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I do not know what you mechanics are complaining about because I have has American, Whitworth and Metric system tools for decades. I have used machine tools with inch and millimeter dials. Working in both systems can be tricky but you get familiar with it.
One of the places the systems can surprise you is road speed signs. I was driving an American car (Miles/hr) and went into a curve marked 40 (Km/hr) at 60+ MPH. No real problems but the tires were squalling about the abuse. Then I realized I could change the speedometer to read out in metric.
As far as carpentry is concerned learning the size of rafters is easy and roof slopes are the same in any system.
2” x 12” is close to 50 mm x 300 mm. A 3/12 pitch = 3/12 pitch.
As a tool maker with a penchant for british motorcyles and sports cars dating back to the fifties; I can identify with this while scratching around in my toolbox for an O-BA wrench or selecting a tap to duplicate some odd ball thread in Witworth or BA Standard.
Metrification a 100 years ago would certainly have made my life easier in many ways from loading all of the various tools into my truck to campaign my Triton derived racer on a weekend to then off-load all that bumph on Monday to re-set-up for the next weekend's Historical Automotive Assoc. rally where my 37 Nash Lafayette would hopefully meet the judges approval.
Everything in my working life from honing the re-coil cylinders for 105mm howitzers and milling the master wing spars for the venerable DC-10 would have been so much simpler but making the flip-flop to and fro has now become somewhat automatic.
In the early 19th century, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (the government's surveying and map-making agency) used meter and kilogram standards brought from France. In 1866, Congress authorized the use of the metric system[2] and supplied each state with a set of standard metric weights and measures.
In 1875, the United States solidified its commitment to the development of the internationally recognized metric system by becoming one of the original seventeen signatory nations to the Metre Convention or the Treaty of the Meter. The signing of this international agreement concluded five years of meetings in which the metric system was reformulated, refining the accuracy of its standards. The Treaty of the Meter established the Bureau international des poids et mesures (BIPM, International Bureau of Weights and Measures) in Sèvres, France, to provide standards of measurement for worldwide use.
Under the Mendenhall Order in 1893, metric standards, developed through international cooperation under the auspices of BIPM, were adopted as the fundamental standards for length and mass in the United States. The U.S. customary units such as the foot and pound have been defined in relation to metric units ever since.
The 1895 Constitution of Utah, in Article X, Section 11, originally mandated that: "The Metric System shall be taught in the public schools of the State." This section was, however, later repealed.[3]
Seeing a beautiful woman's vital statistics of 36-23-34 in print into metric = 91-55-90 just won't be the same! Not very appealing to the imagination for the minds of American men!
Conversion Chart http://ysolda.com/wordpress/wp-conte...izingchart.pdf
I moved from the US to UK and had to get used to metric. Took a little while but now I prefer it. In the US they are mixed up - on food items fat is listed in metric but the item is in imperial. I like grams/calories per 100g. I much prefer cooking/baking using metric. 200 grams of an ingredient instead of cups. Not very accurate to use a cup of a chopped/diced food is it? A medium size apple? Not accurate either - weigh it in grams. Easy.
Temperatures took me a while to get my head around. But I've memorized certain temps so can figure them out now without having to convert.
Science and medicine in the US is metric, many tools, machines. Why not go all the way?
In the UK they still use miles, inches for bra and waist sizes. But everything else is metric.
I do not know what you mechanics are complaining about because I have has American, Whitworth and Metric system tools for decades. I have used machine tools with inch and millimeter dials. Working in both systems can be tricky but you get familiar with it.
One of the places the systems can surprise you is road speed signs. I was driving an American car (Miles/hr) and went into a curve marked 40 (Km/hr) at 60+ MPH. No real problems but the tires were squalling about the abuse. Then I realized I could change the speedometer to read out in metric.
As far as carpentry is concerned learning the size of rafters is easy and roof slopes are the same in any system.
2” x 12” is close to 50 mm x 300 mm. A 3/12 pitch = 3/12 pitch.
well said. though there have been a few issues over the years, for instance i have owned and worked on cars from the late 70s to the mid 80s that had a mix of metric and sae fasteners. in the end it doesnt really matter to me which way we go.
This country has a large percentage of people who live in the past and who desperately want to keep living there.
Some can't get used to ideas such as metric units any more than others can get used to the idea that blacks are people, that women have rights, that homosexuals want the right to get married, and that the US is not a Christian theocracy.
It's both the beauty and fallacy of American society.
The conversion has been painfully slow but it does seem to creep in, especially with increased immigration from nations that have long been metric. Lots of people complain about the intrusion of Spanish in American culture - but latinos also bring along the widespread use of metric units.
I know - it's way too logical. Something we increasingly don't do well in this country.
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Seeing a beautiful woman's vital statistics of 36-23-34 in print into metric = 91-55-90 just won't be the same! Not very appealing to the imagination for the minds of American men!
