There are subtle differences I think between some US and UK measurements I think, fluids I think? I never liked fluid ounces etc, I¡¯ll stick to pints, quarts and gallons (and of course gills and jacks).
The yard (three feet) is meant to be the length between the nose and the end of the finger of an outstretched hand (outstretched to the side that is, not in front). In guesstimating distance it is reckoned to be a stride.
All this talk of measurement makes me wonder how people managed in times gone by. I have an interest in film photography and old lenses, and have been particularly fascinated by the UK company Taylor, Taylor, Hobson (who eventually introduced and manufactured the famous ¡®Cooke¡¯ lenses). They were early adopters of the RPS standard which used Whitworth threads in specific sizes for lenses and fixing flanges, 24TPI or 12TPI, depending on size. The fit of these items is truly delicious, made in the late 1800s. ?(TTH also made and sold machinery, including engravers and measurement equipment. One of their lesser known later inventions is dimples on the golf ball !)
Then we have clocks¡ I was lucky enough to see some wonderful, beautiful Harrison clocks at an exhibition at the Greenwich Observatory (London) in the millennium year, 2000. The tale of Harrison and the competition set by the Navy to solve the problem of accurate navigation is quite well known and drove their development I think.
How on earth did he achieve such accuracy, so long ago? The horologists among us may know¡
It seems stuff is all too easy these days, calculators, computers, DRO, CNC, digital everything. I¡¯m just pleased to have discovered dial indicators (having spent the vast majority of my 66 years blissfully unaware of their existence :-)
