NINE DECADES OF NATIONAL
TEST HOUSE
B.B.Pal
*
The National
Test House (NTH), initially called Government Test House, was
established in 1912 within the railway precincts of Alipore, Calcutta
(now Kolkata) on a modest scale under the Railway Board.
To begin
with the services of NTH were entirely utilized by the Railways
for testing and quality evaluation of its indigenously manufactured
stores. As soon as the activities of NTH spread, it was felt that
the immense potential of the institution could be effectively
used for the growth of the nascent Indian industries. Henceforth,
the services of NTH were made available to all government departments
and undertakings, private enterprises and even individuals. Within
two years of its inception NTH came into international limelight
when during World War I (1914), the entire testing of munitions
was entrusted to it by the then Munitions Board under the Ministry
of Defence. Prior to the formation of ordnance laboratories in
1929, the testing and evaluation of arms and ammunition was carried
out only by NTH.
In 1922 the newly
created Indian Stores Department absorbed this institution after
assessing its importance and potential in the field of testing
and quality assurance of material stores. Thus the foundation
of the present Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
was laid and nurtured in National Test House, Alipur when the
Industrial Research Bureau was formed in 1934 for promoting industrial
research activities within the country. The present-day CSIR and
its numerous laboratories still owe much to the National Test
House for their origins. The industrial research programme of
NTH gained momentum when scientists of this institution were able
to design, fabricate and build a road test track for the Department
of Communication in 1937. That was a pioneering attempt in carrying
out road tests in the country.
After Independence
the responsibilities of NTH increased manifold. During the formative
years of industrialization in independent India, NTH played the
most significant role in product development, both in industrial
and agricultural sectors. It was actively involved in all aspects
of technology connected with industry, commerce, trade, import
substitution, export promotion and standardization. It also assisted
in the development of indigenous industries and served as a vital
link between industrial research and manufacture of finished products.
NTH has been playing a pivotal role in assisting the Indian Standards
Institute (the present Bureau of Indian Standards, BIS) from its
inception in drawing standards, specifications and in the formulation
of national standards of various engineering stores. NTH also
has the privilege of representing almost all committees framed
by BIS for drawing Indian standard specifications.
NTH rendered valuable
assistance to RDSO (Research, Design & Standard Organization)
of the Indian Railways in drawing up specifications for load test
of cast steel centre buffer couplers, new types of screw couplings
and draw hooks in their initial stages of development. NTH also
undertook a number of investigational tests on co-operative basis
in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore,
Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, and Central Road Research
Institute, New Delhi in connection with the development of indigenous
products, formulation of standards and fixing the quality level
of products. The ground work for fabrication of the Ganga Bridge,
the Brahmaputra Bridge, the Heavy Engineering Corporation and
the Heavy Electrical Project was conceived and initiated in NTH.
Various typical welded joints in components of box bogie wagons,
under frames of EMU coaches for the Indian Railways, cast steel
bridge bearing components of the national highways, welded fabrications
in thermal power stations, refineries and chemical plants erected
either by foreign firms or by public bodies in collaboration with
foreign fabricators in various parts of the country were assessed
and evaluated by NTH for ensuring safety. Manufacturers of welded
boiler drums at their initial stage of production in the country
were amply assisted by NTH. Even the DRDO (Defence Research Development
Organization) modified the techniques of fabrication of welded
aluminum panels for bridges in consultation with NTH.
In the sixties, India
successfully launched its engineering goods in the export market.
At this stage a need was felt to raise the level of quality assessment
of these products to international standards by modernizing the
laboratories and by imparting training to scientists and technologists
to keep them abreast of the contemporary trends in technology
in the developed countries. Accordingly, a number of scientists
from NTH were sent abroad for training in the latest testing methods
for evaluation of the quality of various material stores. The
Government of India recognized the impressive performance of NTH
and declared it as a "National Institution". Also, it
rechristened the organization as "National Test House (NTH)"
from its earlier name of Government Test House in 1964.
To meet the crying
needs of testing and quality evaluation of industrial products
in the wake of rapid industrialization in different corners of
the country, the first regional branch of NTH was opened in Bombay
(now Mumbai) in 1964. Subsequently, NTH Southern Region and NTH
Northern Region opened in 1972 at Chennai and Ghaziabad respectively.
Owing to increasing demand of availing NTH service its two other
branches were opened in Jaipur and Guwahati in 1990.
With globalization
and advancement in the field of material science technology during
the last decade a stringent quality evaluation policy of material
product was enforced by the world body, International Standards
Organization(ISO). As a result, most of the Indian industries
upgraded the technology to cope with the global competition. Demands
for advanced test requirement and calibration of instruments started
pouring in NTH. NTH accepted the challenge of latest technological
reform and to meet the requirements decided to establish a sophisticated
testing laboratory in the Salt Lake City of Kolkata. The hi-tech
laboratory building has already been constructed and in a part
of the complex the metrology (calibration and measurement) department
has started functioning in full swing. The main building will
be functional within a short period. It is envisaged that once
full facilities are available, NTH Salt Lake will become a centre
of excellence in the field of testing, calibration and evaluation
of materials & products.
The major objective
of the broad spectrum of activities in NTH is to provide facilities
for testing and evaluation of materials, investigations on failure
of materials in service, development of testing methodology, import
substitution, quality assurance of export product, commercial
utilization of industrial waste products, quality control and
standardization of stores. Apart from this NTH renders its service
to law enforcing agencies like the CBI, State and Central federal
police organizations and the Central Vigilance Commission. NTH
acts as arbiter in the court of law as an impartial referee laboratory.
NTH also rendered assistance to NABL National Accreditation Board
of Testing & Calibration Laboratories in their accreditation
programme by providing technical personnel as assessors and evaluators.
NTH is providing invaluable services to important government departments
like the Railways, CPWD, Surface Transport, Electricity Boards
and Defence Quality Control. It imparts consultancy and training
to various government departments and private bodies as well.
Presently, NTH’s
expertise covers almost all the engineering disciplines like civil,
mechanical, electrical, rubber, plastic, textiles and non-destructive
testing. Some milestones of NTH’s achievements in public service
in recent years include testing the suitability and reliability
of the wire ropes used in Vidyasagar Setu, the second Hooghly
Bridge in Kolkata and the first cable-stayed bridge in India,
rendering consultancy services to the West Bengal State. Electricity
Board for setting up the Ramman Hydel Project in Darjeeling, evaluating
safety aspect of multistoried building at Kolkata, to ascertain
the earthquake resistance of structure of Tribeni Tissue Ltd,
Hooghly, testing of thermo-plastic road marking paints for the
national highway and World Bank-aided projects. (PIB Features)
*
Head of Department, National Test House, Kolkata
