Why Not Convert to Metric?

[John Sanford]

The metric system is, relatively speaking, quite inhuman. It is not based in any fashion on PEOPLE.

Oh, and not going to metric is fun because it bugs the hell out of some folks.

[Wayne Lomman]

The metric system is a system of measurement, not a method of counting. We have been metric for nearly 50 years and guess what - we still have dozens, weeks, months and so on. I can even go to the baker and get an actual baker's dozen of rolls, pies etc. As I have no doubt said elsewhere, our government rightly sets standards of measurement but it can't and doesn't tell us how to think. Cheers

[Bob Grier]

The process of converting to metric in the USA is/has been interesting. Converting seems logical for many reasons but it hasn't happened for other logical reasons. For the USA I think the process will continue to drag out for a long time. I think the reason we haven't converted ultimately gets down to the USA economy is so large that resistance to change has been economically feasible.

IMHO, there will be a day some of us will live to see when the final tip to metric happens and we ask that speed limit signs be posted in metric and we order plywood my the metric designation instead of the imperial designation (6mm instead of 1/4" and 12mm instead of 1/2"). After all, it is really 6mm and not 1/4".

[Jim Koepke]

[edit]
IMHO, there will be a day some of us will live to see when the final tip to metric happens and we ask that speed limit signs be posted in metric and we order plywood my the metric designation instead of the imperial designation (6mm instead of 1/4" and 12mm instead of 1/2"). After all, it is really 6mm and not 1/4".

Doubtful, look at a "pint" of ice cream. Most of them are 14 ounces, not 16. It was done to avoid raising the price, but since then the price has risen anyway. Same with "half gallon" containers of ice cream.

As long as Americans are fine with products that do not have their country of origin or are labeled as "brass" with just a thin coat of brass on steel or pot metal, we will be happy to be oblivious that our 2x4s are really only 1-1/2" by 3-1/2".

People will see converting gallons of gas to liters as just one more way to rip off the public.

Maybe in our yet to be born great grandchildren's lifetime there might be a tip to metric.

jtk

[Tom Stenzel]

Any measuring system that starts with:

"Take 44.36 ml of whiskey..."

won't gain any traction at my house.

-Tom

[ron david]

The process of converting to metric in the USA is/has been interesting. Converting seems logical for many reasons but it hasn't happened for other logical reasons. For the USA I think the process will continue to drag out for a long time. I think the reason we haven't converted ultimately gets down to the USA economy is so large that resistance to change has been economically feasible.

IMHO, there will be a day some of us will live to see when the final tip to metric happens and we ask that speed limit signs be posted in metric and we order plywood my the metric designation instead of the imperial designation (6mm instead of 1/4" and 12mm instead of 1/2"). After all, it is really 6mm and not 1/4".

it depends quite a bit on imorting and exporting goods/ take your plywood.I have been buying baltic birch for 40 years and it has always been metric. what does it matter anyway; when have you last bought domestic plywood when it has actually been on size. up here we have been exporting lumber to Japan and places and it has been in metric
The real kicker is glass. you buy it as 2 or 3 mil right. it has been called that for ever. a few years back I had to rebuild a couple of exterior teak doors on a 105' yacht. I had to also install new glass in them. so I phoned a few glass shops and gave them the measure all in metric. they were lost. I also asked for it to be 1cm thick. the reply was we don't have it that thin. thy were not hearing what I said. I had asked for 1 cm for 3/8" ; they were thinking 1ml. the 1 cm caught them off guard. I gave them all the measures in Imperial and they were happy
ron

[ron david]

Any measuring system that starts with:

"Take 44.36 ml of whiskey..."

won't gain any traction at my house.

-Tom

doesn't matter what the nbr is your going to drink it anyway
ron

[Dave Moorhouse]

Oh yeah, and it’s also a hoot when the metric purists have to get out a 6.35mm hex bit (1/4") or 12.7mm socket (1/2") or a 1.27mm Allen wrench or Torx bit (0.050").

Except that the inch was officially redefined as 25.4mm in 1959 (http://www.npl.co.uk/reference/faqs/...n-(faq-length))

The metre (and 1/100 as cm, 1/1000 as mm, etc) has its own definition (see http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/meter.html)

[Rod Sheridan]

Any measuring system that starts with:

"Take 44.36 ml of whiskey..."

won't gain any traction at my house.

-Tom

LOL.................You're looking at this all wrong Tom.

In metric it would be take 50ml of whiskey.................All my friends that like whiskey agree that 50ml is better than 44.36 ml............Rod.

[Keith Outten]

Except that the inch was officially redefined as 25.4mm in 1959 (http://www.npl.co.uk/reference/faqs/...n-(faq-length))

The metre (and 1/100 as cm, 1/1000 as mm, etc) has its own definition (see http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/meter.html)

Sorry, until the ANSI redefines the value of an inch it hasn't changed in the USA. I have been in more machine shops than I can count over the past four decades and the inch has never changed. All of my M&TE is still based on the original value. I can't imagine the impact it would have had converting one inch to equal 25.4mm. Twenty threads per inch pitch would be something different and most fasteners would not fit during a period of change to the value of an inch. The medical community can do whatever they please but it will be two hundred years before there is any significant changes to American manufacturing as existing machines in factories and farms will have to be long gone before we will stop supporting them with fasteners and other devices based on ANSI Standards.

[Rod Sheridan]

The US yard was defined as 0.9144 metres in July 1959 by the US Bureau of Standards as illustrated from their website.


US Bureau of Standards.PNG

The problem with the Imperial and US measurements was that they required reference samples.

The metric system at one time required fixed samples as as well, which is almost impossible to work with. The metre was redefined in 1980.

For us mere mortals a tape measure is sufficiently accurate however for science and technology accurate standards are required.

The metre standard can be reproduced in many laboratories, which is why it was adopted as the standard for the inch.

Regards, Rod.

[Chuck Wintle]

For me I think its a question of what one has grown up with. It was Farenheit when I was a kid but then a certain prime minister of canada decided we need the metric system..just like that. But now temperature in Celsius makes more sense, with 0 and 100 as the freezing and boiling point

[John Stankus]

The US yard was defined as 0.9144 metres in July 1959 by the US Bureau of Standards as illustrated from their website.


US Bureau of Standards.PNG

The problem with the Imperial and US measurements was that they required reference samples.

The U.S. customary standards have been based on metric standards since 1893.
http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/metric/u...-5442-1959.pdf

That same National Bureau of Standards bulletin defines the U.S. definition of an inch at 25.4 mm (actually it defines the yard as 0.9144 meters exactly and as such the inch is exactly 25.4 mm, which is what Rod is saying

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

just for fun...don't get your knickers in a twist...

[Rod Sheridan]

LOL, very good, that was funny...........Rod.