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Handy imperial measurement conversion guide (Original Post) Major Nikon Feb 2019 OP
Trump's ass is an axe handle wide. I didn't see axe handle. Hassin Bin Sober Feb 2019 #1
Shaftment seems a bit optimistic for him Major Nikon Feb 2019 #2
Cool chart, may have to frame it. yonder Feb 2019 #3
I always liked obscure units of measure.. Like the British Whitworth Standard... mitch96 Feb 2019 #4
That's actually really cool. krispos42 Feb 2019 #5
In aviation almost all distances are measured in nautical miles Major Nikon Feb 2019 #6
Or altitude in fathoms krispos42 Feb 2019 #7
I think I am a span short of a full spindle rurallib Feb 2019 #8
What happened to a hop and a skip? KY_EnviroGuy Feb 2019 #9

yonder

(9,631 posts)
3. Cool chart, may have to frame it.
Wed Feb 20, 2019, 02:12 PM
Feb 2019

For the garage. Mrs. yonder might have something to say about the living room.

mitch96

(13,821 posts)
4. I always liked obscure units of measure.. Like the British Whitworth Standard...
Wed Feb 20, 2019, 04:43 PM
Feb 2019

1.105 inches = 28mm... Yes I worked on British cars when I was a kid.
Another weird one used as a joke was "Furlongs per Fortnite" always cracked me up...
m

krispos42

(49,445 posts)
5. That's actually really cool.
Wed Feb 20, 2019, 06:44 PM
Feb 2019

I work in quality control so I think I'll post this someplace for shits and giggles.

The imperial system is displaying a lot of history in that chart, but then again it's always been based on what's available to measure with and what you're trying to measure.

The furlong, for example, was the distance a team of oxen could pull a plow before needing a break. Useful, but hardly scientific. So they surveyed farmland by furlongs. It was better to have a field 1 furlong deep (or wide, I guess) than some round number of a base unit simply because it looked better.

All the stuff we measure in QC is either in decimal inches to up to 4 places (with the occasional loose-tolerance fraction) or millimeters up to 3 places.

Hmmmm... a "twip" is 1 inched divided by 12, divided by 6, divided by 20, so .00069". Or as we'd say, "seven tenths" (seven, one-ten-thousandths of an inch, or 7/10,000" ). We can measure down to about a third of a twip.

Dammit, now I'm going to print this out and write down what everything it in inches or feet!

Major Nikon

(36,814 posts)
6. In aviation almost all distances are measured in nautical miles
Wed Feb 20, 2019, 07:40 PM
Feb 2019

So now everything in increments of 3 become leagues. Don’t think ATC would appreciate the reference, tho.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
9. What happened to a hop and a skip?
Thu Feb 21, 2019, 08:17 AM
Feb 2019

Thanks for the cool chart. I worked in precision measurement throughout my career and love the historical study of measurements and standards.

Example, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_(unit):

The procedure for verification of the foot as described in the 16th century by Jacob Koebel in his book Geometrei. Von künstlichem Feldmessen und absehen is:

Stand at the door of a church on a Sunday and bid 16 men to stop, tall ones and small ones, as they happen to pass out when the service is finished; then make them put their left feet one behind the other, and the length thus obtained shall be a right and lawful rood to measure and survey the land with, and the 16th part of it shall be the right and lawful foot.


That's my little pinch, smidgen and a dab's worth......... .............
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