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Measurements

Thanks Phil for adding to and confirming my suggestion in #72 that the measuring tool was used by wheelwrights to measure the circumference of carriage wheels. Dave.
 
Birmingham Weights and Measures department in St Martin's Lane. Pewter pint mugs are being stamped with a verification mark to prevent short measures in pubs. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
nice photo viv...never heard of st martins lane must try and find out exactly where that is or was?..talking about weights and measures i still live in the pounds and ounces era:D

lyn
 
Hi lyn, Wakelin's Guide says:- 1, Digbeth. No doubt Mike will have a map!
I'm still "feet and inches" too!
rosie.
 
I find metric problems with nuts and bolts.

Today, almost everything is a metric thread, the old imperial type Whitworth's thread etcetera, is now obsolete.

As a model-maker I got used to using BA threads, and still do. BA nuts and screws can still be obtained, but not easily. I never got used to such threads as "2mm metric fine". Whitworth and BSF threads can also still be obtained from specialist suppliers, but I wonder if these are old stock and once sold that's it. Strangely, as I was employed in laboratories for much of my working life, I find metric measure of volume much easier to understand than Imperial. I can visualise "30 ml" but not "1 fluid ounce".

G
 
map c 1950 showing no 5 St Martins Lane.jpg I think the department was in the old Smithfield Markets building. According to the 1900 Kellys it was no 5 St Martins Lane, which, as can be seen on the c1950 map was on the corner of Moat row. I suspect, from the view from the window, that the room looked out onto Moat row, as it does not look like the side of St Martins



map c 1905 showing St Martins Lane.jpg
 
Wondering if the Weights and Measures building is the building on the left of this 1960s image. Not too sure of the angle. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
Just had a look on Streetview. The building in the 1960s photo would have been behind the bus in the modern view. There's a market there now. I'm not familiar with this as its changed so much since I last saw it. Viv.

image.jpeg
 
For all you dressmakers out there. Remember these ? Seem to remember them in Lathams shops. Viv

image.jpeg
 
It's for measuring lengths of cloth I think. I remember one in th eshop my mother worked in
 
Spot on Mike. The fabric passed through the lower slot and, as it was pulled through, registered the length on the dials. I think once you reached the required length, it snipped the a short cut a the edge of the fabric which, when removed, could be ripped in a straight line a long the full width of the fabric. I still use this method to rip a straight line in fabric today.

I think I remember my mum buying lengths of net curtain at Lathams, Kingstanding, measured by one of these machines, but I don't think they used the ripping method. Think they cut it with scissors. Viv.
 
I think they used them at Lewis's and also Greys (later Debenhams). I remember being fascinated watching the dial, I think the assistant then pressed a lever to make the cut before tearing the fabric. You always got a bit extra as well they didn't seem to stop on the exact measurement. As Viv said net curtain wouldn't tear so they made the cut and then used scissors.
 
Yes, I can remember seeing those!
Must have been in Greys or Lewis's - my mother used to buy materials.
 
Hi All,

I'm probably wrong but I have a vague recollection of BHam Weights & Measures having an office in Broad Street. This would be in the 1960s when I used to walk down there regularly.

On metrication, my grouse is that if you need a 6 foot length of timber ie 72", the so called metric equivalent is only 71"! Never understood why metric standard DIY sizes are 1.2m, 1.8m and 2.4m..........
 
In the construction industry 600mmm is what we call a modular unit. It allows consistency with things like fitted kitchens and built in appliances. Can you imagine if all the appliance manufacturers made their goods at odds with all the other ones.
 
Mort,

I spent some time in kitchen unit manufacture in the early 1970s when the preferred depth was 21 inches, and for people with very small or narrow kitchens, we still also made 18 inch deep units. By the mid-1970s the more luxury German kitchen units, which were 600mm deep, were starting to be imported and not long afterwards the whole building trade went metric.

A standard length of timber is now 3.6m, which if I split a length exactly in half and put down the rear seats of my Terios, I can nicely get it inside. That was OK until I decided to replace our twelve year old decking, only to find I needed a series of 1.9m lengths ! :)

Maurice
 
75,76 & 77 spot on, Greys and Lewises both had these machines, you stated the length you wanted and they pulled the material through, depressed a le er which operated a blade and pulled the material from the machine and then either tore (cotton etc) or ran the scissors through without moving the blades(heavier materials) or used the scissors to cut the material (nets, organza and delicate materials). I understand that you could not wind the material back through if you over measured and my grandmother preferred Greys to Lewises as they gave a better over measure. Does a yone remember how they would deliver your purchase all neatly wrapped in brown paper and string in the late forties. I have a remembrance of my grand other who was a very superior woman, telling the shop assistant to "put it on my account and have it delivered this afternoon" We then went for tea and cakes at a cafe upstairs in the arcade that fronted onto Colmore Row before taking the 78 tram home, to find the material and other sewing accoutrements delivered.
Bomb
 
A tale about the builder's merchants, this guy walked in,

"Three 6'6" lengths of 4x2 please."

"Sorry mate it's all metric now."

So they set about converting his order to metric finally get it worked out.

"So how much is it?"

"A pound a foot mate."
 
I know some folks don’t like metric, I suppose I am fortunate in that I was in the middle of the changeover and am happy to use both.


I remember the days of 4 and three quarter yards at seventeen and sixpence halfpenny
 
As I taught metric for many years I am happy with lengths in either system but always cook using Imperial weights!
 
My breadmaker has recipes using the "cup provided", I must remenber one day to weigh the cup of flour as it is a different size from the previous one!
I used work in a kitchen, part of my job was to make the bread rolls but it's not the same when you're only making one loaf instead of 600 rolls!!

My husband was measuring some cable one day for a customer who complained that he wasn't doing it correctly. My husband made a mark, then re-measured and cut exactly. He had "over-measured" by at least one foot so the customer lost out!!
rosie.
 
superdad3 said:
Hi All,

I'm probably wrong but I have a vague recollection of BHam Weights & Measures having an office in Broad Street. This would be in the 1960s when I used to walk down there regularly.

On metrication, my grouse is that if you need a 6 foot length of timber ie 72", the so called metric equivalent is only 71"! Never understood why metric standard DIY sizes are 1.2m, 1.8m and 2.4m..........
Click to expand...

You're quite right about the B'ham Weights and Measures Department being in Broad Street. I worked there as a trainee Weights and Measures Inspector in 1974. The building still exists - it's the Brasshouse pub/restaurant! We used to test pub pint glasses for accuracy there, just like in that old photo.

Phil P.
 
Welcome Phil, thanks for confirming that. A nice addition to our history. Enjoy the firum. Viv.
 
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