After reading the Jefferson pendulum alternative measurment system I
began wondering what the modern "English" system would look like if
Jefferson revised his proposal and included a third alterntive whereby
he rounded the inch to exactly 25 mm and used this as a basis unit for
mass and volume.
I attached an html table to show what I came up with.
Note that I used the Imperial definitions for volume rather than
American. The American volume alternative (120 fluid ounce / gallon)
gave nasty looking metric equivalents. The only exception is the use of
the American petrol barrel of approx. 159 L.
Also note that I used fractions to represent exact amounts and decimal
places to give approximate values.
This is merely an excersice in alternative history, however note how
simple it would have been to learn the conversion factors from Imperial
to "New English" and from "New English" to metric. I included new
"symbols" for the old unit names. If I were in Jefferson's position I
would have encouarged the use of these symbols in all written references
in order to avoid confusion.
greg
greg
--
=======================================================
Gregory Peterson & Tammy Booth Peterson
location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
co-ordinates: 52°05'54" N, 106°36'00" W
URL: http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/gregtami/metric.html
"Looking? Found someone, you have, I would say, hmmm?"
-- Yoda, Jedi Master
Title: C:\Greg's Docs\metric\new english.html
| new English | symbol | equals | metric | Imperial |
| MASS |
| 1 mil or thou | th | 1/1000 ih | 25 µm | 0.9842519 mil. |
| 1 millimetre | mm | -- | 1 mm | -- |
| 1 point | po | 1/12 ih | 2-1/12 mm | 0.9842519 pt. |
| 1 inch | ih | -- | 25 mm | 0.9842519 in. |
| 1 hand | ha | 4 ih | 1 dm | 0.9842519 hd. |
| 1 foot | fo | 3 ha | 3 dm | 0.9842519 ft. |
| 1 yard | ya | 3 fo | 9 dm | 0.9842519 yd. |
| 1 fathom | fa | 6 fo | 18 dm | 0.9842519 fath. |
| 1 rod | ro | 5-1/2 ya | 49-1/2 dm | 0.9842519 rd. |
| 1 chain | cn | 4 ro | 198 dm | 0.9842519 ch. |
| 1 furlong | fg | 10 cn | 198 m | 0.9842519 fur. |
| 1 mile | me | 8 fg | 1584 m | 0.9842519 mi. |
| 1 naut. mile | na-me | 1.1691[91]... me | 1852 m | -- |
| 1 league | le | 3 me | 4752 m | 0.9842519 lg. |
|
| VOLUME | | | | | US alternative | metric | USC |
| 1 millilitre | ml | -- | 1000 µl | -- | -- | 1000 µl |
| 1 dram | da | 1/16 fl | 1953-1/8 µl | 1.0998 fl.dr. | 1/16 fl | 1953-1/8 µl | 1.05669 fl.dr. |
| 1 tablespoon | tb | 1/2 fl | 15'625 µl | 1.0998 Tbsp. | 1/ 2 fl | 15'625 µl | 1.05669 Tbsp. |
| 1 fluid | fl | 2 ih³ | 31-1/4 ml | 1.0998 fl.oz. | 2 ih³ | 31-1/4 ml | 1.05669 fl.oz. |
| 1 cup | cu | 8 fl | 250 ml | 1.0998 cup | 8 fl | 250 ml | 1.05669 cup |
| 1 pint | pn | 20 fl | 625 ml | 1.0998 pt. | 15 fl | 468-3/4 ml | 1.05669 pt. |
| 1 quart | qu | 2 pn (40 fl) | 1250 ml | 1.0998 qt. | 2 pn (30 fl) | 937-1/2 ml | 1.05669 qt. |
| 1 gallon | ga | 4 qu (160 fl) | 5 L | 1.0998 gal. | 4 qu (120 fl) | 3-3/4 L | 1.05669 gal. |
| 1 bushell | bs | 8 ga (1280 fl) | 40 L | 1.0998 bu. | 8 ga (960 fl) | 30 L | 1.05669 bu. |
| 1 barrell | br | 35 ga (5600 fl) | 175 L | 1.10071 US bbl. | 42 ga (5040 fl) | 157-1/2 L | 0.99065 bbl. |
|
| MASS |
| 1 gram | g | -- | 1 g | -- |
| 1 ounce | ou | mass of 1 fl dist. water | 31-1/4 g | 1.102311 oz. |
| 1 pound | pd | 16 ou | 500 g | 1.102311 lb. |
| 1 hundredweight | hpd | 100 pd | 50 kg | 1.102311 cwt. |
| 1 ton | t | 20 hpd | 1000 kg | 1.102311 ton |
