Pat, NIST SP811 generally uses only seven figures so if the "exact" is longer, exact is not shown, except by exception. However, they "bold" figures which are exact. There may be issues of whether this clearly displays on a web page, but the pdf version seems to agree with printed copies.
NIST SP 447 which is a history of US metrology by NIST in Appendix 5 quotes the original Federal Register publication from 1959 defining the new yard, inch, and pound. However, as the long ton is 2240 lbm, I simply cascaded the definitions in a calculator with sufficient precision. NPL might be a better source for the long ton, as it is not really used in the US. (Please note these typos exist in your history of the inch) I have not seen a good summary of the 1958 meeting other than the 1959 Federal register announcement. I have never seen any reference to a "secret spelling agreement" at the meeting. I would frankly be surprised if we cared how the British spell "gram," and even the NIST director has to use US GPO spelling if he wants his documents printed. The NIST or NBS officials at the meeting would not have had the authority to decide spelling, but could decide the size of an inch. :) ________________________________ From: Pat Naughtin <pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com> To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu> Cc: UKMA Metric Association <secret...@metric.org.uk> Sent: Thu, November 11, 2010 1:14:42 AM Subject: [USMA:48837] Re: The United States does not use the metric system On 2010/11/11, at 01:47 , John M. Steele wrote: Pat is (nearly) correct. Thanks John. You are right my "foot" error was of the "reverso-typo with decimal point transition step" form, so the section should have read: I have noticed that even while denying that the metric system exists, all of the population of the USA routinely use: * metric inches (defined as 25.4 mm exactly) * metric feet (defined as 304.8 mm exactly) * metric yards (defined as 914.4 mm exactly) * metric miles (defined as 1609.344 metres exactly) * metric pounds (defined as 453.592 37 grams exactly) * metric short tons (defined as 907.184 74 kilograms exactly) * metric long tons (defined as 1016.046 908 8 kilograms exactly) For pound, short ton, and long ton, I used NIST resources but it now appears that NIST is inconsistent with these numbers from web page to web page. This time I used http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Publications/upload/AppC-10-HB44-Final.pdf Oh how our minds we do pervert, When first we practice to convert. Could you direct me to a page where I can find the definitive conversion factors for pound and tons. You also wrote: Because our foot, inch, etc differed slightly from the UK's and other English speaking nations, a conference was held in 1958 which lead to the International foot officially adopted by the US, July 1, 1959, as 0.3048 m exactly > Wasn't that the same meeting where a "gentlemen's" agreement was reached that the spelling of "metre" would be "metre" in the USA if the UK agreed to change the spelling of gramme to gram. The UK did its part of the deal. Go to http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/Spelling_metre_or_meter.pdf and search for "Chester H. Page". I have just re-read most of the rather long document that I wrote at http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/Spelling_metre_or_meter.pdf and I was not kind to promoters of the meter spelling as a unit for length! Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/ to subscribe.
