My (limited) hi fi journey

[Spectral Morn]

?? I think you mean an imperial size allen key as the Americans work in feet and inches and Unified threads, UNC and UNF

Pedant

Imperial was introduced to the world by the British Empire..hence Imperial. America is the biggest country to stick with it, and not go metric as all of Europe has...under the fascist jack boot of the EU So calling it American (as it mainly is now) was in my book okay.


Regards D S D L

[Barry]

Pedant

Imperial was introduced to the world by the British Empire..hence Imperial. America is the biggest country to stick with it, and not go metric as all of Europe has...under the fascist jack boot of the EU So calling it American (as it mainly is now) was in my book okay.


Regards D S D L

Pedant? – I’ll give you pedantic:

The so-called Imperial system the Americans continue to use is not a British invention at all, but was appropriated by the British from ancient European systems of weight and measures. The units of distance, the yard and mile, are taken from the system used by the ancient Romans. The mile for example is derived from the term mille passum = ‘1000 paces’, being the equivalent of 5000 (Roman) feet.

And the units of weight are taken from the Norman French system ‘avoirdupois’: a 15th century Middle English word derived from the Anglo-French avoir de pois = ‘goods of weight’, that is goods sold by weight.

Ironically, the metric system, that is, having a system based on multiples of 10 is a British invention. The idea of a metric system of weights and measures has been attributed to John Wilkins, first secretary of the Royal Society of London in 1668, however the idea did not catch on. It wasn’t until after the French revolution, some 120 years later, that the French and eventually the rest of Europe adopted the metric system.

Whilst there is a homely familiarity and comfort in the notion of pints, yards and miles, as a retired scientist I can tell you that the American retention of the imperial system can be very awkward. If you need information on the properties of materials, the data sheets from American suppliers are all quoted in Imperial units. For example thermal conductivities are often quoted in Btu inches/second/square foot/°F, where 1Btu is that amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit! It’s so much easier if it’s quoted in Watt/meter/°C.

Pedantically yours

[The Grand Wazoo]

I'm familiar with this problem Barry, I've often battled with transatlantic conversions of weight/measures.
Some aspects of timber measurement represent a slightly arcane art (this is round timber - logs, rather than sawn planks).

As you can imagine the wood in a tree which is an irregular, sort of roundish in cross section and tapered at different rates along it's length shape, would be a pretty tricky thing to measure at the best of times, let alone having to do it through conversions.
Even within the trade in the UK there are 2 different systems, one used by softwood merchants - the metric timber measurement system (expressed as cubic metres) and the other one - the black art sort of a thing called the Hoppus Foot!
Hoppus is measured with a thing called a Quarter Girth tape. A Hoppus Foot equals 0.03605 cubic metres and is about 21% bigger than a cubic foot in order to take into account wastage in the milling process.

[Jonboy]

Pedant i had to look that one up if you said pedantic i would have been up to speed, You can't deny the fact that you learn a lot on this forum, when i have delt with suppliers for timber and stone it is usually sold by the cubic foot in this country.

If you are into screw threads and general engineering formula i can recommend having a Zeus engineering book to hand, this is the bible for most engineers.

[The Grand Wazoo]

when i have delt with suppliers for timber and stone it is usually sold by the cubic foot in this country.

Hoppus is used for the sale of logs or growing trees before they get to the sawmill

[Barry]

Pedant i had to look that one up if you said pedantic i would have been up to speed, You deny the fact that you learn a lot on this forum, when i have delt with suppliers for timber and stone it is usually sold by the cubic foot in this country.

If you are into screw threads and general engineering formula i can recommend having a Zeus engineering book to hand, this is the bible for most engineers.

Perhaps we should start a new thread: 'Arcane British Units'. Some contenders could be:

The barleycorn (= 1/3 inch), used in the shoe industry to measure shoe widths,

The degree Twaddle, used in the brewing industry, as a measure of specific gravity,

The pin, a liquid measure used for ale,

The rod (= 5.5 yards), often used by councils as the width of a typical allotment.

Have to admit none of them seem as perverse as the 'Hoppus Foot' - apart from a long obsolete unit of electrical capacitance: the Jar. This unit, believe it or not was used by the Admiralty and RN wireless engineers!

Regards

[Jonboy]

don't forget the bushel

[twelvebears]

I don't care what anyone says, the old imperial system is rubbish, confusing and prone to causing more errors that you could believe.

If ever proof of this were needed, I remember speaking to my Dad, a professional cabinet maker and general wood-working guru, about what he thought of metric vs imperial. "Best thing ever. adding up dimensions in imperial measurements used to give me bloody head ache and was always causing cock-ups around the factory"

Considering Dad was born in 1927 and spent most of his working life with imperial, that says something....

[MartinT]

Agreed that metric is the best. When questioned, my height is 1.78m and my weight 72kg. That's all they get. Nurses and doctors always look impressed as they *want* metric units.

[Marc B]

ha ha

[makes note to self never to mention funny sized allen keys again]