Metric footage??!

[wombat11]

How I do despise this current vogue(in the UK,anyway)of giving distances, speeds, measurements only in metric-it`s as if a complete section of the populace is completely being ignored!!
Granted,the current school chidren are comfortable with this ,but those of more advanced years haven`t the faintest idea what some presenters are babbling on about-is the next thing that we have a pipe organ discussion with reference to footages in metres-eg a 3/12 metre wooden bourdon-YUK!!!!!!!!!!?
(I do happen to know that a metre is about 3 feet-that`s all !!)

[handyczech]

So Hammond drawbars will be stamped:
4.8768
1.6256
2.4384
1.2192
.8128
.6096
.4877
.4064
.3048

And people still can't figure it out the old way...........

[wombat11]

So Hammond drawbars will be stamped:
4.8768
1.6256
2.4384
1.2192
.8128
.6096
.4877
.4064
.3048

And people still can't figure it out the old way...........

Well,now this old boy is really confused!!!
Seriously,it is part of the equation that everything must appear `trendy` or hip-I hate it-bring back the old imperial standards in all areas-and if the Europeans don`t like it-TOUGH-let them recalculate from our imperial measure!

[jdoc]

Isn't Metric footage like Military Intelligence? Oxymoron than off!

[DellAnderson]

I say, come on over to the USA where we still haven't figured out that metric is SO much simpler than Imperial measurements which are SO yesterday. You'll fit right in here in the backwaters of progress! It boggles the mind that our otherwise seemingly modern civilization manages to limp along on Miles, Yards, Feet, Inches, 1/16", not to mention Gallons, Quarts, etc. Trying to remember how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon etc.

But I do have a question for the Europeans - how wide spread was the 'foot' and for how long? I mean, German pipe organs all had 8' or 16' "feet" pipes, right? Curious why or how they didn't measure them like horses in "hands".

[wombat11]

I say, come on over to the USA where we still haven't figured out that metric is SO much simpler than Imperial measurements which are SO yesterday. You'll fit right in here in the backwaters of progress! It boggles the mind that our otherwise seemingly modern civilization manages to limp along on Miles, Yards, Feet, Inches, 1/16", not to mention Gallons, Quarts, etc. Trying to remember how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon etc.

But I do have a question for the Europeans - how wide spread was the 'foot' and for how long? I mean, German pipe organs all had 8' or 16' "feet" pipes, right? Curious why or how they didn't measure them like horses in "hands".

Yes,that sounds like me-I`m a `backwater fanatic!`-it`s all very confusing with these different standards-I personally never found any problem whatsoever with Imperial measure-and I`m almost sure that the majority of my age wuld think the same-change just for the sake of it is a useless endeavour-we seem to be swamped with it nowadays!!

[gtc]

Metric is great. Sure it takes some getting used to but if builders and other tradesmen can convert overnight from feet and inches to millimeters then anybody can.

Metric and Imperial can work side by side. Car wheel diameters are still given in inches while the tyre widths are in millimetres without scaring the horses.

I guess organ pipes will continue to be measured and described in feet because that's the tradition and there's no great benefit in changing it for what's essentially a closed system standard, albeit a system within a new case that is possibly specified in metric dimensions.

The USA may never get around to converting internally, but will forever have to deal with a metric world externally. I was amazed at how long it took the US stock exchanges to get around to quoting stock price movements in decimals rather than the 18th century practice based on eighths of a dollar.

[handyczech]

The whole world needs to measure the same, think the same, speak the same, look the same, do the same..............

Oh wait-somebody tried that in 1936. Didn't work out.

[sadatoni]

Ever been to British Columbia, Canada? Everything is metric there, except town names. Heading north on highway 1 from Hope, you'll come across towns with names like 70 Mile House, 100 Mile House and 150 Mile House. Should those be renamed to something like 120.9 Kilometer House, 161.29 and 241.9 Kilometer House?

[indianajo]

When Mercedes and Fiat and Toyota and Daiwoo and Chrysler all start using the same series of threads on their fasteners, I will respect the metric system. Until then I view it as a a big corporate boondoggle to make the customer buy all his parts at the dealer. Mercedes and Porche and Audi don't even use the same two brake fluids, alcohol and silicon, for **** sakes. Chrysler tried to force everybody to use weird fasteners and patented brake parts, and look at their sales totals. Ford stayed US SAE system for the domestic cars and F-series trucks, and look at their sales totals.
They just need to rename the 1/4x20 screw the 2.35x.859 mm screw and use it worldwide. And oriental pipe thread is a joke, you can never tell at purchase time which thread your air tool has. The dealer pipe thread to quick coupler adapters are always mixed up in the bin. Every oriental air tool manufacturer has their own standard thread, it seems.
The best thing about the American system is the Society of Auto Engineers standardization tables. The cool thing is the aircraft people followed for a while, though using their own materials for their different products.
Somebody was driving standardization before SAE. I worked on a 1905 steam locomotive once, and the fasteners in it seemed to be pretty standard, also. And old US farm tools use standard fasteners.