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Measurements

Thanks Jim for sorting out my allotment rods!

Nice piece of history Dave. Must find time to go and have a look in the Guildhall. Having had a look around the internet it seems the inch and yard has changed many times in history while the metre has remained the same. The mind boggles.

Some seem to have taken the move from Imperial to Metric in their strides while others use Metric only when necessary. But how on earth did we ever learn all this stuff? Most of us were probably reared on the Imperial system alone, but we should think ourselves lucky. Today's 11-14 year olds have to get to grips with both systems right from the start. Viv.

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1426713675.904270.jpg
 
Our Co-op coalman, a Mr Roberts used to deliver the coal in 1 cwt sacks. I think I remember 10cwt at a delivery = coalhouse full. All day every day five days a week. He earned his money. He wore a leather collar-cum-back cover, I don't know it's proper name. I bet he needed it and that his back was still tender and sore by the
weekend.
 
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Hi John. I wondered how householders could be sure they got the correct weight of coal delivered. I remember the coal man bringing the sacks down the side of the house and flipping them over into the coal house. He took the sacks away. Never saw my mum count them in, let alone check if the sacks were properly filled to = a cwt. and I doubt Weights and Measures had any real influence over deliveries in the 50s. Don't think we ever ordered a full load to fill up our coal house. Never saw it particularly full. So I expect we ordered small measures but more frequently. Viv.
 
There were scales on the back of the lorry and just after WWII nobody would think of cheating you anyway. BUT - you can rest assured the bags were counted in alright.
 
Black market was rife during/after WW2. (watch "Foyles War") Just a little coal from each bag would make up an extra sack which was five shillings in the pocket for the coal man!
 
img225.jpgimg226.jpgimg227.jpg To refresh the older members of the Forum I have selected three pages from my 1948 Bournville School Maths book. This is what measurements were all about in those days; sent to torment the 11yr olds!! As paper was still scarce we had to fold each page down the centre and use both sides. If you can read the comment in red on the last pic a teacher's comment says I had taken up too much room!!! We even had to use the covers of the book to help save paper. Those were the days!!!!!
 
I'm told this is now called adding to a different base, now taught, we just did it 'cause it was what you had to do.
 
I'm not sure if my memory is playing tricks but somewhere I have seen measurements marked out on a pavement, I think it was down the side of Birmingham Town Hall?
rosie.
 
lt amazes me that times tables are'nt taught in schools at least not in american schools like we were..my grand children never where..in the early grades l could run circles around them and they were quite shocked how l was able get answers quicker than they could...that was all thanks to the teachings at Burlington street school, ...does anyone remember how we would recite our tables every morning untill we could say them in our sleep...now they do'nt have to know them as the calculater does it for them....Brernda
 
Vivienne14 said:
Anyone know why all schools teach algebra? Don't know if I've used much algebra since leaving school all those decades ago. Do we generally use algebra day to day? Or am I missing something? Most probably ! Viv.
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Hi Viv,
I worked in engineering design and used algebra and calculus. Through most of my working life we had to calculate the weights of complicated forging shapes and I can remember spending an hour or two in the office after a good lunch calculating the weight of a forging. Towards the end of my working days we acquired a CAD computer program with which we solid modelled the forging, spun it round on screen to admire it, then with a click of the mouse, watched a dimensioned drawing appear on screen, and with another click of the mouse the computer instantly calculated the weight. With further mouse clicks, the CAD program produced tool drawings and costed everything as we looked on .... feeling somewhat redundant !

I retired just in time ...
 
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004.JPGHope this image of the eclipse from Pembroke does not break any rules regarding measurement posts, but if it wasn't for measurements we wouldn't know when and where to look for it.
 
anvil man said:
OldMowhark and devonjim I've gone back to my old school book and found a nice example of the use of brackets in fraction.1948.
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I never liked fractions and was much better with decimals.
In the late 1950s having done my National Service and back in my job, I decided to get some good qualifications and started night school doing three nights per week at the excellent Aston Technical College. I've found one of my books with calculations about beams and notice I was working in tons, feet, and inches and was doing little sums on the side in the days of no calculators. Looking at my work it's all a mystery to me now !
page1 (Small).jpgpage2 (Small).jpg
 
When i was working our department used to have to audit the raw material and finished goods in a saw mill.

I seem to recall the audit controller having to calculate some of the material in centisteres or even decicentisteres, talk about double dutch...
 
badpenny said:
When i was working our department used to have to audit the raw material and finished goods in a saw mill. I seem to recall the audit controller having to calculate some of the material in centisteres or even decicentisteres, talk about double dutch...
Click to expand...
Well, I never knew until today that a stère was a cubic metre of stacked firewood !
I will have to remember that when I order some logs for the log burner ... ;)
 
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Well I confess never heard of a stere or even the imperial equivalent "a cord" a pile of wood 8'x4'x4'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Is that why sheet material in the building trade is (or maybe was) 8'x4'. And so it follows that rafters and stud partitions are at 16" centres.
 
When metric measurements were first used in the building industry to my cost I found that plaster board was imperial 8ft long and metric 120cm wide. I had secured battens around a room at centres to suit 48in width only to find that the 120cm width did not match being just over 47in. I was unaware of the double standards used and had to adjust accordingly!!
 
image.jpeg

I was going to bid on this today on eBay but missed out. However, I'm still intrigued as to what it was used to measure. Any ideas? The seller's description was:

Wooden Measuring Wheel with Roman Numerals
This is a complete mystery to us we know nothing of its history or its age! 30cm Long The wheel is 34cm Diameter it looks as if its been well used


Viv.



 
I just worked out the circumference of the wheel and got it roughly to one yard, but then realised I had used the wrong formula. Using the correct one it arrives at 106.76 cm, does anybody know a Roman measurement equivalent to this?
 
I got the same result. I doubt if it was a Roman measurement unit. The thing doesn't look that old. They did use Roman numerals for many things (like dates) up till the mid 19th century.. Mind you that does not help much. It makes the circumference 41.78 inches. the wheel is divided into 16 (presumably nominally equal spaced) divisions, which makes each division 2.6 inches.
 
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With a handle not much longer than the diameter of the wheel it looks like it would measure something on tables or length of external walls on buildings .... not a wheel to push along floors !
 
Can anyone make sense of the characters on the wheel itself around where the handle joins it? Viv.
 
Thanks Phil. There's a drilled hole at the end of the handle, so could it have been joined to something? Viv.
 
Viv

The hole was probably where a cord or strap was laced through so it could be hung up.
 
Viv

I believe it's a Wheelwrights traveller tool that was used by blacksmiths to measure wooden waggon wheels when fitting metal tyres. This is a photo of another one but a little less elaborate.
 

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