It is well known that the USA uses miles, feet and inches and they are identical to the English versions of these units used in the UK. What is a lot less well known is the fact that the USA had two official feet, the international foot and the survey foot. By extension, there were also two versions of derived units based on these two feet. So there were survey and international versions of common units such as the mile, yard and inch. The US survey foot was deprecated at the end of last year. This deprecation act shows the importance of ensuring uniformity and common standards in measurement matters.
Continue reading “Retirement of the US survey foot”Tag: international
Quirks of US Customary Units
Some would argue that the decline of manufacturing industry in the USA contributed to Mr Trump’s surprising victory in the Presidential election*. Others might say that manufacturing’s decline was due in part to the tardy adoption of the international system of measures. Here we look at some of the quirks of ‘English measures’, a throw back to the USA’s colonial past and still widely used in America today.
The Worboys Committee Report revisited
Ronnie Cohen looks back at the 1963 Worboys Committee report and reviews how well the current version of the TSRGD addresses the main criticisms of the earlier traffic signs system and the Committee’s findings and recommendations. He suggests ways that current signage can be improved to meet the Worboys ideals.
As others see us
A recent survey carried out by IPSOS Mori on behalf of the British Council may go some way to explain the UK’s failure to complete the metric changeover.
The reports of the death of the micron are greatly exaggerated
After a two month break, Metric Views returns with an article by UKMA’s new Chairman, John Frewen-Lord, about an aspect current metric usage. (With apologies to Mark Twain for the headline). Continue reading “The reports of the death of the micron are greatly exaggerated”
Metric Views 