Welcome back pounds & ounces

[dunnah01]

No takers then?

I'm not going to even try it in Imperial.

The same dimensions in metric are :- 10 m x 10 m x 0.1 m = 10 cu m. = 3.2 T cement, 6 T sand and 12 T aggregate = 21.3T

10 cwts is almost the same as 0.5 T so he will have to go 43 times to collect 21.3 T

The trailer is 2 m X 1.5 m x 0.5 m = 1.5 cu.m - so the volume of the trailer is not a limiting factor.

C20 concrete has a characteristic compressive strength of 20N/mm2 - what imperial strength concrete should we use?

 

[spikehcm681]

C20 concrete has a characteristic compressive strength of 20N/mm2 - what imperial strength concrete should we use?

Fazakerly! - as they say in Liverpool (one of the Scousers on here will explain it)

 

[CamperJack]

Funny world.

Educated in metric. Use it for almost everything. Can't help Dad with wood work when he starts talking in imperial, spouting nonsense like a 1/16 of an inch. What's that? And I certainly can't do my 16 times table as well as my 10 or 100 or 1000. Who can? 1320 mm is much easier than whatever that would be in feet, inches and a silly fraction stuck on the end.

There are a few exceptions.

Most interestingly fishing. My rods are measured in feet and inches. Fish in pounds and ounces. A good roach weighs 2lb and my personal best carp was 18lb 5oz. Stones aren't used in fishing, but are in people. Why?

Fishing line (in my head at least) is measure in lbs breaking strain. Although it's becoming more common to measure it in diameter. No idea why. Personally I'd rather know at what strain it breaks but whatever...

I weigh myself in stones and pounds. (again too many). But having to work in multiples of 14 pounds a stone seems unnecessarily complicated when used to lovely round multiples of 10, 100 and 1000 using SI units. My head it battered even more when I consider pounds are broken up into 16 ounces. So not only do you need to know how to multiply and divide by 16, you also need 14!

Also measure road distance in miles, because that's what the signs and my car say. Sure I could get behind a move to kilometres.

 

[Nedge68]

Given that the metric system is more accurate and easyer to use and an internationally system again this is self sabotage. I suspect this is another dead cat story to divert attention from the real issues but what do I know !

More accurate? I think you will find both systems are accurate, agreed metric systems are easier to understand, we are in a mess now because we have had a foot in both camps for so long. We must be the only country to be using miles and mpg and buying fuel in litres, and I have always inflated my tyres using pounds per square inch.

 

[spikehcm681]

I was (school) teaching in the late 1960s and early 70s - the Teachers' "Comic" (it came out every Friday and everyone turned immediatley to the back pages - where the job advertisements where) was the Times Educational Supplement.

There was always a cartoon on the back page - the week before decimalisation of the currency it depicted an elderly Master, wearing his Mortar board and gown, standing at the blackboard on which he's written a long-division sum in pounds shillings and pence.
The caption underneath has him telling the class " You've only got a week left to be able to do this - and you still can't get it right!"

There was also a story of a local milk man who, sever al months before "D-Day" thought it would be a good idea if he started using decimal currency with his elderly customers - so that he could help them before they had to use it in the shops.

He was explaining the new currency - and his idea - to one old lady and she replied "Don't bother about me love - I don't reckon it will catch on!"

On a serious point - (if this is a serious proposal and not a dead-cat strategy) I wonder if any of the politicians who are advocating a return to a dual system have consulted those who will have to implement it ? To wit, manufacturers, shops and teachers. If it's anything like the idea to remove cheques from the business world and you are eagerly anticipating a return to a choice of the Imperial system - I wouldn't hold you breath. So if doesn't come to pass those who have been pressing for a return to the Imperial system will be even more disgruntled!
(And people like me will be severely gruntled!)

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[Larrynwin]

I’m an old un ish and familiar with LSD but as far as what has been announced I couldn’t give tuppence , or two hoots as nobody afaik is being compelled to change anything, just a choice being given .
A pound to a penny this will soon be forgotten

 

[Li150]

I’m an old un ish and familiar with LSD but as far as what has been announced I couldn’t give tuppence , or two hoots as nobody afaik is being compelled to change anything, just a choice being given .
A pound to a penny this will soon be forgotten

Familiar with LSD ???

 

[Larrynwin]

Familiar with LSD ???

I must clarify Pounds Shillings and Pence , never touched nasty drugs

 

[Coolcats]

More accurate? I think you will find both systems are accurate, agreed metric systems are easier to understand, we are in a mess now because we have had a foot in both camps for so long. We must be the only country to be using miles and mpg and buying fuel in litres, and I have always inflated my tyres using pounds per square inch.

Of course an inch is an inch as is a 1/4 or 1/8 or 1/16 or 1/32 or 1/64 however when using a steel rule metric is always easier to use and I find my DIY works out much easier in millimetres and therefor more accurate.

 

[Guigsy]

I can't find any hard figures, but from the dates of switchover and the age profile of the UK, it looks like only about 20% of the population were taught imperial measurements at school. And the majority of those 20% were also taught metric.

And the UK switched to metric 7 years before joining the EEC.

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[autorouter]

Of course an inch is an inch as is a 1/4 or 1/8 or 1/16 or 1/32 or 1/64 however when using a steel rule metric is always easier to use and I find my DIY works out much easier in millimetres and therefor more accurate

In Engineering they don't use 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 or 1/64. They use tenths, hundredths and thousandths of an inch - a thousandth is commonly called a 'thou'. In other words, decimalised inches

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[bobandjanie]

If they want to change anything this would be a good start, it might make feel better.

Because we are sat in the UK freezing, only last week we had 38°c in Spain. Bob.

 

[Coolcats]

In Engineering they don't use 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 or 1/64. They use tenths, hundredths and thousandths of an inch - a thousandth is commonly called a 'thou'. In other words, decimalised inches

And there you have it a system designed to build in mistakes unintentionally of course

 

[jockaneezer]

And there you have it a system designed to build in mistakes unintentionally of course

I'm not sure how it's designed to "build in mistakes" ? 1/4 of an inch is 250 thou, an 1/8" is 125 thou, same as (for some people, but not engineers) 1cm is 10mm ?
I was in my last year at primary school when we changed to decimal currency, the back cover of my jotters had measurements in rods, poles and perches and the times tables went up to twelve.
We used a mixture of Imp and metric in secondary school and when I started as an apprentice, the industry I was in was wholly imperial and still is now.
I can "visualise" what 5 thou looks like, but would struggle if someone said "That needs another 0.127 mm taken off it" ?

 

[MattR]

I can't find any hard figures, but from the dates of switchover and the age profile of the UK, it looks like only about 20% of the population were taught imperial measurements at school. And the majority of those 20% were also taught metric.

And the UK switched to metric 7 years before joining the EEC.

It seems that BJ is desperate to appeal to the small section of society that can't cope with metric and the small number of folk who get excited about an imperial stamp on a pint glass.

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[Wildbill]

I was just getting used to asking for 0.568 letters
And thay have changed it again
Bill

 

[autorouter]

I was just getting used to asking for 0.568 letters
And thay have changed it again
Bill

Don't worry, you can ask for 28.875 cubic inches, which as everyone knows is a pint

In case you can't remember, that's a cube with a side of 3.068 inches (to the nearest thou).

 

[Wildbill]

I worked in the drilling industry dependant on the client on one job it would be ft but the American had 10 in in a ft and all ID OD's in imperial
Work with barils per ft hole volumes pump volumes
The franch woul have meters but sometimes imperial hole diameter and qubick meters for hole volumes and pump volumes in bbls per stroke just to confuse us the ID and OD of the drilling equipment would be in Imperial
When I went in to water well drilling sume clients used . meters sun used feet and sume used fathoms.
No wonder I have issues in later life

Bill

 

[autorouter]

When I went in to water well drilling sume clients used . meters sun used feet and sume used fathoms.

Ah, fathoms - now that's a proper imperialist imperial measure

 

[RandallC]

OK, Dipped in and out of this thread;
Given the current political issues it's a smoke screen to take folks minds off certain Politicians and events
OR
You can't be serious, its a late April fool.
OR
A politician/friend/business partner has an interest in the return to these units (scales, etc etc) and sees an opportunity for a bit of profit.
OR
It's simply a diversion to cloud any further investigation in to the lying, self serving, in it for them selves government.

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[Abacist]

I left school in 1970 and started training to become a chartered accountant. In 1971 we had decimalisation and in 1973 VAT was introduced. Both were an excuse for prices to rise and for the consumer to get ripped off!

One that has not been mentioned is the Hoppus Foot which is an imperial measurement sometimes used in the hardwood timber trade but not for softwood.

It is a measure of standing timber and what it will produce in terms of cut timber including wastage.

We had a couple of clients who bought chain saws when they left school and went into the timber trade. They developed a huge skill in profitably buying standing timber which they then felled and sold for timber buying from landed estates, farms etc.

 

[Guigsy]

In Engineering they don't use 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 or 1/64. They use tenths, hundredths and thousandths of an inch - a thousandth is commonly called a 'thou'. In other words, decimalised inches

RS PRO External Micrometer, Range 0 →1 in, With UKAS Calibration | RS

uk.rs-online.com

My brother-in-law does low volume part manufacturing. Machining, milling exotic alloys and playing with carbon fibre. He's worked for military weapons manufacturers, an F1 team and currently works for a firm that makes parts for race teams. He uses microns and mils.

When I was doing software for the Jaguar Land Rover factories, all the data passed to and from the robots and measuring systems was in metric.

 

[olley]

Totally incorrect! I learned all about foot pounds and foot poundals, horsepower and BThU, g was 32fpsps when I was in third form (1964).
Then it all changed to cgs (centimetre gramme seconds) so we had ergs and dynes in fourth form and rationalised mks in sixth form (I can almost remember the conversion from electrostatic volts to electromagnetic volts )

Fortunately at university everything was to be done in SI units but the nuclear physics lecturer, who was also Head of Department, insisted that he would only teach in cgs BUT the exam questions would be in SI.

Gordon

As an exercise wing commander Lukes got us to calculate the final speed of the college lift if the cable broke, so I remember 32fpsps and that was 1968.

 

[Rapido925M]

If they want to change anything this would be a good start, it might make feel better.

View attachment 624267
Because we are sat in the UK freezing, only last week we had 38°c in Spain. Bob.

Easier to remember:

16C. =. 61F
28C. =. 82F

And of course:

-40C. =. -40F
(Hopefully no one is experiencing this at the moment )

Gordon

 

[jockaneezer]

I've just remembered that my Dad had a tape measure that you put around a pig's belly and it gave you an estimate of the animal's weight, I don't remember what the values were, but it was probably calibrated in oinkriments ?

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[Chrisvh]

I can't find any hard figures, but from the dates of switchover and the age profile of the UK, it looks like only about 20% of the population were taught imperial measurements at school. And the majority of those 20% were also taught metric.

And the UK switched to metric 7 years before joining the EEC.

Don’t spoil the fantasy.

 

[dash300]

It seems that BJ is desperate to appeal to the small section of society that can't cope with metric and the small number of folk who get excited about an imperial stamp on a pint glass.

You have made some massive assumptions there. Who is this 'small section of society that can't cope with metric'. I would think that there are a section of the community that equally can't cope with Imperial! No problem stay with Metric, I use it myself when it suits. I like my steak in 8oz 12oz or 16oz not grams because I can visulise a steak in that form of measurement. That is my preference and I like that choice being available when purchasing. You are assuming a number of folk are getting excited about a stamp on a pint glass. I very much doubt it unless you are talking about the metric Europhiles Republicans and Wokes linking it with that nasty British Empire . I think you might perhaps be falling for the floundering press stories desperately seeking to create a story which ain't there.

 

[Duck Truck]

Excellent range of tiny island backward looking mentalities on show
I am 72 learnt to live with where we are now as most people have realistically
And as for young people they only know one system and that's metric
Us oldies like imperial will just be happy memories in the not too distant future
So give it a break!!!!
It's bad enough putting up with Brexit chaos without
Bloody turning to imperial again

 

[MattR]

You have made some massive assumptions there. Who is this 'small section of society that can't cope with metric'. I would think that there are a section of the community that equally can't cope with Imperial! No problem stay with Metric, I use it myself when it suits. I like my steak in 8oz 12oz or 16oz not grams because I can visulise a steak in that form of measurement. That is my preference and I like that choice being available when purchasing. You are assuming a number of folk are getting excited about a stamp on a pint glass. I very much doubt it unless you are talking about the metric Europhiles Republicans and Wokes linking it with that nasty British Empire . I think you might perhaps be falling for the floundering press stories desperately seeking to create a story which ain't there.

Earlier in the thread we were asked to consider the old folk who can't manage metric. I am sure that they would be excited to see imperial measures again. I would suggest that there is a considerably larger section of society that can't cope with using imperial measurements beyond using miles, pints and half-pints.

Europfiles Republicans and Wokes will look at it as it seems to be ... a posturing excercise to disctract attention from more serious and more important issues. I would suggest that a significant number of other UK nationals will look at it in the same way.

And, thanks for the thought, but no, I am not falling for the floundering press story that isn't there. I have been just contributing to the thread which included some excitement about the return of the opportunity to buy goods in imperial measurements again.

 

[Nedge68]

Anyone fancy a quick 568ml?

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