A glimmer of hope

[MiTasol]

Australia has been miles ahead since it went metric.........

Maybe you should have a pint to celebrate, Mr. Jefferies.

Ahh but which pint

The British one

The old Australian hotel one (smaller)

The current Australian hotel one (much smaller)

The next Australian hotel one (much much smaller)

[NortonDommi]

A lot of mechanics, engineers of all kinds have these really neat steel rules with a sliding pocket clip on them that doubles as a measurement stop. Quality micrometers if Imperial ones usually have decimals and their fraction equivalents etched in the frame, some verniers,(nearly spelt verynears), have the same on the back of the vernier frame.
If you wish to know more about ancient measurement systems and what they were based on and why the Egyptians had common and Royal Cubits have a look here:
Ancient Celtic New Zealand
There is over twenty years worth of research that NOBODY has yet managed to refute.

[NortonDommi]

The next Aussie pint will be metrick and measure in milliliters.

[MiTasol]

A lot of mechanics, engineers of all kinds have these really neat steel rules with a sliding pocket clip on them that doubles as a measurement stop. Quality micrometers if Imperial ones usually have decimals and their fraction equivalents etched in the frame, some verniers,(nearly spelt verynears), have the same on the back of the vernier frame.

And everyone whose profession involves aviation level quality control knows that every time you do a conversion on a measurement you introduce a potential error. Gimli glider and Mars Climate Orbiter being classic examples of the results of this. see http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/e...rbiter-61787-3

Reading the dimension as .0001 inches or .001mm then converting to 128ths to find you are 1/256th out and converting that back to thous before making your next cut is introducing multiple fail points.

I suspect that you still calculate your cars "fuel consumption" in Miles per Gallon rather than litres per 100km because that is the way your great grandfather did it.

L/Km involves dividing the Km your odometer says you traveled by the quantity of fuel added. One simple calculation, minimal chance of errors.

MPG involves converting the km on your odometer to miles, first chance of failure, then converting litres to gallons, another chance of failure, and then the third calculation to get not your fuel consumption but distance traveled for a set volume of fuel. Then when you have to work out how much fuel you need to travel 625km you need to do a far more complex calculation than just multiplying the fuel consumption by 6.25.

There is an old saying in aviation about the three ways to do a job - the right way, the wrong way and the British way because the British have a single design law - why make it easy when with a little bit of thought you can make it bloody near impossible.

[tonyfoale]

The next Aussie pint will be metrick and measure in milliliters.

Are they related to millilitres?

[Toolmaker51]

Tell me - where do you get micrometers and verniers that read in 64ths, 128ths and 256ths

There are reasonably accurate vernier calipers that work in 1/128th's (0.0078125 inch), RCBS marketed one to reloading hobbyists. That degree of accuracy doesn't apply past sorting cases before re-assembly into cartridges. And I say hobbyist because 1/128 is not universal, just convenient and fully analog [a dial isn't exactly analog, it's mechanical interpretation] measure of relatively fine units. 1/256 (0.00390625) is worse yet. As such, a fractional micrometer would be impractical, visibility issues connected with marking increments of barrel and thimble for readability. It was common to engrave .001/fraction conversions on frames of 1" micrometers. That accommodated people handling a range of materials measured by different gauges, such as wire, sheet stock, and specialty materials.

Now digitally-speaking, you can have your cake and eat it too. There are LCD displays on calipers, at push of a button convert the "BIG 3" [metric, imperial thousandths, imperial fractions], though I doubt they range past 300mm/12"; probably just 150mm/6". It isn't hard to imagine their popularity in the average homeowner scenario, desiring one single instrument. They are inexpensive; can't judge the lifespan or repeatability, the accuracy is within their range of increments and ability to display.

It might be a surprise, but I'm not an advocate of any particular system. Pure economics; I can't earn acceptable income restricting myself to one or the other. I often have projects, dovetailing all three easily within a single and complete assembly. Can't [don't] I cut 4 lengths square tubing; 2 different lengths in a horizontal saw set to a stop that 'look' long enough, fillet weld adjoining corners, measure interior rectangle fractionally to cut a corresponding panel to weld inside that frame, mount in a large mill - layout and drill 4 foundation bolts to an inch-based pattern - then locate metric-patterned motor, pump and reservoir?
I'd say it's pointless to force unitization on unrelated materials. Globalization dictates near infinite choice in materials, specifications limit acceptable materials. There is no question more long range thought went into establishing Teutonic Metrics, [than evident for Imperial] undeniably made them first real practitioners of precision. Sure many ancient cultures devised their own versions of precision too; Mayas, Incas, Mediterranean, Asian, Middle Eastern...That they used those systems more on projects than products, limited impact past their own shores. The Imperial system went near world wide in successive waves of Colonization - Projects AND Products.
So the culprits aren't the users, the instigators are. No doubt supported by extensive lobbying.
The solution? 14 dollar digital calculators. Makes my vast inventory of instruments is perfectly happy.
I believe our own HMT'er Paul Jones observed homogenization of our different systems [reduced need to retain varied information] a potential root of dementia. Who wants that?

I'm American through and through, 16th gen paternal, 2nd maternal. Yes, British designers have a knack for nutty intricacies, like how many fittings can we consume mounting & feeding this carburetor? Or Joe Lucas Prince of Darkness.
But then again, Harrison solved timewise longitude, Turing and crew cracked Enigma, Alexander Wood hypodermic dispensing, Jethro Tull seed drill, that guy Darwin...

[Toolmaker51]

Ahh but which pint?

The British one?

The old Australian hotel one? (smaller)

The current Australian hotel one? (much smaller)

The next Australian hotel one? (much much smaller)

The variation of pints above is driven by profit. Surely the newer pint costs the same as larger, likely more. Not been to Australia, but differences already existed in 70's era Singapore.

Research is more or less conclusive, being heavily dependent on information collected, not necessarily practical, but still lands on some point at or near hypothesis.
Universal measurement isn't likely, any more than attempts at currency, language or government. Streamlining makes more sense in physical properties like aeronautics and hydrodynamics, than administration.


It is apparent and personal observation, that nearly everyone has a preference if not advocate. There also seems a bit more bias toward Metric and less acceptance of Imperial, where persons familiar with Imperial will calculate for results readily. I'd think that arrangement is ideal.
The issue with stacked tolerances is inappropriate instruments more than number of placeholders, either side of the decimal point.

[NortonDommi]

It;s Winter her so what system should I measure the temperature in? Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin or Rankine?

[Frank S]

It;s Winter her so what system should I measure the temperature in? Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin or Rankine?

None of them take into account that the temperature you feel against you bare skin without having to calculate and factor in Barometric pressure wind velocity and relative humidly adjusted for altitude now when they come up[ with a gadget I can hang on the wall and instantly read the actual feels like temp everything already factored in they can name it what ever they want because that will be the name I'll use to tell my wife what she may want to wear

A few years back I was in a place where it was negative 40° my wife asked me is that Celsius or Fahrenheit because I'm always telling here it is one or the other without explaining which
I told her is doesn't matter both scales are equall at this point and both agree its **** cold

[Toolmaker51]

None of them take into account that the temperature...because that will be the name I'll use to tell my wife what she may want to wear. A few years back I was in a place where it was negative 40° my wife asked me is that Celsius or Fahrenheit because I'm always telling here it is one or the other without explaining which. I told her is doesn't matter both scales are equall at this point and both agree its **** cold

There is no such thing as bad weather; just bad clothing.