Digital readings

Most of the towers round here quote them in cwt and kg. Ever tried telling an 11 year old that the bell he was just ringing weighs 5cwt? It's a waste of time, because you also have to say that it's about 250kg. I was fifty this year, learnt to ring 34 years ago, and bells are the only thing I've ever measured in cwt. And then it only makes 'sense' when attached to a rope and wheel. Which is meaningless because a bigger wheel on the same weight 'feels' lighter!

I worked as a barman for several years and nobody ever used the names of barrels, just their quantity in gallons.

The sooner these obsolete measures die out the better.

My Tuppence worth (or should that be 1p worth?)

1) About 15 years ago I was calculating the size of radiators that I required for the house I was renovating. I was using an on line calculator that required room and window sizes in metres. I despatched my son to measure the rooms (he was around 15 at the time), He came back with measurements in inches. Playing devils advocate I explained to him that I needed measurements in metres. He went away and disappeared for about 15 minutes, coming back with his mother. The two of them then proceeded to tell me that it wasn't possible to measure the window in metres, because it measured less than one metre.....

After a lot of explaining I realised that neither of them understood the relationship between millimetres, centimetres and metres, nor did either of them realise that 0.7 meters was a valid measurement. It was further complicated that my sons school taught centimetres and these were not marked on the tape.

2) About 10 years ago I was Installing a German machine. At the commissioning stage I had a German engineer working with me, he asked for the loan of my tape measure. After two minutes of trying to measure a size he handed my tape back and went off and got his own. I asked him what was wrong and he explained that because our tape measures have imperial on one side and metric on the other they are very difficult to use, because no matter how you try 50% of the time the measurement you want is on the wrong side of the tape. Don't believe me? get hold of a metric only tape they are so much clearer and easier to use (provided your working in millimetres).

3) Regarding the centimetres and millimetres problem, around 40 years ago my mother worked as a secretary for a Swedish steel fabrication company. At the gates of the factory there were two large ship sized anchors. They were there as a reminder for the workforce to always check the measurements on drawings. Turns out the drawings for the anchors were in millimetres and they had been manufactured in centimetres.

Martin

Hi, I can relate to the German engineer, a frustration that I often had during my working days and I still get it now at times in my own garage. Biggest problem is, that not many DIY stores seem to sell metric only tape measures, I did have a couple of cheap ones from Tesco's of all places and they lasted a fair while, a much better one I have came from a local tool supplier but are more expensive than the duel ones.

Regards Nick.

Not really. Imperial is as foreign as metric. Avoirdupois pounds, abbreviated lbs from the latin librae, are from le système des poids commerciaux. Doesn't sound British to me!

Is it good to consider Weights and Measures patriotic? They're tools not symbols of national pride. I suggest a technically based country should adopt the best tools for the job and firmly resist any desire to super-glue itself to the glorious past for sentimental reasons. It's what we do next that matters.

Dave

By "national" I meant "nation-wide"; not by history. Other countries had created systems that were regional.

I never considered measurement units as "patriotic" but it is right to credit those who invent them. Nor did I advocate "super-gluing" the country to the past where and when inapplicable to do so.

I don't know the origin of Avoirdupois* but French was the language of much of diplomacy (and commerce?) for a long time after Latin faded into the background.

'

Incidentally, if we are all supposed to use SI units, and use them appropriately, why do or did some car manufacturers specify engine powers in something called "kp" (kilopoules apparently - 1000 Hens?), and do quote vehicles' internal volumes in litres, the liquid measure?

I am not worried much about power and am happy with 1HP = 0.75kW as near as dammit for an ordinary motor- car; but do want to know what size objects the car will carry, whether I choose feet or metres, not turn it into an aquarium.

'

===

*Avoirdupois: "Have some peas".

I'm 71, and I cannot remember ever seeing one of the wooden school rules which didn't have imperial and metric divisions on it.

The museum's lathe is imperial, and one mill is and the other mill is metric. Half of my manual measuring instruments are metric, only the digital calipers are bisexual.

Edited By old mart on 23/10/2020 20:26:24

Peter,

I had always thought that a billion was 10 to the power of 12 not 9?

Dave

There was a time when a billion was a million million, but now it is a thousand million.

That's so American numbers look bigger than ours.... did

Ah but that was not the point i was making. When the advance/retard mechanism in the distributer moved the plate on its axis. The points opened up way too wide, cannot remember exactly, but enough to cut the power. After fitting a brand new scrap yard one it was ok at 15thou. Dwell meters & strobe lights. Brings back memories.

Steve.

Edited By Steviegtr on 23/10/2020 21:41:24

did you intend to write 'for centimental reasons' ?
DaveD

That would have upset the metre of the sentence....

I once had a reprint copy of Mueller's 'Treatise of Artillery' of 1791. I think he had a very substantial table of conversion factors between English, French, Prussian, Austrian etc. weights and measures. Life in his time when working with multinational equipment must have been of nightmarish complexity by comparison.

Vershoks and arshins, anyone? They're not Klingon, you know...

Interesting discussion about tape measures, I got sick of trying to use one side of the tape so I bought a couple of tapes from the USA that are only in inches and on a trip to Holland I got another tape that is only in meters (Dutch spelling)

Brian

Duncan Webster posted earlier about torque and work, but got it the wrong way round. Imperial torque is conventionally expressed in the UK as lb.ft, or more completely lbf.ft. Work is conventionally expressed as ft.lb.

I acknowledge that the Americans sometimes do it the other way round, but they are of course wrong!

As am I, that will teach me to rely on Wikipedia as a check

A Billion here, a Billion there, however you count it - there was a time when that was a lot of money.

These days it seems to be small change...(until you need to pay it back of course)

IanT

I seem to recall having worked with some of those guys, didn't have a good opinion of them....
DaveD

Yes, back around WW1 dreadnought battleships cost about £1M - better value than armoured cruisers at c. £800k. HMS Hood was hugely extravagant at over £2M.

Today's capital ships are about 1500 times as expensive per aircraft carrier at £3Bn-odd a throw (I dunno if 'they' want to tell us the real figure, or even really know themselves...) - much more for the even bigger American jobs.