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Show Roofing for Homes Tested In Two Kinds of Weather i To research scientists in the roofing industry, there are two kinds of weather. There is "natural" "nat-ural" weather, odd as that term might seem, and weather made by machine. The most helpful machine is the weather-ometer, in which a year's amount of sunlight or rain can be compressed into a few days. To test asphalt roofing for resistance to sunlight, an ul:v:i vioN't arc light is used In ram ipms. waitr under pressure is m-'v"H 'in Un "lofing samples Because tm--- .-v T-tnts show which macro's ii- '.v most durable, dur-able, they lead in i"'orovHment of asphalt roofing products Research has been conducted for more than 24 years at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington. The principal testing station for determining the durability of asphalt as-phalt roofings under natural conditions con-ditions is at Houston, Texas. Here, more than 5,000 roofing samples are exposed to the most unpredictable unpre-dictable weather in the United States. Houston was chosen as the location loca-tion of the testing station after a study of U. S. Weather Bureau records. rec-ords. Average humidity at Houston is 78 percent. Annual rainfall is more than 50 inches. The temperature tempera-ture js 90 degrees or higher on 100 Continuous driving rain is simulated simu-lated in the weather-ometer as asphalt shingles are submitted to a rigorous laboratory test. To create the effect of sunlight, an intense ultra-violet arc light is put in place of the water nozzles. days of the year. Strong winds, some dry and some moist, blow from all directions. i |