Originally Posted by
Ed Weldon
I agree with you guys a decimal measurement system is better than a system of numbers and letters with archaic meanings or fractions.
But if you want to argue American (or whatever you want to call it) vs. Metric this is an argument I love. The Metric system is terrible in theory because it is based on a standard that is totally foreign to the human scale and experience (the distance from the equator to the North pole; which when adopted was impossible to measure). OK, we now have standards based on the wavelength of light so the measurement issue is solved as long as humanity retains the technology to make such accurate measurements. But note that it was only a century ago that America had to send a high speed warship to Europe to bring back sets of gauge blocks that insured we made munitions that were measured to the same standards as our European allies. Hopefully the Norwegians have a little cabinet in that seed bank in Spitsbergen where a few lab grade sets of gauge blocks are stored.
I like measuring in mils. Sorry, I just don't want to deal with 3 digit pieces of millimeters when I have to hold close tolerances or tenths of a milimeter when spacing drilled holes. Besides I have only one metric vernier caliper and no such micrometers. (All those cheap digital things are in a box in my shop along with some dozens of corroded Chinese button batteries).
And the metric thread systems? Don't encourage me to get started on that. Or metric construction materials.
Oh yes. I'm a retired mechanical engineer. I trained and grew up in a world where everything we learned was measured in the American system.(1950' and 60's) Now all the engineers are trained in the metric system and that's all they use. Fine. I can handle that. But........... Nobody creates decent conversion charts anymore. They are all on their computers. And search for a decent conversion chart on the net and all you will find is conversion programs that cover the simplest types of measurements one at a time and leaves you to do a derivation if you want to convert some oddball engineering measurement in a product spec.
Ed Weldon
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