognize that they have met the qualifi-
cation criteria specified in ASME standards.
Current programs include certification of
operators of resource recovery facilities (municipal waste combusters), fossil
fuel fired plants, medical waste incinerators, and hazardous waste incinerators;
and certification of geometric dimensioning and tolerancing professionals.
M a k ing t he Conne ct ion
Among the elements of modern life that we take for granted are fasteners. Every
household has its complement of extra screws, bolts, and nuts, as well as other
types of fasteners that are used to hold things together. We may wonder how a
screw or bolt is designed and standardized, or how length, thread gage, and
diameter are set. But we are unlikely to imagine the enormous amount of engi-
neering that goes into those useful objects. Instruments such as thread ring
gages and roll thread comparatorstools that had to be invented just to provide
reliable measuring techniquesare too remote for most of us to consider.
Perhaps equally removed from our day-to-day concerns are the deliberations
that require many minds, working many hours, to arrive at manufacturing stan-
dards acceptable to industry and to you, the user.
ASME seeks to narrow the distance between users and designers through its
fish bowl approach. All activities surrounding the development of codes and
standards, shared by ASME with related professional societies, are totally open
to public scrutiny and participation.
Nuclear Power Facilities and
Technology
Nuts
Oil Systems
Optical Parts
Pallets
Performance Test Codes
Pins
Pipe Dimensions
Pipe Threads
Piping
Pliers
Plumbing
Pressure Transducers
9
CSP 2 0 (a )(2 )
The standard shall contain suffi-
ciently specific and well defined
criteria to enable both manufac-
turers and users to understand
the requirements and to be able
to distinguish products and ser-
vices which comply with the
standard from those which do
not.
The voluntary standards system is based on
the premise that professionals representing
various categories of interest will provide
the most reliable inputs from their respec-
tive technical, industrial, and educational
backgrounds. Interaction among these vol-
unteers and consumers produces docu-
ments that fulfill the ASME mission of
enhancing public health, safety, and welfare, and in turn lessen the burdens of
government.
When specifications for
materials, fit, safety, per-
formance, or dimensions
are set, manufacturers
use such standards
because to do so is good
business. Their use
makes mass production
possible, lowers the cost
of research and develop-
ment, and speeds up
manufacturing. Thus,
standards reduce prod-
uct costs and improve competition. At the end of the line standards add up to
economy, confidence, and safety for you, the consumer.
The A 1 7 St or y Sa f e t y Code s f or
Eleva t ors a nd Esca la t ors
The A17 story has to do with moving peopleup, down, at an angle, or horizon-
tally. It dramatizes the extraordinary success of this countrys voluntary codes
and standards system. Elevators, escalators, and moving walks are pervasive
features of modern mobility and paragons of safety.
In 1915, ASME assembled a committee of engineers who were knowledgeable
about elevators and charged them with developing a set of standards for eleva-
tor manufacturers, architects, consulting engineers, insurance inspectors, and
building owners. The committee recognized the harmful influence of wear, rough
Pressure Vessels
Pumps
Quality Assurance
Reamers
Refrigeration Piping
Resource Recovery Facility
Operators
Retaining Rings
Rivets
Safety and Relief Valves
Screw Threads
Screws
Slings
Slip Sheets
10
CSP 2 9 (a )
Meetings for the consideration of
proposed revisions, reaffirma-
tions, withdrawals, and new stan-
dards shall be open to the inter-
ested public.
Fasteners include an assortment of bolts of different shapes and sizes.
usage, and atmospheric
conditions under which
elevator apparatus must
operateparticularly on
door locks, interlocks,
and electrical contacts.
Thus, the first elevator
code was developed in
1921. Among other
things, the historic docu-
ment makes reference to
such quaint components
as steam, belts, and hand ropes.
The committee assigned to the continual
updating of the A17 code includes a hard-
working roster of subcommittees number-
ing over 200 members. The subjects they
tackle and report for consideration by the
consensus committee include automatic
transfer devices, fire safety, earthquake
protection, passenger evacuation, inspec-
tion, solid-state controls, and many others.
The A17 code has earned wide acceptance
as a national consensus standard. This is
due in no small measure to the ASME prin-
ciple of balanced membership. Many
organizations and groups are concerned
with the scope and provisions of the A17 code and are encouraged to actively
participate in its development.
The Pursuit of Ha ppine ss!
There are 168 hours in a week. When you subtract work time, sleep time, and
travel time, the average American has 50 to 60 hours a week for personal activi-
ty. It is called leisure time.
Spray Cooling Systems
Stainless Steel Pipe
Stands
Steam-Generating Units
Steel Stacks
Storage/Retrieval Machines
Storage Tanks
Surface Texture
Temperature Measurement
Thermometers
Tools
Transmission Apparatus
Transmission Chains
11
CSP 3 6
ASME codes and standards com-
mittees that recognize a possible
need to interpret a specific edi-
tion of a code or standard devel-
oped by the committee shall have
a statement included in the fore-
word or on the copyright page of
the code or standard informing
the user that the particular edi-
tion of the document may be
interpreted and that all written
interpretations are included as a
subscription service of this edi-
tion of the code or standard.
The ASME A17 code is an American National Standard for elevators and
escalators.
The industrial revolution, sometimes referred to as the machine age, has given
us precious time for travel, cultural enrichment, entertainment, and play.
The same system of voluntary codes and standards that has brought stability to
necessities of modern living has also infused recreational activity with unprece-
dented freedom and safety.
ASME is one of a number of professional and technical organizations which,
together, work to secure the fabric of the modern world. The fact that you are
generally unaware of their work is the best tribute to their achievement.
When you go to a movie, the projector in use is designed with standardized
parts that fit together and are easily replaced. At a concert, you listen to musical
instruments designed to universally accepted standards. Your radio, television,
VCR, telephone, computer, hand tools, and sports equipmentvirtually all mod-
ern devices of personal
improvement and
amusementinvolve
one or more engineering
standards.
Invariably, those stan-
dards are scrupulously
written and codified. And
they are being rewritten
and improved by engi-
neers and fellow profes-
sionalsall the time.
Turbines
Valves
Washers
Waste Facility Operators
Water Hammer Arresters
Weighing Scales
Welded Aluminum-Alloy
Storage Tanks
Wheel Dollies
Wheelchair Lifts
Whirlpool Bathtub
Appliances
Wind Turbines
Window Cleaning
Wrenches
12
The ASME PTC 42 code specifies methods for testing and reporting the
performance of wind turbines.