mark powell Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 On 10/06/2023 at 16:14, JohnD said: Ah, the fathom! Deep Six and Mark Twain, all delineated on the sounding line by knots and feathers! And the tallow on the end of the sounding weight to bring up a sample from the bottom. All as scientific as it comes in a pre-electric age! Alas, all gone, with rods,poles,perches and chain distance measures, hands for horses and cubits for Arks. But thank goodness for Metric! SO much simpler! John Hands still used for horses... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrishawley Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 Diameter of car wheels still in inches..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 (edited) 19 minutes ago, chrishawley said: Diameter of car wheels still in inches..... That's an American thing! The America that lost a Mars lander through mixing Metric and Imperial! And hands? People who are into horses dress like 18th Century landowners so why not? John Edited June 16, 2023 by JohnD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 59 minutes ago, chrishawley said: Diameter of car wheels still in inches..... Tyres: diameter in inches of course to match wheel diameter but width in mm. Just to show it works both ways, it is quite common to see fruit on a market stall priced as, for example, 4.99€ per livre. Yes per pound. I'm going to relax with a measure of Scotch from a metric bottle 🥃 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 13 minutes ago, Chris A said: I'm going to relax with a measure of Scotch from a metric bottle 🥃 A dram, is that? Don't forget pints of beer, too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain T Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 US vs UK gallons one of the few occasions where the UK is bigger! Then there's centimetres a useless unit only used buy people who can't measure. In engineering it's millimeters and metres, centimetres don't exist. Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Foster Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 48 minutes ago, Iain T said: Then there's centimetres a useless unit only used buy people who can't measure. In engineering it's millimeters and metres, centimetres don't exist. Unfortunately that's what they teach in schools! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said: A dram, is that? Don't forget pints of beer, too... We don't drink pints of beer here, a demi, which in fact is 1/4 litre or a galopin, a demi 'demi'. Better still if one is having a festive meal part way through the is the 'trou Normand'. Traditionally a shot of Calvados to clear the palet Edited June 16, 2023 by Chris A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 1 hour ago, Iain T said: Then there's centimetres a useless unit only used buy people who can't measure. In engineering it's millimeters and metres, centimetres don't exist. Not just engineers, if I buy a length wood it will, say, be marked 2500x25x37. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puglet1 Posted June 16, 2023 Report Share Posted June 16, 2023 12 minutes ago, Chris A said: Not just engineers, if I buy a length wood it will, say, be marked 2500x25x37. I usually ask for 2”x4”x 3600. The builders yard always know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 10 hours ago, Puglet1 said: I usually ask for 2”x4”x 3600. The builders yard always know what I mean. When I left the UK, 30 years ago, the sale of timber had sort of gone metric. Length was in mm, in multiples of 300mm but cross sections were still Imperial. From your comment it looks as if it hasn't changed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 11 hours ago, Puglet1 said: I usually ask for 2”x4”x 3600. The builders yard always know what I mean. Yep, it's 'four by two' over here too. Sold in four metre lengths... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68vitesse Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 Not home made or modified. A JBM extending extension for half inch sockets, never know they existed till seen in a tool shop window while on holiday. Regards Paul. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain T Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 57 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said: Yep, it's 'four by two' over here too. Sold in four metre lengths... Ah but is it really 50.8 x 101.6😂 Non ferrous extrusions changed over to mainly metric and sheet metal is almost entirely metric. The imperial system is plain 'orrible and should be consigned to history. Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Truman Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 I still work in foot n inch’s then convert to mm n mts using the calculator function on me phone! Ha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 4 hours ago, Iain T said: The imperial system is plain 'orrible and should be consigned to history. Iain Why? It's no more difficult than working in multiples of 2.54mm... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 1 hour ago, Colin Lindsay said: Why? It's no more difficult than working in multiples of 2.54mm... What nonsense! The only multiple in metric is 10! If you find that difficult, you must have extra toes - or fingers! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark powell Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 21 hours ago, JohnD said: People who are into horses dress like 18th Century landowners so why not? Er, no. Still used in US, Canada, Australia and parts of Europe. A touch of the Anti horse brigade there, John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 11 minutes ago, mark powell said: Er, no. Still used in US, Canada, Australia and parts of Europe. A touch of the Anti horse brigade there, John. I love horses! As big, toothy, over-excited animals, their owners are much less attractive! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark powell Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 Just now, JohnD said: I love horses! As big, toothy, over-excited animals, their owners are much less attractive! John I won't let my missus see that...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain T Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 All I'll say is 150 (mm with rounding) sounds bigger than 6 inches....🤭 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 17, 2023 Report Share Posted June 17, 2023 1 hour ago, JohnD said: What nonsense! The only multiple in metric is 10! If you find that difficult, you must have extra toes - or fingers! John I don't use metric nor do I even think in metric. I can gauge something as six inches, or a hundred yards, or a pint, or forty miles an hour. I've been using that my whole life and it can die with me and my generation. So: if someone says that's 9cm, I'm dividing by 2.54 to get inches, which is no different than someone doing it the other way to get metric. I don't say that Heralds have a 38.1 steering wheel nor a 33.02 steel wheel, nor do I suspect does anyone else, and I still buy 3/8 brake pipe in 25' lengths, and you must admit it was the biggest con ever, not to mention daylight robbery, when they started pricing petrol in litres rather than gallons so no-one knew what it was really costing... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahebron Posted June 18, 2023 Report Share Posted June 18, 2023 Plus one for the Mckenzie Physio. I used to go to a physiotherapist who trained under McKenzie. Very hands on and physical but it got the results. Strapped to the bed, knees pushed up to my chest then twist all while telling me to remember to breath. Back to measurements, the minute on the latitude side of a marine chart is one nautical mile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1969Mk3Spitfire Posted June 19, 2023 Report Share Posted June 19, 2023 6 hours ago, ahebron said: Back to measurements, the minute on the latitude side of a marine chart is one nautical mile. ………and the longitude scale along the top and bottom of the chart is also a measure of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted June 19, 2023 Report Share Posted June 19, 2023 5 hours ago, 1969Mk3Spitfire said: ………and the longitude scale along the top and bottom of the chart is also a measure of time. In the sense that one minute (1/60th) one degree of longitude (1/360th of the Earth's circumference) was defined as one nautical mile, and that the Earth turned around in 1 day, so it is unit-ish of time. Trouble is, the Earth is NOT spherical, it's an oblate spheroid, and does NOT turn at an exactly constant rate. So now, a Nautical Mile is defined as exactly 1,852 metres. Suck on that, Imperialists! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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