It's a million pound machine FOR creating a million pounds of force. 

It's part of a unique machine that was built in 1965 and just refurbished for the first time. And in the world of metrology, the science of measurement, this giant is a source of national pride.

"It's famous in its own right because it is the largest such machine in the world," says Rick Seifarth of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md. The one next biggest in size, in Germany, is only half as powerful, Seifarth notes. "That's one of the main reasons the thing was restored and