I have been wondering about this for a while now. In a lot of my books I read I see mention of ANSI. ANSI C, ANSI numbered roller chain, and ANSI safety signs are all of things I have seen that have this designation. Can someone tell me more about the wonderful world of standards and these interesting organizations?
Adam,
Have you tried here… http://www.ansi.org/ ?
If you like standards - and you have to be a very “special” type of person to really get off on standards - try the following :
ANSI.org; ASTM.org; STEEL.org; ASME.org, and IEEE.org, and the Underwriter’s Laboratories site - I don’t have that one right now.
If you really like this stuff, you may have a career in government.
Adam,
Have you tried here… http://www.ansi.org/ ?
Yeah but all I know from that site is that it is an organization that makes standards. 
As an engineer how much do you follow the above is what I am asking?
Adam,
The object of having “standards” is that all of us should follow them. By having materials that meet standards we know that whowever manufactures 80/20 aluminum it will all be the same. A 10-32 screw will fit anyone’s 10-32 nut, #10AWG wire will be the same size regardless if it manufactured by Belden or by XYZ Wire Co. If you search around for standards on particular parts or materials you can easily find what the specs are. The payment plan is for those manufacturing firms that need to make parts to fit a certain standard and need the entire document relating to that part of the standardization. Standards are very important and they make life simpler by allowing us to all speak a common language. Think of what is what like when a colonial cannon maker needed a bolt to fit in a 1/4" hole. First, what standard did he use for an inch and if it was the same inch in all of the colonies, what then described the threads, length and material? Now the same maker simply specifies he needs a 1/4-20 x 2" stainless steel bolt and he has 20 sources to choose from.
The same thing applies with things like ANSI C. All major compilers follow that standard, meaning that if you write a program with one compiler, if you stay within ANSI C, you know that it will compile under a different compiler. (That’s the theory anyway… :))
If you like standards, check out the w3c site (basically, web standards). And, as the web is a bit newer than say the need for a 1/4" screw in cannons, you’ll see there isn’t so much of an agreement as to standards (everyone wants to set them, becuase there is power and money to the owner). Oh, and some major web browsers (not to name names, ****soft), don’t necessarily support the standards. If you’re interested in the idea behind the wonderful world of standards, looking up HTML or XML or etc. specifications, you’ll find a load of controversy and debate.
If you want to buy from someone else, sell to someone else or interoperate with someone else, then you need to follow standards. Additionally, standards make it easier for a team of people to work on a project. Why does FIRST spell out the rules for wiring the electronics in your robot? They are following a standard so that your robot can be inspected to insure it is safe. Electricity doesn’t care if the wire color is red or black, but when you need to try to figure out why something is not working, would you rather have wiring that follows the standard, or try and troubleshoot an electrical system where the person who wired it did not wire red to (+) and black to (-).
Another couple of websites:
The National Institute of Standards and Technology
The International Organization of Standards
NIST is cool, but their website can be a pain, and the ISO charges money for documentation of their standards, as far as I can tell, but if you’re interested in standards, they’re pretty good.
Oh, there’re also many websites who list RFCs. www.rfc.net seems to be a pretty good starting point.