No one was more unhappy than me when this country went to the metric system back in 1967, metric money and all but after 30 odd years i’m sold on it.
When I started to do the calculations for my Garden Railway I was amazed to find out how simple it made things and I would suggest that even non metric people look at the benefits and consider doing all measurements and calculations in this system.
For instance if you do your horizontal measurements in metres and your verticle in centimetres and divide one into the other the percntage gradient is automatic. Say you have a strectch of rail 23’ or 7 m long which has to rise by 10" or 25 cm.
Thence 10"(25cm) / 23’ (7m0 = 25/7 = 3.6 %, what could be easier
It is harder to do the conversion to metric than the calculation itself is true but just do the measurements in metric to start with, and voila your doing it easy.
I would be interested to hear what others think of this idea.
For some strange reason America has never embraced the metric system. My brother is an automobile mechanic and his associates have all types of trouble with the metic tools.
I guess the metic system is to…European, for Americans to adopt. We measure distance in miles per Hour and the idea of kilometers per hour is sort of unusual. Same with temp, we like 100 degree heat and would be put off by the temp of the climate that showed its centigrade equal.
We in America have had a special admiration for Austrialia, but I think the myth and stereotypes are more engrained than the turer image. Let me know what the mainland is like, and thanks for holding on to General MacArthur during his darkes days.
By the way, I have a purple star. What does that signify?
We as engineers are just seeing road plans in metric! (New England)Problem most places do not carry metric tape measures in the 100’ + range! They will catch up I think!
I could not imagine using metric on a daily basis in the construction industry.
However alot of cabinet hardware and drill bits are metric and we use them.
I do however hate working on my cars, the old ones are U.S. standard and the new ones metric it just takes more tools.
Aaaaaaaaaah one of my favourite topics! (the other being “Scale vs Gauge”[}:)][}:)])
Well by the end of this month it will be 35 years that I arrived in Canada (from Switzerland). It was quite a culture shock to move from a state of the art, high-tech toolroom to the NorthAmerican industry.
Oh yeah, of course everything was in Imperial measures! I remember as clear as if it were yesterday the second measuring instrument I purchased; it was/is an Etalon 0-1" micrometer on which each turn is 0.1". None of that nonsense of missreading by .025"!
Now when it came to reading NA blueprints that certainly was an interesting learning experience. The biggest difference was and is that NA drawings have all kinds of written instructions/notes/reminders (unless they conform to ISO). European drawings give you the measurements, tolerances are denoted in the ISO format, special processes are noted with an ISO number. In short, why clutter up a perfectly good drawing with all manner of written stuff if one doesn’t need to.
Yes the metric system is much easier!
I won’t even get into the intricacies of how and why tolerances are designated in the Imperial system.
Once you get the hang of metric, you’ll never look back. OTOH using the Imperial measures remains a challenge even for those who use them on a daily basis i.e. what’s the decimal equivalent of 17/64" or 71/128".
And as I know from customers in the USA, metric measuring tapes are not as hard to find as they once were.
And no, automotive giant GM had no luck convincing the metric standards people that a 6.3mm bolt/screw would be a splendid idea. Yes, they tried! [;)][;)][}:)]
The metric system has fewer steps in the sizing of the tooling ( Allen keys, open-end wrenches and sockets), but many of the mfgs delight in using special tooling for all kinds of gizmos. It drives the people in the trade just as nuts as the weekend mechanics!
It was a big headache for me to start with but after 30 years or so I’ve got used to it to some extrent, but somethings are still hard to visulise. It waqs even harder here as we didn’t even have metric money 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillinbgs in a pound not easy dollars and cents as we have now.
I used to be 5’ 8" tall now I think I am 1.7 M and what about buying milk in lots of 300 millilitres instaed of a pint. But the hardest is puming my tyres (tires) up to 250 hectapascals instead of 32 lbs/sq".
As far as HJ is concerned it seems you went through just the opposite to what we did 30 years ago and it isn;'t easyat first but well worth it in the end.
Tp Cpt Carreles I think having a Purple Star means you are a very decent and brave man. It would also indicate that you are an old digger (veteran) and good luck to you, as I have a long memory as well to do with our countries combined wartime tribualtions.
However taking into account the irreverence of some Australians, in some parts it means you haven’t got Mobey *** and that you are immune to it.
I assume you are talking about those fellows in your parliament that “railed” President Bush. I think it is just a culture shock. You see, if you have satellite television and you need to get some sleep please tune into “C-Span” and let the US Congress (the Senate and/or the House of Representatives) lull you to sleep.
I have seen the British Parliament and some of the Australian Parliament and it is far livelier than our Congress ever could get.
But, it is there that I will stop since I normally save my political rants for political forums and do not wi***o taint this pristine environment with the stench of political disagreement and fighting.
I would, however, like to learn more ‘bout Australian culture as well as railroading.
Well learning the Imperial bit to the ninth was certainly interesting and as the saying goes: One never stops learning.[:)]
Matt,
This may seem odd but to this day I measure most wood projects in inches. Something to do with the “happy mess” where the thickness of plywood is Metric but most other dimensions are still in inches.[:0][:0]
And in the garden I work with a 50ft measuring tape that has both metric and inches.
Having been in or working for the U.S. Army for 42 years, where maps were all in metric measure, and driving in Germany for six years, I found metrics to actually be easier to deal with than the mish-mash of inches, feet, tons, gallons, and other measures as used in the U.S. and Great Britain. Even between our two countries, the measures are not the same. A British Imperial Gallon and U.S. Gallon are not the same, for example.
Here in S.E. Arizona, Interstate 19 which runs only from Tucson south to the U.S./Mexico border, approximately 70 miles, has metric signs that were put up when it was built in the early 1980s; however, they are now going back and replacing all of those signs with mile markers instead of metric.
The metric system certainly makes more sense. Take any unit of measure, multiply it by 10 or divide by 10 and you’re automatically at the next logical level( mm to meters, liters to millileters, etc - yes I know that’s X100 and /100).
However, as an old dog who’s grown up on MPH and inches and ounces, it’s really hard to get my mind around celsius, kilometers, and grams. I just KNOW that 90MPH is pretty fast but I just don’t have a feel for 160KPH. I instinctively reach for a 1/2" socket but have to really study a 13mm bolt and then try 3 or 4 metric sockets until I get the right one. If I were forced to adopt the metric system I could/would, but I would prefer to keep the system we now have because it’s the one I’m most comfortable with. Oops … I guess that pretty well describes what a conservative is.
RhB_HJ, I’ve been a carpenter for 13 or14yrs? anyway we always add a fuzz per say like 49 9/16 heavy instead of 32nds or we say leave the line or take it off when cutting a board. If the industry switches to metric or my tools get stolen again(knock on wood) I quit! Somebody steel my tools, please.
Hey all,
Be thankfull you don’t live in Canada where we use both Metric AND Standard. Our former Prime Minister…Pierre Elliot (gotta’ leave a mark somehow) Trudeau decided to bring in Metric when I was a wee lad. Problem was he never finished the job. Go to any supermarket and all the scales read in lbs. and kg. Go figure??? Oh well. Hey Matt…in my garage I have TWO sets of tools! When fixing my rides I never know which I will need. Time for bed…Later eh…Brian.
We Brits have had the metric system for some 30 yrs now but you tend to find that you use what you where taught at school. I went to school in the 50’s/60’s so I still convert back to imperial when I can. I remember the old prices when a pint of beer was 1 shilling and 9 pence. I had a pint last night and it was £1-95 or £1 and 19 shillings! That’s gone from 1 and 3 quarter shillings to 39 shillings!! I hope it doesn’t happen to you guys in the states, if it does you will be ripped off in the conversion - we where!
Anyway, agree with vsmith above, who measures on a railroad? If it looks right, it must be right.
Cheers,
Kim
just a footnote to the above guys. You’ll be ripped off in the conversion to kg’s, ltr’s etc. Still, at the end of the day a box of track will always be a box of track.
Cheers,
Kim
LOL, yeah I live and work with both! here in the UK, we drive with MPH tho the speedo also show KPH, but fill our fuel tanks in litres, Road signs are in miles. I service my Vauxhall(General Motors) 4x4 with a half inch drive and metric sockets. Old British manufactured cars used Imperial, so we all have 2 sets of sockets and 2 sets of spanners, feeler guages etc. I go to the biulders merchants and buy in metric, timber, cement etc, Plumbing still has both metric and imperial!, and I do a fair amout of that. Wall and floor tiles can be bought in both sizes too. We buy in Kilos when shopping too. I think the UK is trying to adopt metrification because of the influence of Europe but we have to live with both untill such time future generations only know metric and then we will completely change.By and large it’s surprisingly easy to work with! Actually with the railway it makes it a joy, it means I can run both metre guage and 3 foot guage, and that represents no problem.