Multicultural measuring!

[palinurus]

In my industry values for viscosity are often given on product datasheets. Values from a particular- widely used- make of viscometer are quoted in centipoise (cP), but these are typically large values- in the hundreds of thousands or millions- so the values are sometimes written as kilocentipoise, kCp (not on datasheets that I've written though!)

 

[KEEF]

Tyre sizes

 

[slowmotion]

Wire Gauge. What's that all about???? The thicker the wire, the smaller the WG!

Is it like a competition....... ( ...and the winner, at number One is quite incredibly thick...?)

 

[Cubist]

We had a physics teacher who was a bit of a traditionalist, always wore brogue shoes, cheque shirt etc etc. We thought we'd take the piss and get him to give us his opinion on how much better imperial was than metric. It all backfired as he made us do a load of velocity calculations, and insisted we worked it out in furlongs per fortnight.

 

[palinurus]

Wire Gauge. What's that all about???? The thicker the wire, the smaller the WG!

It's the drawing process- the thinner the wire, the more dies it must be drawn through to reduce it to the correct size. Not that that makes it a better measurement than diameter.

 

[Fab Foodie]

In my industry values for viscosity are often given on product datasheets. Values from a particular- widely used- make of viscometer are quoted in centipoise (cP), but these are typically large values- in the hundreds of thousands or millions- so the values are sometimes written as kilocentipoise, kCp (not on datasheets that I've written though!)

You're posh... we still use flow-cups and stop-watches... :troll:

Working in European factories with American built processing lines I used to calculate throughputs and loadings in kilograms per square foot.

 

[slowmotion]

It's the drawing process- the thinner the wire, the more dies it must be drawn through to reduce it to the correct size. Not that that makes it a better measurement than diameter.

Well I never! Thanks for that.

 

[mcshroom]

Before I got a computer thingy in the car to tell me the mpg, I always used to work out my fuel economy in miles per litre when I filled up.

Staying on fuel economy, it always seems strange to me that the metric industrial standard is in litres/100km. Why not km/l?

 

[mcshroom]

Slightly OT but at work we have some 17'6" height barriers. When they metricated the measurements around site these were changed to metres, but the conversion is signed as 5.334 m. I guess all the truck drivers must know their vehicle heights to the mm too

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I guess all the truck drivers must know their vehicle heights to the mm too

Not all, we've had a few bridge hitters over the years!

 

[palinurus]

Before I got a computer thingy in the car to tell me the mpg, I always used to work out my fuel economy in miles per litre when I filled up.

Use of those units makes a lot of sense in the UK.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Slightly OT but at work we have some 17'6" height barriers. When they metricated the measurements around site these were changed to metres, but the conversion is signed as 5.334 m. I guess all the truck drivers must know their vehicle heights to the mm too

Not to the mm. Although there's nothing brushes up your conversion skillss like hurtling towards a bridge maked up at 14'6" with a trailer marked up at 4.2m ...

 

[661-Pete]

Our bread-making recipe is dead easy to remember. Main ingredients: 2 Kg of flour; 2 pints of water. Yeast, salt, a little oil. Simples!

 

[slowmotion]

OK, what's all this about, size-wise ???

1) Self-tapping screws

2) Pozidrive screws

3) a Number 8 wood screw anybody?

Sure, there are explanations, but they don't make it easy do they?

{it makes it fun though}

 

[BrumJim]

Going back to the railways for a second, 4ft 8.5 inches, what sort of cocked-up measurement is that to have as you track gauge? ANd the worst part is a lot of the rest of the globe adopted it too!!! Yes, I know, it's supposed to be the width between a roman chariots' wheels which was adopted by the early wooden wagon railed ways and then on to the steam rails, but why stick with such a patently daft measurement! Round it up to 5ft at the very least.
Or better, it should have been lobbed out when Brunel proposed his 7ft broad gauge, just think how big yer trains could be!

Bit of an urban myth. There are several different gauges, even around Europe, all around the 4ft 8inches region. Spanish and Russians have different gauges. Whole fascinating article here: Wikipedia alert

7 ft gauge wouldn't have survived. The bigger the gauge, the thicker the axles and the larger the smallest possible sensible curve. 4ft 8 is a nice compromise in most terrains - mountainous regions need tighter curves, and therefore narrow gauge is popular. Aldolf Hitler even tried to introduce a very broad gauge to Germany. However unlike the motorway and the Beetle, this idea wasn't popular or practical.