I have sinned - Now Using Metric more than English Units

[Tusayan]

Following on in the aviation theme, here is a recent video that shows the trials and tribulations involved with maintaining an aircraft manufactured with metric non-standard parts.  This would be the same anywhere in the world - the factories that did or still do it (typically in certain eras of Russian, Chinese, Czech, Italian, German, Spanish or French production) use custom made everything, including nuts and bolts, and even if the company is still in existence, e.g. Socata in France or Airbus Helicopters, and anything you need is supplied to order and very expensive.  If the manufacturer instead uses commercial metric hardware, they have to self certify it meaning that you still have to buy it from them, by their part number, to avoid breaking the law. If the manufacturer is no longer in existence, the aircraft typically goes into Experimental airworthiness category, losing some of its utility, and you make your own parts.  That’s OK if you’re a vastly wealthy collector like Kermit Weeks, with support staff to get hard things done.  This is by the way a really wonderful airplane that is worthy of the effort and expense...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XXR7c4gS4N8

[Lannis]

Following on in the aviation theme, here is a recent video that shows the trials and tribulations involved with maintaining an aircraft manufactured with metric non-standard parts. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XXR7c4gS4N8

That's really good.   I intended to just pull it up and glance at it, but it hooked me and I watched all 20 minutes of it.   

LOTS of good stuff in there that would help someone who is restoring an old motorcycle to understand the problems and issues you can face (like me with my 1934 Matchless), and good shop practice and organization solutions too.

Thanks for the link!

Lannis

[sign216]

That's a US pint.  The English (Imperial) pint is 568.26125 ml.

The difference between a US pint and an English one is that the US pint has 16 fluid ounces, and the English pint has 20 fluid ounces.  So you would think that a US pint is 0.8 of an English one in volume.  Not so, because the ounces are slightly difference in size.

Ain't standards wonderful?

So an English pint is 20 oz, while the American pint is 16?  16 oz is a healthy pour, but 20 really does it. 

Gives new meaning to the Beatles lyric "All I need is a pint a day." 

Especially when taken into the lesser weight of people a few years ago.  In WW1 wasn't the average weight of a soldier around 115 lbs (52 kg)? 
20 oz of beer would be enough for one sitting for that lad.

[jcctx]

None of that matters if your tool kit is a couple crescents and a few worn out screwdrivers??  :>)

[molly]

So an English pint is 20 oz, while the American pint is 16?  16 oz is a healthy pour, but 20 really does it. 

Gives new meaning to the Beatles lyric "All I need is a pint a day." 

Especially when taken into the lesser weight of people a few years ago.  In WW1 wasn't the average weight of a soldier around 115 lbs (52 kg)? 
20 oz of beer would be enough for one sitting for that lad.

When it comes to the amount of beer in a glass a lot depends on the permissable 'head'. Here in ye olde England glasses were once oversized pints with a mark indicating where the fluid ended and the head began. Now nearly all glasses are a imperial pint at the brim but most folk like a head on their beer so the landlord gains by charging for the froth on top because it is no longer a full  pint, which he or she is charging for. This is strctly illegal and the punter is entitled to a top up after the first gulp but like bookies the landlord usually wins.
In most of Europe any size head seems acceptable thus reducing the volume paid for even more.

[Muzz]

So an English pint is 20 oz, while the American pint is 16?  16 oz is a healthy pour, but 20 really does it. 

Funny, in NZ when we had Imperial measurement in my misspent youth I am pretty sure that we had 16 oz in a pint and it weighed one pound.

It was a fair time ago though, and my memory is growing dim.....

[ohiorider]

Our tire sizes today seem to be non-denominational:
17"   x   180mm   x   55(%).  The '55' doesn't  care whether the width is measured in inches or mm.  It's just plain old 55 percent.

[Kiwi Dave]

Funny, in NZ when we had Imperial measurement in my misspent youth I am pretty sure that we had 16 oz in a pint and it weighed one pound.

It was a fair time ago though, and my memory is growing dim.....

That assumption only works for water.  Beer must be heavy than water for the same volume.  However, I wouldn't have thought that much.

Yep, it's your memory.  Don't ask me how I know!

[Motu]

The tyre thing comes from Michelin developing the radial ply tyres, they were fitted to French cars, and fully metric, tyre and rim size. When Imperial countries picked up on the radial, they applied them to inch rim sizes.  This has now come to motorcycle tyres, as they have a width and aspect ratio like car tyres these days.

When I lived on an island not far from Auckland, when a car was finished, we just  drove or towed it to the tip and left it there....if someone wanted parts they took them off cars at the tip, or towed it back to their place.  One day a Citroen ID19 turned up, it had a gearbox problem as they all did. I was at the tyre shop next door, and told them I was going down after work to get it. The tyre guy said ''Too late, I've already got the tyres !''  He wouldn't believe the rims were an odd size and the tyres wouldn't fit anything. A couple of days later all the windows in the ID19 were smashed making it worthless.

[sign216]

The tyre thing comes from Michelin developing the radial ply tyres, they were fitted to French cars, and fully metric, tyre and rim size. When Imperial countries picked up on the radial, they applied them to inch rim sizes.  This has now come to motorcycle tyres, as they have a width and aspect ratio like car tyres these days.

When I lived on an island not far from Auckland, when a car was finished, we just  drove or towed it to the tip and left it there....if someone wanted parts they took them off cars at the tip, or towed it back to their place.  One day a Citroen ID19 turned up, it had a gearbox problem as they all did. I was at the tyre shop next door, and told them I was going down after work to get it. The tyre guy said ''Too late, I've already got the tyres !''  He wouldn't believe the rims were an odd size and the tyres wouldn't fit anything. A couple of days later all the windows in the ID19 were smashed making it worthless.

I must admit, tire sizes always seem crazy.  Sure, if you stuck to one system, it made sense.  But diff times, diff makers, diff countries, had strangely different systems.

It was always a crap shoot.